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Show it, don't say it? No....

This point, I have to disagree with you on. There are some significant downsides to airing an ad with few or no words. For starters, a certain percentage of people with their TV on are not going to be sitting in front of it while commercials are airing. Rather, they're using the opportunity to go get something out of the kitchen, go to the bathroom, etc. If an ad doesn't have audio, it's totally lost on them.

Also, there are people out there simply listening to the audio portion of TV broadcasts. Some of these would be the legally blind population (who ironically, might be very good candidates for purchasing new iPods - especially with all of the eBooks available on them). Others are people who own radios that also pick up the audio from network TV stations. (They're not exactly common, but they exist. Radio Shack used to sell them, for example. People are sometimes seen using them to listen to sporting events while they're out and about.)


swingerofbirch said:
Plus, the ads have too many words. The iPod ads worked because there are no words. Cool people don't need to say it: show it. Show the energy.
 
re: New Mac Ads. Where is the Boot Camp sell?

Very nice ads. Very cute ads. Very hip Apple ads. However, also very off the mark IMHO for one serious ommission. Every ad ought to end with:

"And now runs Windows XP as well as Apple's ground-breaking OSX."

The average guy on the street doesn't even know about this. Apple, cut the soft sell and use your advertising dollars wisely. No switch campagin will ever be as powerful as those few words above.

Aryeh :cool:
http://www.Har-Even.com
 
I think it would've been cool if the Mac guy was wearing a sleek all-white suit, and the PC guy should've been wearing the clothes the Mac guy is wearing in the ads now. It communicates the sense of Macs looking better than PCs.
 
Sorry if this has been covered, already, but I finally figured out who the kid reminds me of. Brandon, the sci-fi geek in "Galaxy Quest". Same face. Same voice. Same actor?

edit: just visited imdb.com and apparently, it is him. Justin Long
 
I'm sure existing Apple users like the ads--but I think it further alienates PC users. PC users like the iPod as much for its massive popularity and availability of third-party options, as for its design. PC users do not like iPods BECAUSE of iTunes. If anything, they're irked that it takes work to make the iPod work with other players--or to get other MP3 players cooperating with iTunes. Furthermore, I think they really miss the mark on what's included with a new Windows computer. Certainly more than a clock or calculator--anyone who's ever bought a new PC knows that. If anything, those computers come with TOO MUCH crap. If Apple wants people to take the switch seriously, at least paint an accurate picture. The only computer that comes without a load of (mostly unwelcome) software is a corporate one.

Most PC users get an iPod because its popular, readily available and well supported by third parties. Just like a PC.
 
Hey, they finally changed the ad on the home page. Now it's the virus one.

Thank goodness. I was starting to get sick of the last one.

edit: looks like Apple is cycling through them now, if I keep hitting refresh I get a different ad each time.
 
JGowan said:
I completely dissagree.

Generally, O-35s have long-since been at their careers. They have moved up the corporate ladders a lot further than when they started, with each rung increasing their income.

Typically, O-35s have been married by now and many are a two-income family. Personally, I just got married and went from a $55K income to $100,000 with my wife.

Generally, U-35s are still getting started in their careers, they're paying back student loans, still spending what little income on eating. Sure, certainly they're swayed to have "what's cool" because they're still buying into the notion that you have to HAVE what's cool in order to be cool. Maturity brings the knowledge that "cool" is simply being at peace with yourself.

There's something to this.

I think the catering to the under-35 market is an outgrowth of marketing to kids. Why market to kids at all, because they don't have any money. The answer is because they get their guilty parents to buy them things. Marketers learned this lesson a long time ago.

They're also aimed at the young-adult-still-living-at-home (an extension of the college student) who gets mom and dad to coddle them through life.

Frankly I have a lot more money now that I'm 37 than I ever did when I was 23.

There are two sides to the argument -- people over 35 are the ones with all the money, buying Porsches, summer homes, boats, etc. But young ones are more likely to be impulsive and irresponsible and get themselves in debt to get the cool toys.

On the subject of middle aged men buying Porsches, sometimes items appear to be marketed at youth when in fact they are marketing youth itself (buy this product and you'll be young and verile and the ladies will flock to you), or the corallary of the aging hipster trying to relive his Berkeley radical days, still sporting the pony tail with the new bald spot.
 
These ads aren't fooling anyone.

When you charge the most for your product, it's SUPPOSED to be the best.

Creating commercials bragging about how great you are while ignoring the fact that you have to pay an exponentially high price for an incremental gain in quality (like all high end products) isn't nearly as effective as a simple Dell commercial that shows the public a middle-of-the-road PC that can fulfill 95% of the public's computing demands with a much more affordable price actually SHOWN in the ad.

I'd be willing to wager that more iPod commercials would do more to sell Apple computers than these ridiculous ads. Get a person used to the Apple name with something like the iPod and they're instantly much more likely to embrace other products from that same company - regardless of it's high prices.
 
msandersen said:
Curiously, the Apple ads page only works in Internet Explorer on my PC. A script hangs in FireFox and a black box with a film icon shows. Opera started playing the ad, then crashed. Guess I gotta get a mac, huh?? :)

I think it is a mistake to post these ads in a format that only Macs can use out of the box! If they are serious about getting PC users to switch, the ads should be able to be viewed on a PC!

Please don't say they can just get QuickTime. They shouldn't have to. And if they do, they will get the impression that Apple is no better than Real or all the other nasty companies out there that install software on Windows boxes that run by default, install themselves in the systray, etc.
 
Apple Shmapple said:
These ads aren't fooling anyone.

When you charge the most for your product, it's SUPPOSED to be the best.

Creating commercials bragging about how great you are while ignoring the fact that you have to pay an exponentially high price for an incremental gain in quality (like all high end products) isn't nearly as effective as a simple Dell commercial that shows the public a middle-of-the-road PC that can fulfill 95% of the public's computing demands with a much more affordable price actually SHOWN in the ad.

I'd be willing to wager that more iPod commercials would do more to sell Apple computers than these ridiculous ads. Get a person used to the Apple name with something like the iPod and they're instantly much more likely to embrace other products from that same company - regardless of it's high prices.


Calling yellow, calling yellow, please deploy your FUDpatrol™ immediately. We have a situation.
 
gauchogolfer said:
Calling yellow, calling yellow, please deploy your FUDpatrol™ immediately. We have a situation.

LOL, but there is a point in their post; and I think Apple is addressing it in their new ads. The shame of it is that Boot Camp is in beta right now. But that is the genius behind the current ads, they lay the foundation for when Boot Camp is out of beat and in 10.5 fully fleshed out.

I may have said this before, but in the past this time of year is not the best for computer sales (to be honest my experience in computer sales is now almost 10+ years old).
 
I know, I'm REALLY slow, I didn't see the Mac ads until now, which is not like me. I liked the Networking ad the best, and they all made me laugh!
 
This is gonna be huge! It is now on new cnn website site. :rolleyes:

EDIT: sorry guys... PDF thing, slow thing. haha
 

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To be honest... I dont like them... cant explain exactly why, but they just arent that good to me... am I the only one? :eek:
 
My wife gets upset by the ads.

We have two Macs in the house -- a Mini, which SHE uses to surf the web, and my MacBook Pro. Along with half a dozen PCs.

She thinks the ads are too snarky and every time she sees a commercial she says the "PC people" (whoever they are) should retaliate with their own ads.

She also points out that having two guys standing around doesn't really tell you much about computers, and she was disturbed by the appearance of the partially-shaven "Mac" guy. I admit that look is bizarre -- is he a chemo-therapy patient, how do you get such uneven facial hair growth?

We saw the ad with the Japanese camera for the first time last night, and the GAY alarm went off when everybody is holding hands.

I agree that the ads are too conceptual -- you don't sell a Mercedes by having two people standing around pretending they are Mercedes. You show the damned car. Apple should be showing the Macs not doing conceptual performance art.
 
IMO the ads suck. I think any company which tried to put down something to get ahead really has nothing above to offer. If they can honestly show something in 30 seconds that would make someone say "I want that!" then you're doing good.

For right now, the ads would be targetting PC users who dont know how to use a computer and dont know any better because the ones that do can see past this crap and they find it annoying and childish.
 
Hey Folks,
Relax a bit!
Eat an Apple or something (funny eh!)
I personally love the adds..I sat around the day they were released on line with all my friends (I have alot). We watched them over and over. We lauhged so hard we cried a river of iTears. Love Love Love em! Remeber Steve Jobs is god and Bill Gates is satan. These commercials are of biblical importance!!! Its like Good vs Evil.. Down with the evil. The apples will rise!! Sweet Sweet Apples..they will come crashing through Windows and take over all the households of America and Beyond.
Yours Truly..
The original Applehead
Georgeo!!
 
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