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Former Apple Ad Man Slams 'Genius' TV Spots as "Landing With A Thud"

Moonlight said:
I would take ANYTHING Ken Segall says, with a grain of salt.

All Ken is trying to do is SELL BOOKS with his comments. Nothing more.

His comments are an ADVERTISEMENT for his book.
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This. Not awesome ads, not horrible. Focus is on service/geniuses for the people that need it and didn't know.

Anyway, ad-people are the worst critics I see when other people's work is being evaluated. Always the downplaying of others and selling of themselves, no matter if the work being evaluated is good, poor or fantastic. Hate it!
 
My god, you people need to relax. They are meant to be FUNNY. It's called HUMOR. Yes they are the polar opposite of the feelings apple conveys with other ads. And? Do they make Mac users look a little foolish? Yes, but that's what makes them great. It's all part of the ACT. I have a feeling that apples target was a completely different audience that they want to reach. From an analyst point of view that's a very good move.
 
Agree. These ads had my bf and I both rolling our eyes. Seems like something the lazy guy in your college marketing class group project would come up with.
 
seamuskrat said:
They have accomplished 1 thing very well - buzz. As some PR folks like to point out, any publicity can be good.

Was Apple trying to generate buzz? I think they are always looking for buzz and these ads due to the blogosphere activity did just that. Mission accomplished.

Will we see more of this series? Probably.
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The only major 'buzz' they're getting is on these rumor sites. I sure hope thye're not going to do a series. I see no benefit in telling potential customers that they'll need to find an Apple employee to assist every time they want to do something on their Apple device.
 
In these days, we all are asking the same question from ourselves. WWJD. What would Jobs do?
 
scotty321 said:
Dear Phil Schiller & Tim Cook,
I strongly recommend that you read the book "XXXXXXXXXX" by Ken XXXXX. In his book, XXXXXXX outlines, step-by-step, what made Apple's ad campaigns a success... "

If this isn't a blatant promo post (book and author mentioned two times) then there has never been one. The person he quotes is living off of Steve Jobs. Time to let it go. Move on. Create your own success.

Several friends I've seen and talked to who saw them (20-30 yo) during Olympics, laughed and thought they were funny and made Apple more fun than an enterprise driven campaign. There are some total non-tech types, not one of which said they felt 'talked down to' but said...yeah...that's me.

Lots of very serious analysis of some humor going on here, that in itself is scarier to me than the ads.
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Wah Wah Wah call the wambulance...the ads aren't bad. I liked them.

Haters gonna hate.

Go Apple!
 
My friends and I were at a bar watching the Olympics when we saw these ads. We were all like, what the hell was that? Swear to God. The ads just make me shake my head.
 
I completly agree. I didn't think this was Apple. These Suck! Not interesting, not 'Different" and what they show off the genious ability of clicking a few things to make a movie? Come on Apple. Get creative with your ads. I remember watching the PC and apple ad and even the ipod ads. They were so cool and Different. Ugh this is so upsetting to see this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5z0Ia5jDt4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlHUz99l-eo
 
These are like Best Buy ads....

Pretty lame and uninspired.

Granted, compared to the majority of car dealership ads, these are better. But....
 
Reach said:
This. Not awesome ads, not horrible. Focus is on service/geniuses for the people that need it and didn't know.

Anyway, ad-people are the worst critics I see when other people's work is being evaluated. Always the downplaying of others and selling of themselves, no matter if the work being evaluated is good, poor or fantastic. Hate it!
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Being an ad person is the only thing that enabled this story to get posted. Had I written what I thought of the ads being only a customer, it never would have gotten posted.
 
heimo said:
In these days, we all are asking the same question from ourselves. WWJD. What would Jobs do?
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Yet Tim Cook said Steve specifically told him NOT to ask that question.

All the people hating on Cook and the current management team, you do realize Steve was the one to put them in place, and Steve was the one to recommend Cook be his replacement. So hating on them is basically hating on Steve for putting them in the positions they're in right now.
 
The fact that they chose quite possibly the most annoying and cheesy actors they could didnt really help. They are poor ads...very poor ads.

Oh and I agree on the whole idiotic 'Steve wouldn't have done it like that' - its a bull statement to say that as NOBODY knows what Steve would have done. Lets not forget that jobs made a number of huge mistakes...he was not some sort of superior being, just a very well respected individual who knew his stuff and knew what his customers wanted. That really is all.
 
scotty321 said:
Dear Phil Schiller & Tim Cook,

...

I strongly recommend that you read the book "XXX" by Ken Segall. In his book, Ken Segall outlines, step-by-step, what made Apple's ad campaigns a success under Steve Jobs.

It is so incredibly clear that:
(a) Neither of you have read this book.
(b) Neither of you learned anything from Steve's ad campaigns in the past.

Please read the book "XXX" by Ken Segall, and try to focus on turning Apple's ads around.
...

Thank you.
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Ken, is that you?? Or maybe a rep from Portfolio publishing. Sad really that this guy has to advertise by being negative. Maybe if he had done anything in the past few years but try to profit off of Steve Jobs death, he would have something positive to add.
 
turtlez said:
holy crap I hope this is not a sign Apple is on a decline in quality
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So you relate an external ad companies advert to Apple failing? You really need to learn how stuff works. Sorry, but it was a really stupid post. Microsoft has been putting out crap adverts for years, yet continue to dominate the markets that those ads are meant for (e.g Xbox).
 
I can't wait for the complaints regarding the next ad campaign. Just to see how many people post links to these current ads as examples of what they wish Apple would go back to.
 
Sardonick007 said:
Why wouldn't the ads make customers look stupid? The condescending attitude of most of the so-called geniuses (very loosely used) at our local stores do that every day. I wouldn't trust a car salesman parrot, er, I mean a genius, as far as I could throw them. I love Apple products and I admired Jobs, but that's where the fanfare ends. If the products falter, I buy something else, if I get treated without respect, I go somewhere else. Simple.
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well, it's only that simple if you didn't invest (heavily) into the ecosystem. I definitely spend more than 100€ in apps. While that may not seem big for some people around here, it is for me (CS student, still on a 2007 Macbook). Also, if you have mac apps that work with iOS counterparts, like OmniFocus, you are not going to switch your OS for some little thing you dislike. We have reached a point where all platforms perform the basic tasks very well. Whatever you feel apple "does to you", it does not take your iPhone's abilities away from you.

TL;DR: if you invested in the ecosystem, you are not gonna change it as easily as you would think (at least if you are not "rich", as in "I cannot pay for all that software again")
 
iLilana said:
PLease hire me to replace the guy who made these ads. I have limited experience in marketing but I know I can do better because these ads make me NOT want to buy your products. They were poorly thought out. I thought I was watching a Staples or Geek-squad ad. You are better than this. Your marketing department is better than this. Why then is this a horrible campaign? If you want to move forward then think forward.
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Dear iLilana,

I found three glaring errors in your ad copy. While I wish you every success in your endeavours, regrettably those endeavours will not take place at Apple.

Sincerely,

Tim Cook
 
Looks like Apple don't even know what their staff do, most of the adds call the guy a 'genius' when they are being asked to teach people how to use stuff. So that would make them creatives.

sorry, fan boy moan....
 
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