By SteveJack
I understand why Apple may be reticent to advertise Mac OS X on television. Thirty seconds is too brief a time to be able to show anything of substance. And, they’ve tried the concept (with the Classic Mac OS) before in the past (even going so far as trying long-form infomercials) and it just didn’t work.
But, now, with their network of retail stores, Apple has what they never had before – highly visible places where they can direct people after they’ve whetted their imaginations with TV commercials. Not advertising Mac OS X on television now is nothing short of criminal. My hope is that, very soon, Apple will address the lack of Mac OS X advertising, particularly on TV.
I’m not suggesting that Apple try to explain why Mac OS X is better for the average personal computer user. Apple should simply be showing brief vignettes of Mac OS X doing visually appealing things that look “cool.” Yes, I’m talking pretty much all flash and no substance. Even though I hate the term I’m going to use it, Apple needs to show Mac OS X’s “eye candy.” That’s what would work and it’s really all Apple needs to show on TV. After all, why make it so beautiful if you’re not going to show it to the world? Is it just for the Mac users’ benefit or does Apple want to use it to sell more Macs?
The purpose of these commercials is not to create instant switchers who will toss out their Windows boxes for Macs. The sole purpose of these commercials is to drive people into Apple retail stores by creating curiosity. Yes, I realize that the iPod is doing a good job of driving people into the Apple stores, but a good TV campaign featuring Mac OS X would do an even better job.
How do I know it would work? Only because it does. Whenever I am on a plane or somewhere and people catch what’s happening on my PowerBook’s screen, I get questions. And the questioning means people are curious, at least it does to me.
What should Apple show on TV? Just point the camera over someone’s shoulder while they’re rippling through a Dock full of icons with Magnification on full bore. Show a Finder window Genie effecting down into the Dock and then Genie another one up in Column View. Quickly and easily navigate Column View to find a QuickTime movie. Play the movie and Genie it down into the Dock. Roll over it and show it playing in the Dock. Genie another movie window out while it’s playing and Zoom (Command-Option-+) right in to it. Fade to the Apple logo and the words “Visit an Apple Store to discover more about Mac OS X” or something to that effect. No music, just the natural sound of wherever the Mac happens to be and the audio produced by the Mac when it’s making sound. The person could be at home with the sound of a TV on faintly in the background, on a plane, on a train, in a classroom, in Starbucks, or wherever else you’d find a Mac in action.
The idea above is just an example, the point is just to show people how Mac OS X does things in “cool” ways and get them interested. These ads are not to try to show how someone can import from a DV camera to make an iMovie, burn a DVD and send it to their parents. These ads are not to show how to do anything. They’re just for show. Imagine ads with Tiger’s Dashboard Widgets, iChat AV in action, Exposé, the Fast User Switching 3-D cube effect, Heads-up Application Switcher (Command-Tab), playing The Sims, MS Word running on a Mac, etc. Just show it.
My guess is that Apple could pack a campaign of unique thirty-second ads with very compelling visuals that would really be eye openers to millions of people who are totally or mostly unfamiliar with what today’s Mac can do and get them to say “wow!” That’s exactly what happens over my shoulder or in the seat next to me in-flight. Too many people have no idea what today’s Mac is, how it looks, and how things move and act onscreen. How many people see that white Apple logo and walk right past the store in the mall thinking, “oh, the iPod store” or “that’s not really for me.”
The best advertising is deadly simple. I truly believe that if Apple would just show the gorgeousness of Mac OS X to mass TV audiences they’d increase the foot traffic in Apple retail stores with curious personal computer users who’ve never seen or imagined anything like Mac OS X before. And once Apple gets them into the Apple store, the staff can explain the substance that lies beneath the “eye candy.”
SteveJack is a long-time Macintosh user, web designer, multimedia producer and a regular contributor to the MacDailyNews Opinion section.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple to ship Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ on Friday, April 29; pre-orders start today – 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
Stevo mate,
advertise it up, i could not agree more strongly with the sentiments of the author and really beleive it could be a major step in getting huge movers from the windows platform. i mean how can you expect people to shift over if you dont advertise, its absolutely ludicrious. the adverts have to look cool, and its not hard to do for a product like Tiger. If Apple dont advertise then theyre cutting their own throats.
bugger trying to be too technical or even remotely technical, make it fun and the gap between the boring windows platform and the Mac will speak for itself. its a huge selling point. the ads are for consumers, not corporations.
My guess is that Apple was waiting for Tiger to start OS X TV advertising.
So let’s wait and see…
I may not have Steve Jobs’ address or private email, but I did take gopher’s advice and sent an email to their marketing department, so thats 2 Anthony. Also, didn’t Apple recently hire the person responsible for the hp “Invent” ad campaign. While I can’t stand using Windoze PC’s, you have to admit those ads were more convincing than the Dell dude and anything M$ has ever done.
If there’s room on the TV schedule to show a woman plugging a hole in a boat with her Tampax, there’s room for an Apple Mac OS X commercial. ‘Nuff said.
Its increditble that Apple is regarded as the premier marketing company in the world – yet here its fans all agree its advertising is woefull.
I disagree about TV adverts showing Tiger eye candy. Instead they should show celebrities and make people ask ‘if its good enough for them…’. That was a lot to do with the iPod’s success – musicians were onto the iPod very early.
When Apple starts the iTMS equivalent for HD movies encoded in H.264 that you can download to your Mac mini and show how one can record HD content right off your FireWire-enabled cable box, then I think you’ll see some advertising.
I think Apple should make a slew of commericals where each one shows the person using key features of OS X in real life. Like a guy has a crouded desk, and everything arranges itself so he can find what he is looking for. Or a Dashboard commerical where all kinds of widgets surround them. Or… the list goes on and on.
I meant “Crowded” desk and it was (Duh!) describing Expose.
>Or a Dashboard commerical where all kinds of widgets surround them. Or… the list goes on and on>
Is ‘commerical’ a cross between commercial and comical? I know-you’re just explaining MS Longtooth stuff.
How about this:
Do a “Beauty Is More Than Skin Deep” ad campaign with the object to emphasize ALL of Apple’s great software, especially iLife (and OS X).
It would go somewhat along the lines of- Oh, yea; our machines are beautiful, but look how talented they are. Look what you can do do with one…
I think that a time laps sequence of GarageBand in action, loop by loop, w/ vocal dub, real instrument plugged in, etc. would get people of all ages’ attention.
Yes, sell the software, because that is where Apple really kicks butt.
We need a spokesperson.
Very good article.
I so want a Macintosh…
The real question is why Macs in general are rarely seen on TV, not just OSX. The clear answer is priorities and strategy. iPod is the priority. Halo effect is the strategy. Failing to advertise Macs is causing them to slip from the market’s conscience. I still think Macs will not be quite ready for mainstream until a multi-button scroll mouse is introduced, a cheap flat panel monitor (for the Mini), and a better way to locate applications better than the paleozoic Finder and the hesitant, slow expanding app folder on the dock. Apple must cater to Windows users, and one-button mouse will never fly with them, plain and simple. I hope to see more Mac ads soon. I’ve had my fill of the iPod, as great as it is.
FWIW, I’d probably start with some iTunes advertisements that actually *show* the interface.
Run through some “expected” iTunes stuff that people on a Windows are already generally used to…plugging in an iPod, doing the stuff.
But then…GENIE iTunes down (while its still playing tunes) and open up iPhoto, or iMovie…or whatever.
Do a nasty tease to show off SOME of the capabilities (& eye candy) and as it fades out…
The voice-over suggests:
“…come see the REST of what an Apple lets you do…”
-hh
(C) 2005. (Steve, my fee is to have lunch together, and/or a loaded 3GHz DP G5)
The real question is why Macs in general are rarely seen on TV,
The cheapest thing Apple sells is 99 cents.
One song at the iTMS.
Then there’s an iPod shuffle.. then a couple iPods.. (we’re ignoring the iSights, etc)
Next is the Mac Mini…Then the eMac.. then the ‘entry-level iMac’
What’s my point? The ‘Halo Effect’ only works if you start at the bottom and work your way up..
a 99 cent price point is okay for ANYONE..
a $99 iPod shuffle is great… getting people into the ‘apple doesn’t suck, i guess’ headspace is going to happen from the iTMS on up…
Don’t bother promoting Xserves… this is about mindshare.. start promoting the absolute cheapest thing you make.. then promote iPods in the iTMS (check)
then promote the Mac mini in Apple Stores (check)
then mention the G5 to users looking for more power (check)
then for the hardcore IT guys the Xserve is powerful and affordable (price/performance)
Imagine a pyramid, the price always increasing and the number of people interested in the product always getting smaller and smaller. The only way to win is to broaden the base.
That’s what Apple is focusing on.
Thanks.
“Tell that to the millions who’ve bought iPods as a result of Apple’s television commercials that advertised them.”
The iPod isn’t a success because of Apple’s commercials. Almost everybody thought Apple had lost their minds when they originally announced the they were releasing an mp3 player. It was overpriced and there were already dozens on the market.
What made the iPod a success was the iPod itself.
Word of mouth (much, much more than anything else; be it fad factor, cool factor, you-name-it) is what made the iPod a hit. Everyone who bought one and thought it was great, told their friends, who in turn bought one and told other friends, and so on, and so on, and so on.
MDN MW is “science.” As in “Advertising that generates results isn’t rocket science. It just seems that way.”
Quote: “The purpose of these commercials is not to create instant switchers who will toss out their Windows boxes for Macs. The sole purpose of these commercials is to drive people into Apple retail stores by creating curiosity.”
Curiosity is the same reason I tried marijuana when i was 17, and I must say that being curious is fun
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What about advertising iLife and iWork? The latest Windows TV ads show a girl who wants to be a musician, and give the impression that she can generate all kinds of music using her Windows PC. But they’re not advertising a product, just an idea.
Apple should counter that kind of conceptual advertising with what it has — real products. Show a kid jamming on his guitar with the “band” inside his Mac. Show a girl mixing loops and creating the soundtrack for her next party. Show someone blowing away the competition at the science fair with an HD DVD. Show a businessman with a great looking presentation, clicking through the 3D transitions with his wireless mouse. Show people real people using real products from Apple instead of the imagined potential of Windows, and they just might get the point.
I 2nd that Spencer
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I’m a switcher. 5 minutes in a store looking at the eye candy and I was sold.
Yes, yes, yes, YES! I get so tired of being sniggered at for owning a mac (although I put it down to jelousy). Tell the populus what the experts think…. the future of computing is here, NOW!! Mac OSX Tiger!
Lets keep Mac OS-X a secret. That way we can enjoy it all by ourselves!