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Apple Releases New Holiday Ad 'The Song'

Brilliant....

This is a Holiday ad. People are thinking of buying gifts for others, and they are feeling sentimental, nostalgic, etc. Most such ads for most tech products at this time of year try to make them seem exclusively youthful in a bid to get parents/grandparents to buy them for kids. But this one says that you can buy an Apple product for your granddaughter OR your grandmother.

Apple has been very, very smart with this ad. Among the things this ad does: it implies that you can buy Apple products for anyone of any age. It makes the product personal and friendly rather than just a piece of cold hardware (like the record or the photos are personal rather than just photos or vinyl). It implies the product helps to make connections, preserves old bonds while creating new ones. It goes for the heart rather than the head hitting sentiment and nostalgia AND family buttons. And it show the versatility of its products, that they can be used for artistic expression as well as communication.

This last, by the way, is pure Steve Jobs. Both Technology and Liberal arts.

Most of all, this ad reads as sincere. Not as a cold company selling a product, but as a company that wants to provide something more than hardware. It has humanity. So, maybe you find it boring, or it does nothing for you, or whatever. Doesn't matter. It's brilliant. :cool:
 
Will that iPad mini still be working fine, when it's found a generation from now, like that old record was?
 
afsnyder said:
I dislike the song personally. Had no idea what it was and couldn't relate.

Anyone notice that Apple calls some their commercials "films" and some ads? Goes to show that they don't want people thinking that some of their advertising efforts are anything like what companies normally produce.
Click to expand...

I had no idea what the song was and couldn't relate either but that didn't stop it from being one of the most effective commercials in years. You could've turned the sound off or replaced the song with any kind of slow tempo, melancholy holiday music and the commercial would've worked well too. And that ties right into your question. This is a "film" because it's a narrative comprised of images that work as a visual storytelling piece. If we just saw glossy shots of iPhones and iPads being super thin with a voice over telling us how great Apple products are (which Apple still does from time to time too) then you have an ad because there's no story or characters, just the voice of Apple extolling the virtues of Apple products.
 
This was ok but I think last years ad was better. Nothing about this ad screams Christmas/Holiday to me.
 
Compare ad styles. Walmart which is all about low price vs Apple's subtle 'do something nice for someone at Christmas' and by the way, here is an idea of what you can do with Apple stuff. For me, the Apple ads are personally more effective. The Walmart ads remind me of the movie Wall*E where the message is buy, buy, buy stuff you really don't need or are useful in the long run but consumption is the raison d'être. (Did I spell that right?)
 
damn you, Apple...

Damn you... I'm a grown man, I'm not supposed to get misty over an ad!

Very well done, in the gut!

PS I miss you, mom...
 
Literally anything is better than those annoying Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake iPhone ads. Those make me want to smash my TV into a million pieces.
 
That ad will have the intended effect, it will Apple products and reinforce the "cool" of Apple products for young and old. The young woman is doing something unthinkable for the masses not all that long ago, and the older woman is experiencing something equally unthinkable not all that long ago, all because of one company, Apple.
 
Rogifan said:
What's your point? That technology is bad because it isn't timeless?
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Unlike all the photographs on your phone. The songs on your iPod and the "memories" on your ipad-all of the contents will have been zapped and lost years later. When you upgraded to the iPad 52. And unlike hard copies of media ... . Virtual memories aren't forever. Like. Vinyl. Photographs (real ones). And paper.

If you're not used to those days. It will mean nothing.

Enjoy the faux sentimentality.

Enjoy New Apple.

And you do ... Clearly.

Thanks!
 
BruceEBonus said:
Unlike all the photographs on your phone. The songs on your iPod and the "memories" on your ipad-all of the contents will have been zapped and lost years later. When you upgraded to the iPad 52. And unlike hard copies. Like. Vinyl. Photographs (real ones). And paper.

If you're not used to those days. It will mean nothing.

Enjoy the faux sentimentality.

Enjoy New Apple.

And you do ... Clearly.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

So people being touched by technology is faux sentimentality? Excuse me for enjoying my life and not being cynical about everything.
 
Great ad. Goes to show you Apple doesn't have to prove anything or bash another company's product(s) in order to sell their own and/or get the message across. It's not always about something being better than something else. Sometimes what someone can do with the product is what makes the difference.
 
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