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Apple's 'Get a Mac' Commercials Discontinued?

I loved those commercials and around October was when they finally made me say okay, my next computer will be a Mac instead of a new Windows 7.

I guess Windows 7 is now so good that the comparison became mute and possibly apple feared a retort from MS. Whatever the real reason, it is a shame. There are few commercials I actually do not hate watching :(
 
Haha, its because Apple doesn't care about Macs anymore. There, I said it! :D

TeeJayEm said:
In the middle of a recession no one cares if a pc has more viruses than a mac.
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They'll care once what little money is left in their bank account mysteriously disappears, bouncing all their checks, payments, causing late fees, overdue notices. Then spending weeks on end trying to piece back together their financial history, clearing their credit reports, getting back on track. I used to work for a large national bank and people's account data gets stolen off their PC all the time. Its a huge pain in the butt to get things back in order too, with lots of paperwork, etc. Not the best choice.

In addition--hasn't Apple been posting record quarters with regards to Mac sales? So it seems like people are willing to spend a few hundred more to get a secure system that won't need as many future upgrades to run nicely.
 
My favorite:

santaclaussbm12132007.jpg


Can't wait for the next crop of clever ads. :apple::apple:
 
Its hard to say if Apple has moved on or not.

Why? Apple hasn't release any commercial regarding "Mac" hardware at all. The last ones were "I'm a Mac" type commercials.

Until they release another commercial for the Mac line we cannot tell for sure if Apple is just not focusing on promoting and and marketing the Macs at the moment, or has moved on to a different commercial-trend altogether.

The only new commercial I see from Apple are iPhone, iPads, and sometimes iPod/iPod touches. That seems to be what Apple is focusing on promoting via ad/commercials at the moment.

So it may not be an abandonment yet. The next mac commercial will tell.
 
macduke said:
They'll care once what little money is left in their bank account mysteriously disappears, bouncing all their checks, payments, causing late fees, overdue notices. Then spending weeks on end trying to piece back together their financial history, clearing their credit reports, getting back on track. I used to work for a large national bank and people's account data gets stolen off their PC all the time. Its a huge pain in the butt to get things back in order too, with lots of paperwork, etc. Not the best choice.
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FUD. This happens on extremely rare occasions.
 
I think that this is the only context in which I can honestly say. 'I'll miss PC.'
 
Vantage Point said:
I loved those commercials and around October was when they finally made me say okay, my next computer will be a Mac instead of a new Windows 7.

I guess Windows 7 is now so good that the comparison became mute and possibly apple feared a retort from MS. Whatever the real reason, it is a shame. There are few commercials I actually do not hate watching :(
Click to expand...

The same message holds true: There are an astronomical number of Windows viruses. And the only OS susceptible to them is . . . Windows. That hasn't changed.

Besides, it would be even more meaningful today. At the pwn2own contest Windows 7's defenses were bypassed completely. Now factor in the several hundred thousand Windows viruses out there, and you't got the same sticky situation you've always had with Windows.
 
Yamcha said:
..... but I've still found those ads annoying because Apple takes shots at Microsoft, and Microsoft doesn't really do anything about it.. Although Microsoft did make some Windows 7 ads a while back showing how affordable PC's are..
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In the UK at the moment, every evening on TV, I see about 5 Windows "I'm a PC and Windows 7 was my idea" adverts.

Every. Night.

*LTD* said:
Apparently, the people handing Apple new records in Macs sales certainly did. Apple sold *more* Macs in a recession than ever before.
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Maybe the Americans that put us into the recession still use their credit cards? :rolleyes:
 
macduke said:
So it seems like people are willing to spend a few hundred more to get a secure system that won't need as many future upgrades to run nicely.
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Minor Correction: a MORE secure system in comparison with Windows.

Apple isn't 100% secure. It's just easier to secure, and generally is more secure out of the box; and information to hack a Mac is less available than say, Windows.

If hackers can break into 1024bit encryption and into banks, and government, they can hack a Mac. At the moment, there's not a lot of "hackers" who cares to break into a Mac (probably not as many targets are using Macs).

If Macs every becomes the defacto home system everyone uses; information and availability will become more. At the moment with all these easier windows system to break into, the incentive to target a mac system isn't quite there.
 
Rules of (Smart) Marketing:

(in order)

1) Sell benefits, not features
2) Differentiate
3) Sell lifestyle, not products

Apple hit all three out of the park.
 
*LTD* said:
They were a key component in Apple's strategy that helped them sell record numbers of Macs (especially in a recession) and outpace the rest of the industry several years running. Not only were the ads so effective, they also earned several awards during their run.
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Just because two events show correlation, does not mean that they are causally linked.
 
Oh no! Now there truly will be nothing good on TV.

I agree they could add a little twist like pitting Hodge and Long against the evil Google search engine. It could be like a running commentary on news coming from silly-con valley. It could be great fun at the same time keeping the Apple name in front of everyone. Think about that new sullen ad from Nike featuring a B/W head shot of Tiger Wood. Either you like it and cheer Tiger on or you hate it and curse him. You are still thinking about NIKE.

Just because they've been going on for a while doesn't mean it's done. It might even be fun to do a short 10-20 minute version blending commentary on world issues that have nothing to do with Apple per se—yeah I know Apple doesn't do politics. Don't any of you miss the sardonic wit of Monty Python?
 
koobcamuk said:
Just because two events show correlation, does not mean that they are causally linked.
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It makes more sense to assume that they were part of Apple's overall strategy, which was extremely successful.

Right . . . the company that knows how to market like no on else, knows how to play the media like a violin and how to create a stir in the industry the likes of which only the Second Coming can accomplish . . . is going to half-ass it when it comes to TV commercials. :rolleyes:

Get a clue.
 
It's time. They had a good run.

Next up:

"Hi, I'm an iPhone."

"And I'm a Windows Phone 7 Series device."
 
The ads had some humor if you had a clue what Mac & PC were talking about.

Justin Long, as "Mac", symbolized the boorish, arrogate "Apple Fan Boy" that confirmed most people's preconception of a typical Mac user.

John Hodgman's humor carried these for a long, long time and I along with most people I know loved to watch the newest ad to see how "PC" bumbled along.

Good to see Apple moving on and stop giving MS so much free air time.
 
Good To Move On Before Concept Is Stale

Great ads but like sport stars, better to retire in your "prime" than stay on and become "sad and tired".
:cool:
 
I liked those ads, and while they weren't particularly aggressive or anything, they were nice :) Even though the only place I could ever see them was on Apple's site.

But knowing Apple, if they stop something, they will probably have something even better to replace it.

Corbin052198 said:
Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.50 (Nintendo DSi; Opera/507; U; en-US))
Hi, I'm an iPhone” and “Hi, I'm Windows Mobile” or something like that. And maybe for two commercials or so they could add, “Hello, my name is Google Android”.
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Yes but Windows Mobile and Android are nothing compared to what Windows is in respect to the Mac, so I don't think there would be a real point in doing that, since everyone knows how awesome iPhones are and most people have never even heard of Android or Windows Mobile. This is really about Mac computers I think.
 
koobcamuk said:
Just because two events show correlation, does not mean that they are causally linked.
Click to expand...

True, but you know what was linked? The fact that they used this ad campaign for years. They know marketing, they know sales, and if they kept using this campaign over and over, it worked.

Lots of non-experts in here seem to think if they didn't like the ads, nobody liked the ads. A logical fallacy that gets repeated throughout life, but it doesn't make it true.
 
Discontinued....just like the Mac itself?

The future of Apple is in devices that are dumbed down to the lowest common denominator...Idiot consumption devices that stifle creativity.
 
MrCubes said:
Am I the only one that cringed at those ads? Their air of smugness gave genuine Apple product users a bad name. They weren't even technically accurate most of the time (in a way that will come back to bite them).
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This is right - I think those ads were always more popular with people who have macs than with people who didn't. Unfortunately, you don't really need ads that appeal to people who are already buying your product.

I think for most people, John came off as being more likeable than Justin, which is not really ideal. Also, the caricature of windows that they kept pushing was not a reality for most MS users, so it didn't really encourage them to change OS's. I think the tiny increase in mac users during the vista era demonstrates Apple's failure in this area. (I think that the marketshare increases that macs did enjoy came about from people's exposure to ipods, etc.)

What apple needs is an ad campaign that focuses on why OSX is *good*, not why Windows is *bad*. This is the traditional way that ads work - car ads, for example, are all about how great the car in the ad is; they don't devote half of the ad to talking about other brands.
 
NebulaClash said:
True, but you know what was linked? The fact that they used this ad campaign for years. They know marketing, they know sales, and if they kept using this campaign over and over, it worked.

Lots of non-experts in here seem to think if they didn't like the ads, nobody liked the ads. A logical fallacy that gets repeated throughout life, but it doesn't make it true.
Click to expand...

It's called "living in denial." Which a lot of haters on MR happen to be "expert" at. At the core of this state of mind is envy and frustration. Frustration that Apple doesn't give them what they think they're entitled to, like a do-it-yourself Windows box they can hack to run OS X legally so they can play WoW and Crysis and show off to their friend in the basement next door. And envy, that the company that DOES offer that ability happens to make things ugly and unusable as sin.

It always warms my heart to see Apple prove them wrong time and time again.
 
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