Apple's 'Designed by Apple' TV Ad Scoring Poorly with Viewers

[rdlink]

I think what really rings hollow is that they keep trying to show people deriving meaning and significance in their life from "stuff".

Don't agree at all. I think that if you look closely at the ads, and really think about it, the people are deriving pleasure from life experience. Either listening to music that they love, or sharing something with someone else, or enhancing a once in a lifetime experience, or learning in a new, more exciting, more interactive and more effective way. The "stuff" in question is just allowing those things to happen more effectively, seamlessly and easily.

 

[Mr.damien]

I liked the ads. They're a lot better than Samsung's.

Not difficult, it can't be worst than Samsung's...

 

[etrinh]

Don't you realize CA is also a huge agricultural state. A huge portion of the food comes from CA. If you disagree with the states economic policies that's fine. I feel you shouldn't dismiss it's strength and importance to the USA. Every state has it's niche and role for the health of the country.

It's the 8th ranking economy in the world who also has no idea how economics work. Would be fun to see how they would do if they did.

 

[iSteve-O]

I'm glad I"m not the only only that hates this ad, it's kinda depressing.

And no, the experience of a product isn't what really matters.

 

[HenryDJP]

I don't like the ad. It's like they have nothing exciting to talk about, so they talk about the company itself. Give us some new exciting products and you don't need to run ads like that!

Oh yeah, let's only do ads that are exciting such as Samsung's. You know, the ones that put down Apple's customers standing in line, yeah, those. The ones that focus more about making a competitor's customers look foolish while focusing almost zero on their own product....maybe Samsung does this because their own products aren't terribly exciting to talk about.

 

[TMay]

I think someone at Apple thinks 16x9 is the holy grail aspect ratio because watching videos is all we do with our phones.

And yet, Apple uses 4:3 for its tablets...

I suspect that 16:9 is seen as more appropriate than 4:3 for content on the smaller screen. I have both the iPhone 5 and iPad 4 and each screen format seems appropriate.

 

[HenryDJP]

You can also go over the top by saying that your product is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

The thread discussion is doing just fine, let it go.

 

[BuzzMega]

Premature Congratulations

This is what happens when a company pointing forward starts to curve their finger back onto themselves.

Pointing at your existing self while crying out about how holier you are than, say, everything else (by implication) is an exercise in abandoning your forward thinking and substituting your past as your endearing celebrated quality.

In a way, it's the difference between these two messages:
"Hey, mommie! Look at me!"
"This is hot. And it has been perfected."

In the real world, Today is in the past. It's just the most recent version of the past. Ten minutes from now isn't the future, it is just an unrealized near-field version of right this instant. Apple's focus needs to be two months forward of right now.

"The Future" is what Apple used to be with Jobs—a futurist—at the helm. Cook is no futurist. He is a great team player, but Jobs was the antithesis of that description.

People hear this: "We have been great in the past, so shouldn't that mean something to you?" ...to which they instinctively reply, "Get off my lawn!"

Institutional advertising is a lousy substitute for ads that promise a great, hot new product, a great performance rating, the coming of a new era based on how we point forward, etc.

They have these stories to tell. The last keynote told several of them. But they've become chicken to speak toward anybody except the lowest common denominator target listener.

Come on, Apple. You've shown that you can grow a pair. Now squint your eyes and start hunting.

 

[ConsiderThis]

- This ad doesn't HAVE to succeed with the general population when its target is much narrower: the tech press, investors, Apple developers, Apple users, and Apple's own employees.

...

- The ad is relevant: this really IS an important difference that separates Apple from other companies. And it's a difference a lot of the tech media and investors have to learn not to overlook, if they want to understand Apple.

Don't you think the investors, developers, employeesalready understand Apple and their vision? These are the people that are *wholly* invested in the company and their future. They shouldn't be wavering when a company as robust and visionary as Apple commands the helm.

But they are. The market has shuddered and the aftershocks are rippling throughout the company. Apple has shifted its focus and individual products are sufferring in a big way. Apple executive leadership has rotated in and out desperately seeking new blood to maintain the old magic.

This is not the mark of a healthy company and the world is responding to that...

 

[Wolfpup]

And yet, Apple uses 4:3 for its tablets...

I suspect that 16:9 is seen as more appropriate than 4:3 for content on the smaller screen. I have both the iPhone 5 and iPad 4 and each screen format seems appropriate.

The aspect ratio question's intriguing to me. I think I like 4:3 a lot for the iPad. Makes it more useable in both directions. I'm not sure I like 16:9 as well in a tiny device. Like I'd like to see 4:3 and whatever the iPod used to use and 16:9 at 4" and pick from 'em

 

[joneill55]

So?

He's not there anymore. And whoever is running the show now needs serious help.

Its an Apple cultural thing my man!!

Been there...done that...got the Tee-shirt.

 

[HenryDJP]

This ad is also misleading in the fact that Apple's products are built in the same factories in China that make most other electronic devices. Oh, it's DESIGNED in California? Wow, so, so cool . I am guessing they will make an ad to show how iOS7 is made in California as well? Please....

Well if people watching these ads are too stupid to understand the difference between "Made in California" and "Designed in California" then there are bigger problems going on in people's lives. Looks like you're just trying hard to find a way to blame Apple on anything. For the record I'm sitting here typing this on my "Designed in California, Made in the USA" iMac. P.S. a vicodin may help.

 

[IbisDoc]

Terrible ad...but I suspect it will do well in this country, where nowadays, people like to feel like they are being spoken to by their messiah.

 

[robeddie]

One problem here: while consumers love their Apple devices on an individual level, I think many have mixed feelings about whether these devices have really improved our emotional lives -- as the sappy narration implies.

A young girl alone in her room staring at an iPhone, constantly connected... a woman on the subway with headphones stuck in her ears, who will never have a chance conversation with a stranger... a elementary school kid with an iPad in the classroom, who will never write legibly...

Not making a claim about the utility of iDevices - I love mine, too - but I think the mixed feelings most of us have really challenge the effectiveness of an emotion-driven campaign like this.

+100. Excellent analysis.

 

[stol]

What?

You see many Android releases because of the many companies that make them.

Samsung still releases 1 flagship a year, just like Apple. This year was the S4, last year was the S3.

HTC has the One, last year was the One X.

Then there's Sony, Motorola and LG.

They have their own releases schedules with different takes on what a consumer might want, which may appear to you that "junk" is being released - but most is each company's flagship.

Sorry I wasn't clear.

With the term "junk" I was referring to those cheap, plastic, slow, overheating Android phones that have flooded the market in the past years.

Flagship products you refer to are the "comparable Android devices". Yes, one per company per year, yet they make up for a dozen throughout the year. And I suppose most of them are great devices.

Anyway, I'm no Android expert, I don't follow Android device releases or news, but I see them in ads everywhere. Each month phone companies have a new Android phone to shout about. My point is that people may come to think that there is a new Android (or Windows if you like) phone out more than often, while Apple just stands still.

 

[Wolfpup]

Sorry I wasn't clear.

With the term "junk" I was referring to those cheap, plastic, slow, overheating Android phones that have flooded the market in the past years.

Flagship products you refer to are the "comparable Android devices". Yes, one per company per year, yet they make up for a dozen throughout the year. And I suppose most of them are great devices..

I think there's more than one per year per company, like both the S4 and Note 2 (probably 3 this year) are flagships staggered across the year.

I would expect Apple's stuff to sell worse in the second half of a year since launch. I mean I'm trying to hold out for the iPhone 7 and iPad 5, etc., since it feels weird buying 'em much past a few months past introduction to me.

 

[50548]

Terrible ad...but I suspect it will do well in this country, where nowadays, people like to feel like they are being spoken to by their messiah.

What a FLOP. It's right "up" there with the Lemmings ad.

Besides, who the heck cares about the non-country of "California"? Apple is NOT a US-only company and reaps most of its revenue from abroad.

It's time to stop this ridiculous US jingoism, particularly after these criminal PRISM-like scandals. The "land of the free" is as free as China nowadays.

 

[crackbookpro]

All you people who think this is not a good campaign... must realize, that it is a campaign more than anything(not just one advert). So just wait, this is only a Phase of the campaign, and there is more to come from Apple's Marketing Team.

The other thing is - Apple is Apple. And, Apple is going back to their roots, and sticking to their guns, and marketing to the target audience they want to capture. This will be one of their best ad campaigns in awhile after all said & done. They will have gone back to what made Apple products turn the heads the way they wanted to turn people's heads.

Just wait...

 

[Wolfpup]

All you people who think this is not a good campaign... must realize, that it is a campaign more than anything(not just one advert). So just wait, this is only a Phase of the campaign, and there is more to come from Apple's Marketing Team.

The other thing is - Apple is Apple. And, Apple is going back to their roots, and sticking to their guns, and marketing to the target audience they want to capture. This will be one of their best ad campaigns in awhile after all said & done. They will have gone back to what made Apple products turn the heads the way they wanted to turn people's heads.

Just wait...

I don't see how they're going back to their roots, nor what target audience they could possible get from this, nor what about their worst ad in ages would indicate to you this'll be a great campaign.

 

[petsounds]

Where/when exactly did Apple get off track, and where/when did they get back on track?

Well, they got off-track in the post-Jobs period under Forstall's watch. Hardware, that's always been great, but software...off-track.

This is a statement to Apple employees and to the world that Apple is refocusing on design, on what makes them great. It's similar to when Jobs came back and did Think Different, it was as much inspirational for the deflated Apple team as for the public. I think there are parallels to that time and the current Apple. Internally, I think it's been pretty clear that there was a lot of strife without Jobs, and now with Ive taking over design duties and Forstall kicked out, it was time to say, "We're back and we're focused on what makes us great."

 

[BuzzMega]

And yet, Apple uses 4:3 for its tablets...

I suspect that 16:9 is seen as more appropriate than 4:3 for content on the smaller screen. I have both the iPhone 5 and iPad 4 and each screen format seems appropriate.

Generous area is more important in an ergonomically handy surface. Other than video display, the 16:9 proportion is longer than one needs for many, many functions. Maps really should be square, for instance. Letters are almost 5:4. Pocketable computers like the iPhone/iPods gain usefulness with longer aspect ratios, and their more 16:9 shapes are substantiated. But pads are surfaces to be filled top to bottom and side to side. Maps on a 16:9 surface are not as communicative. Too much is lost from view with the native crop and the desired enlargement.

When I read or experience something on the iPhone, I can't WAIT to get back to the iPad instead. That bigger, chunkier area is 20X more pleasant.

A huge amount of ergonomic research has produced the iPad shape. Research that the other tablet makers never even thought to explore. They "suspected" this or that, too.

 

[studio¹³¹]

These ads are so cheesy and desperate...

 

[Wolfpup]

Well, they got off-track in the post-Jobs period under Forstall's watch. Hardware, that's always been great, but software...off-track.

How can you say that? He was there mostly under Jobs. What, a year maybe without?

 

[deepakhj]

Weird. I really like the ads.

 

[HenryDJP]

What a FLOP. It's right "up" there with the Lemmings ad.

Besides, who the heck cares about the non-country of "California"? Apple is NOT a US-only company and reaps most of its revenue from abroad.

It's time to stop this ridiculous US jingoism, particularly after these criminal PRISM-like scandals. The "land of the free" is as free as China nowadays.

You probably wouldn't have said a word if Apple was based in Switzerland and created the ad saying "Designed in Switzerland". It's always the people that live outside the US that bitch the most about the USA on MR.