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It is finally here... When are the TV ads coming!?!?

As I mentioned in another thread, it's also in the current issue of The Economist.

I'm curious to see who Apple is targeting, so let's try to keep tabs on where the ad (or other variations) pop up.

Anyone have a link to a decent sized scan?

More please. I have to admit, I love the cute little Flash ads over at Yahoo.

Would love to see a TV ad featuring Garage Band or iMovie. Those apps rock!

I like it. I believe that most mac people will aprove of this ad. Its not mind blowing, but its a start to what will show up on TV.

I think it looks gimmicky and cheap. Sorry. And I'm a lifelong Apple user.

I saw the same ad in Business Week as well.

They did ads like this for Panther as well (I don't remember which mags, however).

Features such as Expose, Widgets and Spotlight really need television to capture the livelyness of Mac OS X. Print is too static to communicate the strength of these features. If you didn't know better, a reader could simply view the Widget screen as simply being a bunch desk accessories cluttering up the screen. I can hear it now, "I got a calculator on my PC. What's the big deal?" Bring on the TV and animated web ads!

Ad Newsweek to the list too.

It's about time Apple shows off OSX to the general public! OSX is what made me try a Mac back in 2003 and I'm so glad I did. It was the best OS I have ever used at the time and I have used Windows, Linux and BSD. Today I use Apples latest version of OSX, Tiger and now this is the best OS I have ever used. To bad the same can't be said for Windows. Not that much difference from Windows 95 to XP.

I believe if Apple does some great TV ad's showing off what Tiger and iLife can do, we will be in double digit market share in no time. The time is right as people are sick of Windows and Linux is still not a good choice for the general public. Buy a Mac, it just works.

Greg I agree. The left screen is a spotlight search and the top item is "re: soccer practice today"

The whole add is soccer themed, so the right screen should have the dashboard widgets overlayed on an open iCal window with the soccer practice event, or on a Pages or MS Word doc entitled Soccer Schedule or something like that.

Zac

scans please!

First the Print ads. Then TV, so you can say to yourself and others "Hey I say that in a mag ad yesterday". Then we can all sit back and watch as the switch begins to happen. Not all at once but slow and steady. Just the way the stock likes it.

Nothing in this ad to get Windows users excited. Most of them don't know anything about OSX, so why not hit the big points of the OS, instead of a few new Tiger features?

Constructive criticism -
The ad's lack impact. A lot of wasted space. Get rid of the computer screens and the power blue background behind them. Get a dark background for impact.

Sell the OS, not the computer. Sell the sizzle, not the stake.

In the TV ads, fast music and short but cool screen shots showing OS X in action with cool and useful stuff. Need to counter the faults impression that the Mac can't do much and doesn't have much software available.

Impact, Impact, Impact!!!

Here's my take on this:

The ads are OKAY, but the real problem is that it doesn't address some of the main reasons that Windows users would want to switch over to the Mac:

NO VIRUSES
NO SPYWARE
NO HACKERS GETTING INTO OUR MACHINES
NO CRASHES/FREEZES

These are key reasons to switch over to the Mac. These are the top selling points of the Mac. These are things that Windows users are scared of on a daily basis, and these are the things that make the headlines on a daily basis.

THESE are the things that Apple needs to be touting in their ads.

The current ad does nothing to entice ANYONE except someone who is ALREADY a Mac user and knows what the hell Apple is talking about.

Least it isn't Newsweek.

'Twas about time.

Re DaddySteve

I disagree the use of negative space is probably the best way to get impact through print advertising.

put a comma after disagree

Apple needs to make sure they fix all the bugs in Tiger before they unleash it on the world. This is Apples best shot to gain marketshare and convert WinTel users...so they need to make sure they get it right.

I think they have held back on mass (TV) advertising soley for this reason. It's almost there.

"NO VIRUSES
NO SPYWARE
NO HACKERS GETTING INTO OUR MACHINES
NO CRASHES/FREEZES"

Have you not listened to what SJ said a few days ago?

No crashes/freezes? I guess that KP an hour ago doesn't count, huh? Please...

Sorry to disappoint Thelonius, my Newsweek also has the same ad.

Why don't you jump the American Red Cross's shit as well, they've been reporting the toilet torture at Gitmo since 2003. Oh I forgot, the White House was raising an artificial stink to take our minds off the Downing Street memo from a week earlier.

This is an okay start, but they need to add advertising for the computer, the software, the accessories (iPod) and show how they all interconnect.

The problem with advertising just OS X is that it is going to be of interest primarily to Mac owners that have an older version of OS X. Windows users can't go out and buy Tiger and expect it to work on their computer. And most people don't go shopping for an OS anyway. They either upgrade whatever they already have or take whatever comes when they purchase a new computer. So Apple needs to sell the whole package, not just one part that is only useful to a select few.

While it is very important that Apple advertises Tiger, they can't stop there or else it will be a waste of advertising money.

Nobody here reads the New Yorker? It's there too...

Just saw the advertisement in real life. Sadly, it's really ineffective, and it's almost impossible to read the white text on the light blue background. Very disappointed in this ad. Doesn't work at all.

Most people will think it is an ad for monitors.
Most people will not even notice it is for apple.
The ad people assume all consumers know what "Mac" means. Or "OS" or "Tiger". Or all of them together.

Consumers will read this:
"Just two of Tiger's more than 200 new features that will change how you use your computer."

And think it is a new software for their computer - their PC computer. They will not necessarily relize one needs an Apple computer to run this software.

Test it out - let your mom read the ad (or other PC owning adult) then ask her what it is they are selling in the ad.

or they might read it, understand what the product is, and just plain not care. I think you'll find this w/ many readers.

Those that are interested will say "great, I want it" and then find out it costs them $500+ to play ball and say no.

This ad is in the front cover of the latest issue of Business 2.0 too.

Also, they telling people that they can search through their computers is not exacly exciting. They don't emphasize the fact that you can search for a word within any document, email etc. the only reference is that you can find content in pdf files but a lot of people don't even know what a pdf file is. people are just going to think: " I can't believe you cou;dn't searc on macs until now - what a joke".

stantheman:

I had a couple of kernal panics back in the earliest days of Jaguar. None with Panther. None so far with Tiger. That would be zero kp's over a 20+ month period of extremely heavy use (video/audio editing).

Please. There isn't a Wintel machine out there with that kind of track record. And please don't try to claim otherwise.

(Incidently, most kernal panics are a result of system addtitions and third party software. The Mach kernal is stable as hell).

You may now go back to your wonderful Windows experience. And feel free to stay away for an extended period.

Also in the front of Forbes this week.

I too think that this ad sucks and is completely ineffective. The copy writer should be shot along with whomever it was at Apple that approved it, even if it was Steve.

Does anybody even read Newsweek anymore? They're not exactly believable.

These addslook like they are aimed at Panther and Jaguar users to me. If that is the case they are very effective. I am going to upgrade.

It's in my Fortune mag too.

Yeah, the mainstream media isn't believable. Too bad it took the party of Nixon 30 years to get us to believe that.

Wow.. around 4 big name zines so far..

And you guys want a full motion ad for.......software?

When was the last time you saw a great ad for software (games don't count, of course).. I mean.. it's an OS!

Well you're probably gonna say, show iLife, show a slick montage of Aqua goodness.. show expose.. show a few pretty widgets..

Actually, that would be cool for like 30 seconds, they could run it in the US and any country where they had APple Stores and at the end of the ad say sth like..

To test drive the new Mac OS X, check it out at your nearest Apple Store..

(you have to help people find an apple vendor)

To test drive the new Mac OS X, check it out at your nearest Apple Store..

should read

To test drive the new Mac OS X, go to http://www.apple.com

(and provide links from the main web site to a local Apple Store or Reseller), something like, "where test drive I buy a Mac?" and you put in your zip code or something like that...

They should be paying US...

To those of you that are suggesting putting no viruses/spyware/etc in the ads... Steve Jobs was quoted this week (in his D3 speech as noted here on MDN) as saying that security is an issue on all platforms and that computers should not be advertised that way - perhaps concerned that if Apple really starts saying "we have no viruses" the Mac will finally be a target and someone might find some way to do it?

PS - Apple stockholder
Owner of four Macs including my original Mac Plus, my AlBook and my dual 2.5 G5

They're out buying influence again...

"Study: Patching Windows Costs Less than Linux"
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1818595,00.asp

Sure it is. Do you even have to wonder who sponsored the study?

eWeek is losing it if they think this article is even objective. At least they mention it some paragraphs down...

the add isn't horrendous, and it at least gets exposure out there to wintel readers. most of the readers of those magazines are in a business setting, so they know what an operating system is, and especially in forbes and time... apples been voted #1 business a couple times or something, and readers in the business world know what apple is... I think it may be aimed to trying to get offices to swithc to tiger.

What Kernal Panic? blabs: "Please. There isn't a Wintel machine out there with that kind of track record. And please don't try to claim otherwise."

I claim otherwise. Owner of macs and pcs.
No, repeat, no problems with pcs.
pcs doing video and maya and photoshop work.

Read the text of the ad.
Not once does it use or mention the name "Apple" or "Apple computer".

Why?

My thought on this as was "big deal".
I can run widgets on my PC and I can find what I'm looking for on a PC as well.
No reason to buy a Mac.
Nice looking monitor though.

Some guy on the plane was reading Forbes, which had the ad placed right inside the cover. I agree, though -- though spotlight is life-changing, the other stuff is really just nice fluff.

The way you sell an OS to people is to tout its security, stability and ease of use.

Interesting, though, that they're going after the business crowd. Though why they should give a toss about widgets (when they can use Konfabulator) is beyond me. Tell them that they'll greatly increase uptime while greatly reducing security threats, and they'll beat a path to your door.

I can run widgets on my PC and I can find what I'm looking for on a PC as well.
No reason to buy a Mac.
+++++++

"Big Deal.. I can get cupholders in my Pinto.. no reason to get a BMW.. even if it is competitively priced.. nice rims though"

Your PC runs? How did you dodge the Sober virus? I hear there's a lovely 'uninstall' virus going around to which Mac users (as usual) are totally immune.

For the record there are about 1000 widgets for Konfab.. about 230 for Dashboard..

It'll be nice to track the date when Apple actually surpasses Konfab for widgets.. since it's built right into the OS...

I'm sure someone will do the math on the speed of widgets being built (with Dashboard being about a month old..) but let's not.. I don't think it's a consistent thing..

I claim otherwise as well. Did I not just indicate that I experienced a KP only an hour before I wrote my first post? While i'm glad (actually I don't really care :/) you've experienced no KPs in 20+ months, that's not the average Mac user's experience...and thus not truthfull marketing to be saying so. You want certifiable proof...go to your local college/university's Mac lab and watch how many users experience a KP doing hard video/audio editing...I bet you might be surprised.

As for my Windows experience, while my machine is not perfect (no machine is), I havent crashed my computer in a long long time. A well maintained, firewalled XP Pro computer is a rather stable machine (about as stable as my Panther iMac). And that my friends is why Steve Jobs and any other rational minded Apple exec would never authorize an ad compaign solely based on the perceived notion that Mac's don't crash, freeze, and even hiccup Why? Because they damn well know that every machine, be it Mac or PC does.

You see a monitor in a magazine. If you are a computer person (who isn't?), then you look at it. You look at what's on the monitor. Windows Guy thinks: "That doesn't look like MY monitor! What is that?" So you read the blurbs. You read how easy it is to find stuff. Windows Guy thinks: "Geez! Wish i could do that!" Windows Guy tells other Guys at Office. Other Guys at Office tell IT Guy. IT Guy tells Purchasing People. That's how advertising works. Who cares about a TV ad? Who watches TV? You people just want to see Mac glorification videos. Make one yourself. Ads are expensive. They target a specified audience. This ad is perfect. Shut up.

its also in australian magazines