“The Macintosh has a lot in common with the Star Wars franchise. Both feature a fantastically loyal fan base, both feature incredible name recognition and both garner massive media coverage. For the marketers of the Mac this seems to be enough, they are happy to let the positive media, web sites and satisfied customers extol their Mac experience in hopes of moving product. Apple should reconsider this strategy and take a lesson from LucasArts: If you can get people talking that’s great but it is even better when you bash them over the head time and time again until the message grabs hold like an overly stimulated pit bull,” Chris Seibold writes for Apple Matters.
“The natural question at this point is to ask ‘Why now?’ The media push for Revenge of the Sith was obvious, it coincided with the release of the movie. The reasons for a Mac push are not quite as obvious but still compelling. Tiger has been reviewed countless times with the vast majority of people agreeing that Tiger is head and shoulders (or insert appropriate feline anatomy) above Windows XP (though, seemingly, every reviewer alludes to Longhorn at some point). The introduction of the Mini has removed many of the hurdles people faced when moving to the Mac platform in the past and Apple has a ton of people talking right now. In short, this is the ripest moment in recent memory for a Mac campaign of Schwarzkopfian proportions,” Seibold writes.
“If Apple has the capacity to fulfill more orders (and given Apple’s history on meeting demand for popular products that is a very large ‘if’) then the lack of advertising is nearly unforgivable. Even if the campaign is an utter failure and features users flying into trees it is worth lightening the corporate coffers by a few dollars to give it a try,” Seibold writes.
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple Computer debuts two-page Mac OS X Tiger print ad in Time Magazine (with image) – May 24, 2005
Mac fans line up for new operating system as passberby asks ‘what is a tiger?’ – April 29, 2005
Forrester analysts: Apple should advertise Mac OS X Tiger on television and in movie theaters – April 29, 2005
Apple posts QuickTime movies of Mac OS X Tiger features in action – April 13, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV? – April 12, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple show its patented Mac OS X ‘Genie Effect’ in TV ads? – October 07, 2004
Top Ten things Apple needs to show the world about Macintosh – July 30, 2003
Couldn’t Agree More
God, please don’t make any connections between Apple and Star Wars. The prequels (all three) were truly terrible to watch. My wife begged me to see “Sith”, and except for the last 30 minutes, it pretty much lived up to the garbage dump I expected it to be. Anyone defending the prequels is delusional.
Apple, on the other hand, is still doing great things 25+ years later.
The dumbest thing Apple has done in the last 5 years is never advertise the Macintosh. This is, once again, due to Steve Jobs’ arrogance
Would you really like it if Macs were common place? Mac folks seem to enjoy thinking they are elite, smarter, and generally the coolest.
I think demand is now so high (see Amazon top sellers: computers), it’s not interesting any advertising
I agree with Charlie… Advertising for MACs would actually make it look like common… I don’t understand why people always want more advertising, when you already own you own MAC… Why would you want to see things on TV or in the street that you already have? To tell your friends that you have it? Hum, actually, that sounds very American… Let’s do it… LOL
Charlie: that is a PCer’s misconception. Macintoshes are “elite, smarter, and generally the coolest.” Most Mac users recognize that we are wise to use the superior machine, but we’d be very happy to have lots more people using them. Whenever someone around here mentions they have switched over to Mac, they are received warmly…getting more Mac users makes us happy. So, starting spreading the truth, so that we can kill off one more Mac Myth.
Has an interviewer recently asked Jobs, why Apple doesn’t advertise more?
If so… what was his reply?
Job’s reply was (in my horrible english): Many people are switching to Apple because Microsoft is having many problems with viruses, spyware, ecc. We are happy this is happening. But we can’t advertise Apple telling the truth
One ad on Rush’s talk show would reach 20 million potential switchers….no….15 million, because the rest have already switched.
We may have the best computers, but if most people don’t even know that Tiger is not just an animal loping towards extinction, Macs may follow.
“Anyone defending the prequels is delusional.”
Maybe they’re just not so invested that they are insulted that the movies didn’t turn out the way they had them vaguely envisioned. I watched the first two again before seeing Sith and they really weren’t that bad. Pulp entertainment, for sure, but pretty good pulp. People who bash the prequels are just losers with too much time on their hands.
Apple HAS advertised the Mac during the past five years:
iMac – Sage, Ruby, Indigo, SE, Snow, (Blue Dalmation and Flower Power in conjunction with iTunes)
iMac G4 (in Window)
Power Mac G5
Power Mac G4 Cube
PowerBook G4 – Titanium and Aluminum
iBook – iBook Universe (iBook revolves in empty space with different devices – Camera, camcorder, MP3 player, Palm – orbiting around it (while mentioning the things you can do with an iBook)
iBook – Middle Seat (in an airplane – guy edits movie of his girlfriend and dog).
iTunes – Rip. Mix. Burn.
iDVD – ‘Elope’
iPhoto – ‘Baby Jack’
*iMovie ads were done before this timeframe
These are only counting TV ads. There have also been numerous print ads:
DVD Studio Pro
Final Cut Pro
Logic
iMac G5
PowerBook G4 (Aluminum – three people sitting in airport(?))
There have also been Jaguar, Panther and Tiger print ads.
I don’t recall seeing an iLife or iWork ad – but they may have also been shown.
To say that Apple doesn’t advertise the Mac is to show a lack of attention.
I still think Apple will do a major TV ad blitz, They may be waiting for the perfect time (Holiday 2005, maybe)?
Remember folks, this is Apple we’re talking about. They don’t do things until they want to, not because someone is whining about it.
“People who bash the prequels are just losers with too much time on their hands.”
Funny reply:) Of course, I usually don’t have any time on my hands because I’m busing running my million dollar plus baby at http://www.richterbrothers.com. But every once in awhile I do get a free moment, and looks what happens!
The prequels were truly terrible, though.
The prequels are an example of a man gone mad with power. George Lucas needs to stop drinking the kool-aid long enough to realize he is turning out absolute trash since he got hooked into the cgi smack. The original Star Wars and Empire WERE great movies…and then it all went to shit.
Apple NEEDS to adevertise. Anyone that thinks Apple should stay small has their heads in the clouds. Apple is out to MAKE MONEY…plain and simple, and as such they need to grow. What separates Apple from MS is that they beleive in art, they believe in quality, but that doesn’t mean they don’t beleive in making money.
And, accomplishing the feat of tying Apple back to the Star Wars motif started in the article….
“I find your lack of advertizing….disturbing.”
Apple’s marketing budget steadily increases.
Apple Stores!
Like to see Apple push the security in adverts.
Thought “Sith” was not too bad. There was and article in the Boston Globe by Henry Marchand drawing interesting parallels between some of the “Sith” dialog and present day politics.
<http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/05/30/art_imitating_politics>
Apple advertises plenty. They advertise using the media and markets that their desired customers frequent. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Apple should NOT push more advertising on TV.
When a company advertises, they are promoting that particular media by giving large sums of money to the heartless corporations that own it… and TV is the worst of them all. TV is Apple’s competition, not its complement. Apple gave in a little bit when they released all those iPod ads, but they need to stop NOW.
Do you think Microsoft advertises to tell customers what’s so good about their software? If so, you’d be wrong. Microsoft advertises to get media corporations more sympathetic to Microsoft’s domination of the computer industry. They get better press when the advertising money is flowing. If Apple jumps on that bandwagon, they’ll be committing the same corporate palm-greasing that is plaguing this country. Apple needs to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Broadcast television in its current form needs to end. The only purpose for broadcast television is to show live events such as sports or particularly important breaking live news. (99.99% of “news” on TV does not fall under this category.) Everything else is previously recorded and should be viewed on-demand through the COMPUTER. (And commercial-free to boot.)
I cannot watch TV anymore because of the commercials. I like to watch The Simpsons and the 49ers and the Olympics, so I TRY to mute/ignore/walk-away as best I can when the commercials appear, but I can feel myself getting dumber every second the commercial has an ounce of my attention. Particularly since those two shows are on (GAG ME WITH A PITCHFORK!) FOX.
If I could pay for just the shows I want without commercials, I would. For other shows, I just wait for them to come out on DVD. God bless NetFlix!
Nuclear Kid,
Good answer, impressive site, legitimate reason to post it.
Oh, and the prequels do, for the most part, suck.
Couple of reason Apple may not want to advertise:
– Supply problems/Old Technology (Can Apple service a large influx of customers? Can ailing lines (iBook/PB) continue to sell with old tech? Can Apple make any speed claims when the other side has newer technologies already out in the market?)
– Games?
– Switch to Apple and have to repurchase all your software again… or maybe not find your favorite apps on the Mac! (how do you minimize this fact?)
– Apple are slower! Apple is more expensive! Although these are only partially true (c’mon it *is* somewhat true), perception is reality. Although Macs are faster/easier in certain regards (workflow, etc), new technologies hit the market in the Windows world much sooner than on Macs. Dual-Core. Video Cards.
– Okay, we’ve got an awesome OS, good software, some good hardware (in certain models), and some cool designs… but how do we compete with the likes of MS, Intel, etc when they spend the multiples of our operating budget on advertising alone, every year?
—
A sample consumer thought:
I’ve got $1500 to spend on a computer. What does it get me at Dell? My friend has a Apple iMac he bought for $1299… but all my software is Windows and that iMac seemed a little slow. I’ll check Dell’s site out; their ad on Sunday had a cool special going on and I hear Intel’s dual-core chips are coming out if they’re not already out. Wow! 1499, but for only $200 more I can upgrade to a kick-ass flat panel monitor!
—
I can already hear an Apple spokesman saying… But on the Mac you can do this… but on the Mac it works better because… but on the it comes with… but on the Mac…
Couple of reason Apple may not want to advertise:
– Supply problems/Old Technology (Can Apple service a large influx of customers? Can ailing lines (iBook/PB) continue to sell with old tech? Can Apple make any speed claims when the other side has newer technologies already out in the market?)
– Games?
– Switch to Apple and have to repurchase all your software again… or maybe not find your favorite apps on the Mac! (how do you minimize this fact?)
– Apple are slower! Apple is more expensive! Although these are only partially true (c’mon it *is* somewhat true), perception is reality. Although Macs are faster/easier in certain regards (workflow, etc), new technologies hit the market in the Windows world much sooner than on Macs. Dual-Core. Video Cards.
– Okay, we’ve got an awesome OS, good software, some good hardware (in certain models), and some cool designs… but how do we compete with the likes of MS, Intel, etc when they spend the multiples of our operating budget on advertising alone, every year?
—
A sample consumer thought:
I’ve got $1500 to spend on a computer. What does it get me at Dell? My friend has a Apple iMac he bought for $1299… but all my software is Windows and that iMac seemed a little slow. I’ll check Dell’s site out; their ad on Sunday had a cool special going on and I hear Intel’s dual-core chips are coming out if they’re not already out. Wow! 1499, but for only $200 more I can upgrade to a kick-ass flat panel monitor!
—
I can already hear an Apple spokesman saying… But on the Mac you can do this… but on the Mac it works better because… but on the it comes with… but on the Mac…
Couple of reason Apple may not want to advertise:
– Supply problems/Old Technology (Can Apple service a large influx of customers? Can ailing lines (iBook/PB) continue to sell with old tech? Can Apple make any speed claims when the other side has newer technologies already out in the market?)
– Games?
– Switch to Apple and have to repurchase all your software again… or maybe not find your favorite apps on the Mac! (how do you minimize this fact?)
– Apple are slower! Apple is more expensive! Although these are only partially true (c’mon it *is* somewhat true), perception is reality. Although Macs are faster/easier in certain regards (workflow, etc), new technologies hit the market in the Windows world much sooner than on Macs. Dual-Core. Video Cards.
– Okay, we’ve got an awesome OS, good software, some good hardware (in certain models), and some cool designs… but how do we compete with the likes of MS, Intel, etc when they spend the multiples of our operating budget on advertising alone, every year?
—
A sample consumer thought:
I’ve got $1500 to spend on a computer. What does it get me at Dell? My friend has a Apple iMac he bought for $1299… but all my software is Windows and that iMac seemed a little slow. I’ll check Dell’s site out; their ad on Sunday had a cool special going on and I hear Intel’s dual-core chips are coming out if they’re not already out. Wow! 1499, but for only $200 more I can upgrade to a kick-ass flat panel monitor!
—
I can already hear an Apple spokesman saying… But on the Mac you can do this… but on the Mac it works better because… but on the it comes with… but on the Mac…
PCers often wonder why Mac Users are so ardent about their computers. Well, at least in my case, it is because of the delight I feel at using a product that is so well made – starting at the OS and going right down to the hardware – Macs are just really fun to use. I have switched quite few people over the years and they always come back and thank me and are really glad they made the switch. It feels really good to help others enjoy life a little more.
And THAT is why we want Apple to advertise OS X more. Most people just have no idea and they should all at least be given the chance to make an informed choice.
On another note, I think the reason people get the impression that Mac Users are elitist because in describing how cool Macs are, you must perforce have a basis for comparison – and by default that comparison is usually with windoze. People don’t like to be told that they have made a mistake and that the product they chose is inferior; especially when they are choosing what the majority of the world chooses. They want to feel good about their purchase – or at least that everyone else is in the same boat. So when Mac Users tell them that the Mac is better, the knee jerk reaction is to get defensive and to start tossing elitist labels around.
Just a few comments for the Mac & PC guy. I’m not disagreeing, and you mention that perception is reality and maybe Apple needs to help help change the perception…
“- Switch to Apple and have to repurchase all your software again… or maybe not find your favorite apps on the Mac!
Remember that most Windows users–and Mac users for that matter–don’t “purchase software.” They use the stuff that came on the machine. Games, of course, are the exception.
In fact, most studies show that Mac users actually purchase more software than PC users, so I’d think that going from Mac to PC would be more of a problem.
Can you give me an example of the software that your average home PC user would have to buy? The “You have to repurchase your software” is mostly FUD.
“[…] new technologies hit the market in the Windows world much sooner than on Macs. Dual-Core. Video Cards.”
I’d point out that Dual-CPU hit the Mac market long before it hit the PC market. As an aside, when Apple shipped dual-CPUs, most PC users scoffed that this was just because Apple couldn’t make the megahertz numbers bigger. Of course, now that PC users have dual-core (essentially, dual-CPU on one chip), it’s best thing since sliced bread.
Video cards, I’d agree with. The main reason for this, though, is that most of the Macintoshes sold have video cards on the motherboard, so there isn’t a huge market for them.
Again, in regards to your “sample consumer”, I’d want to know what software he has that is Windows?
So… how should Apple advertise?
Apple has done a terrific job with the iPod. But it’s technology was easy to employ, supply, and distribut.
How should Apple advertise Tiger? If they sell the sizzle as they did with the iPod, they could do push a unified message on the experience. Comparing to Windows may make them seem like small chumps and also-rans, but then again… new customers means grabbing away Windows customers? So screw it, compare away to Windows (there are so many holes in it, poor interaction, and generally bad policies).
—
5..4..3..2….
You are ready for change.
You know where you’ve been,
and where it has gotten you.
You want something more.
You want something better.
You want something that works.
Tiger: The most advanced, secure, easy-to-use OS available today.
Advanced :: Easy-to-Use
Elegant :: Robust
Work :: Play
Tiger for Macintosh
Amazing Experiences, brought to you by Apple
—
Okay… so I’ve got to brush up on my advertising skills.