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Did "Switch" Campaign Fail?

LucasLand

LucasLand

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 6, 2002
759
93
New England
I noticed this new article that discussed how Apple's "Switch" campaign failed. To me it seemed to be working, but if Apple's overall market share is still 4% after 1 year then maybe it is a failure. Check out the article for yourself. After the article, there are comments. One comment made a very good point. Apple will never increase user share until it can get a Forutne 500 co. to use Mac OS X. Can a large corporation run on Mac OS X exclusively?

http://www.macdailynews.com/comments.php?id=P1418_0_1_0
 
You know, there are many articles that have come out saying that Apple is doomed or that their market share isn't going anywhere. But Apple keeps on chugging along. That and we don't know how the G5 is going to effect things. So don't worry too much about it.

P-Worm
 
Re: Did "Switch" Campaign Fail?

Originally posted by foofan
I noticed this new article that discussed how Apple's "Switch" campaign failed. To me it seemed to be working, but if Apple's overall market share is still 4% after 1 year then maybe it is a failure. Check out the article for yourself. After the article, there are comments. One comment made a very good point. Apple will never increase user share until it can get a Forutne 500 co. to use Mac OS X. Can a large corporation run on Mac OS X exclusively?

http://www.macdailynews.com/comments.php?id=P1418_0_1_0
Click to expand...

Well, I switched, and so did many others, check out the thread in this forum about it. I think though that many existing Mac users have held off purchases for a while waiting for the G5 to come out. You have to remember that Apple did recover its market share and managed to maintain it even thought the G4 was getting butchered in forums and in speed tests.

The G5 *will* be the beginning of a new era for Apple if you will. People who have been holding off for years with their sub 500 Mhz computers will finally see a good price/performance ratio.

my 2.5c
 
i think the switch commercials help. i had a person buy a mac because yo yo ma or whatever used one. many other people as well.

iJon
 
I don't know what Apple's goal was so I can't say if it was an absolute failure. It gets people's awareness of Apple up. I'm a switcher (not an adder, not an at-work pc user who didn't already have a computer at home, but a total jump ship type switcher) but I didn't switch because of the commercials. The switcher campaign, think different--no effect. The best reson to switch can be summed up in 2 words--and everybody knows them: "Microsoft Windows." I don't know anybody who is totally thrilled with Windows. People just need to know that there is an alternative that isn't harder to use. So anything that gets Apple's name out there is a good thing--at worst they're just planting seeds.
 
Re: Did "Switch" Campaign Fail?

Originally posted by foofan
I noticed this new article that discussed how Apple's "Switch" campaign failed. To me it seemed to be working, but if Apple's overall market share is still 4% after 1 year then maybe it is a failure. Check out the article for yourself. After the article, there are comments. One comment made a very good point. Apple will never increase user share until it can get a Forutne 500 co. to use Mac OS X. Can a large corporation run on Mac OS X exclusively?

http://www.macdailynews.com/comments.php?id=P1418_0_1_0
Click to expand...

It depends on your definition of success and failure. I think it was a sucess because it got people talking about a subject that was relegated to online discussion forums...

And in the words of Jobs, "You know a campaign is a success when people begin to parody it."

:cool:
 
I don't know about the US, but here in Australia, I haven't seen a Mac ad since they aired a few for the launch of the new flavoured iMac's. I think many people who are buying their first computer think a computer's faster by how many megahertz or gigahertz it has, Apple should straighten that out and have an ad campaign for that issue. Also, they should have ad campaigns showing comparisons of Mac apps and XP apps, which of course, Mac wins ;)
 
I think the whole campaign worked. I switched a year ago. After seeing my wonderful 17" iMac over the last year, my sister bought a 12" PowerBook last weekend :D

Derek
 
if anything the "Switch" campaign definitely brought attention to Apple that hasn't been there in a long time. i know a lot of people who think the Switch ads completely blow, and i know others who think they are great. i guess any publicity is good publicity. one fact, EVERYONE has seen the Ellen Feiss commercial. it's hard not to like that one.

another thing that has brought similar attention to Apple is the retail stores. they don't advertise for the stores on TV and they don't push any obnoxious marketing on you, like the hideous Sunday newspaper inserts you see from the likes of Best Buy and Compusa. the retail stores make people aware of Apple's presence, right in their own neighborhood. to not be intrigued by them is impossible. they are a luxury/boutique/gallery type place that is impossible to not respect.
 
Originally posted by B@SS_SHOCK
I don't know about the US, but here in Australia, I haven't seen a Mac ad since they aired a few for the launch of the new flavoured iMac's. I think many people who are buying their first computer think a computer's faster by how many megahertz or gigahertz it has, Apple should straighten that out and have an ad campaign for that issue. Also, they should have ad campaigns showing comparisons of Mac apps and XP apps, which of course, Mac wins ;)
Click to expand...

Where is australia? Do they even buy macs? I didn't know you had them.

Now before you attack me, check my loc.
 
Here's my 0.02...

It did not fail. Apple turned a profit of 19M this quarter (and techincally made profits the last 2 quarters but had to pay tax penalities for bad investments...)
and during the call they stated that 50% of all Macs sold in the Apple Stores were sold to NON MAC OWNERS....new Mac people...

I think the campaign worked. I just think they shouldnt have stopped running/making the ads...

MacBoyX
 
Originally posted by iJon
i think the switch commercials help. i had a person buy a mac because yo yo ma or whatever used one. many other people as well.

iJon
Click to expand...

heh he's not whatever. He's one of the greatest cellists alive today. Anyhow, I think the switch campaign did work to an extent but it would've done better obviously if it didn't only target a few countries (US, Japan?)
 
Originally posted by tjwett
one fact, EVERYONE has seen the Ellen Feiss commercial. it's hard not to like that one.
Click to expand...
Er...i hate that Ellen Feiss ad with a passion :p
but nevertheless i have seen people who claim that they switched because of kelly slater, tony hawk, yo-yo ma and jeremiah cohick :)
 
Even if the failure argument won the day, it would be hard to argue that the actual "computer" life changing event of switching could be seen as a failure. Worst case senario leaves the switched user using a different platform, all other senario leave the switched user in a clearer better thought out world.

If all a small band of loyal macusers do is force Microsoft to make a better product, then the world just becomes a better computing place to be.

The day Microsoft stop trying to rip off Apple is probably a good day to reconsider the switch. hmm.
 
seriously, if you were expecting Apple to double their market share, please come back to earth. As Steve said in the financial report the other day, half of the macs sold in the retail stores are to first time mac users. that's great for the platform... their market share staying the same says something also, Many of the mac faithful have been waiting on the G5 and a new 15" PowerBook to buy another Mac. one of those is almost here, and the other is maybe september. either way, Apple is in a great position, a better position than they have been in for a long time. now that Apple actually has the performance crown, things should also get better for the lagging PowerMac sales, but the XServe needs to be updates immediately because nobody is buying that when the G5 kicks it's ass. at the end of this year, I think we'll see Apple in a very nice position with their product lineup. Maybe then they will bring the switch campaign back a bit... hell, they got enough G5 commercials on TV, i swear i've seen that ad twenty times in the last five hours easy, and I only watched TV for about two of those hours.
 
Here's the deal:

Company A sells 10 widgets/week

Company B sells 40 widgets/week

Company C sells 50 widgets/week

So company A has a 10% market share.

Next year, the demand for widgets increases dramatically.

Company A sells 50 widgets/week

Company B sells 400 widgets/week

Company C sells 550 widgets/week

Now Company A lost half its market share and only has a meagre 5% of the booming widget market.

Looks bad for Company A, huh?

Unless you consider that they increased their business fivefold.
The others have outpaced them, yes, but business isn't a race. The one in the lead isn't simply "the winner."
 
psuedo-
that was the best bare-bones explanation of market share i've heard to date. well done.

the switch campaign was what it was. it helped get apple through a really tough time (losing the power crown, switching OS, market stagnating), and now apple's emerging from the downtime in good position to remain competitive and healthy. i've never heard market analysis be sweet on apple, but nowadays you hear people recomemnding apple stock. I'd say the switch campaign did alright.
 
i agree with what some have said above... the maxed-out G4 and the elusive G5 "just around the corner" for two years, if the switch campaign is what maintained their marketshare, it was a booming success. And now that the G5 is actually here, Apple may have a good chance of a gain in marketshare soon...

pnw
 
well, I can't really switch

Even though I write on my own little apple now - I still have to have a pc around because so much software i need - that I make money with, just dosen't come to the Mac.

Find me, for example, an XML Editor that even comes close to the XMLSpy an windows.
The only thing I found was oXigen, and it's a little java prg that doen't even come close to XMLspy. vWorse even, the text in the editor window is a bit jumpy in size - you can't use the ****ing editor, because actually you can never be sure where your cursor is positioned. It looks like sitting in the right place, but when you press backspace, the wrong char is deleted. it drives youi nuts.
The next thing I tried was not written in pure jave - turned out that I could not see whar text I marked... and it was slow as molassus.
The only non java editor was for OS pre X ...

The same with developing evrionment - try setting up a MIDP devel environment an a mac. Takes a couple of days, and then still doesn't work as good as elsewhere...

It's a pitty really, because I'd like to sell my pc and get a Powermac instead - but it will keep me from fast working.
 
Did it fail?

Personally i don't think so.

Apples image has changed in my opinion as well as in the opinions of those around me. It used to have (not trying to insult anybody) an image of people who wanted to work with computers but couldn't quite figure out how one worked, the type of people who bought a VCR but couldn't figure out it's remote.
Partial to the switch campain, partial to OSX this image has changed to an image of users who use a well build well thought of system.

But what does puzzle me, is a lot of folks are really fanatical on the subject of marketshare. I doubt that Apple would bennifit from a big marketshare.
To make this point more clear, my ISP used to be small and tech-minded, not a big fancy quick helpdesk, most problems were solved in the newsgroups. If a used had a problem, everything was solved in a personal and a friendly way. But in time, my ISP descided it should offer DSL to the masses, and now the friendly newsgroup is filled with trolls, and complaining teenagers about f**cking ISP and s**t service, and they have lost their mojo so to speak in order to grow.

I strongly believe that attrackting masses isn't always the key to survival, but it's just my opinion.

And as a note on the side, sorry about the spelling, but I'm not a native speaker and I haven't got a spell-check handy.
 
I know three people who switched over the last year, but I think they would've switched anyway - fed up with windoze!!! Market share is really misleading - a think a majority of PC's are selected for cheap skulldrudgery (cash registers, etc.)... Macs are way ahead of the curve to be used in this way (overqualified?)... What about Sun or Silicon Graphics market share??? Does it really matter??? I dunno - Apple is in sort of a different class in my opinion..
 
Failed. Big time.

The store is working to bring in new people, but the older die hards that bought G3's when they were the hot thing are not buying new stuff.

Apple is stagnant right now. Maybe the G5 will do something, but I doubt it.

Most likely they will stay a 2-5% market share company. They just don't know how to compete, or advertise effectively. That is fine.

Just stop telling me that OS X is going to rule the world.
 
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