“Three months after shooting a new Switch campaign with legendary director Errol Morris, Apple has pulled the plug before the first ads even hit television,” Ryan Katz reports for Think Secret. “Apple had been planning for upwards of a year to produce a new series of Switch ads following in the footsteps of the initial campaign, which featured the stories of ordinary people who had switched from Windows to Mac.”
“The new Switch campaign was to emphasize the iPod’s ‘halo effect,’ capturing stories of people who connected with Apple for the first time with an iPod and went on to purchase a Mac.” Katz reports, “It came as a surprise to many parties involved when word arrived late Wednesday that Apple had officially abandoned the new Switch campaign for good. ‘An unbelievable amount of money was invested in this campaign, you wouldn’t believe it,’ one source commented. ‘It was supposed to be a huge, huge campaign.’ Like the original campaign, the new Switch ads were destined for television, print, billboards, and buses.”
Full article with the gory details here.
Morris directed Apple’s popular “Switch” campaign ads, which consisted of vignettes about real people who had abandoned PCs for Macs, including the famous or infamous, depending on your point of view, “Ellen Feiss” ad. The original “Switch” or “Real People” ads were filmed using a special camera developed by Morris, called the “Interrotron,” which uses mirrors to make interview subjects appear to be speaking to an interviewer when they are actually facing the camera. Quicktime movies of the Ellen Feiss ad and all of the other Apple “Switch” ads here.
Our favorite “Switch” ad never aired except at Macworld Expo NYC: Will “I’m a porn actor” Ferrell
Related articles:
Apple “Switch” ad director Errol Morris producing new Apple Computer TV ad campaign – June 14, 2005
Forrester analysts: Apple should advertise Mac OS X Tiger on television and in movie theaters – April 29, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV? – April 12, 2005
Apple asks for new ‘Switcher’ stories – February 16, 2005
Switchers Icon Set debuts for Mac OS X; includes Ellen Feiss icon – December 26, 2002
Feissmania hits new peak; Ellen’s first interview is now online – November 21, 2002
Feissmania has no bounds – October 02, 2002
Wow, wonder what the heck happened.
FP BTW
switch to what ?
Yeah…what are we switching to?! Already switched… ha!
I seriously wonder what happened here. We’ve been begging Apple to advertise more, and they won’t.
I’ve pretty much gotten over any notions that people need to switch. Sure, I want more people to switch to Mac, as more sales=more revenue=better R&D=better products, but part of the Mac mystique is exclusivity. It’s not about elitism or feeling better than others, but just the sense that you are part of something that is significantly changing the way we live our lives.
/end philosophical tangent
People should switch, but if they don’t, who cares. We’ll still have a kick-ass OS at the end of the day, getting better by the second.
with the goofy flighty people, then good call!
Poor response from test audiences?
A few Errol Morris films have recently been released on DVD, and are available on Netflix. I recommend them, especially “The Thin Blue Line.” Amazing, and an absolute *must see* if you are a documentary fan.
Thats a shame, I was hoping to see a big Apple presence in the advertising world again for something other than iPod/iTunes.
It’s about Apple’s nimble business planning, the shift to Intel, and an all new campaign in the works. Mark my words.
Dennis, Other strong ones are “Mr.Death” or Fast,Cheap and out of Control. Mr. Death is amazing!!
You can’t switch if you’re going from Intel to Intel.
The Switch from ppc to Intel is behind it. People might get confused.
“special camera developed by Morris, called the “Interrotron,” which uses mirrors to make interview subjects appear to be speaking to an interviewer when they are actually facing the camera”
I know what you’re trying to say, but that’s a very bad way to put it. It appears to the subject that they are talking to an interviewer, but it appear to the viewer that they are talking to the camera. You don’t need a special camera to “make interview subjects appear to be speaking to an interviewer”, now do you ?
Steve Jobs was probably pissed off with the guy over something.
Maybe they had ‘a dis-aggreement’ over ‘lunch!.
Well, Apple better get some kind of ads out. It’s back to school time. Students need iBooks and iPods! If I were Apple I would also offer a 12″ PowerBook geared for college students. It will look more grown up and less feminine for male students. Or a new color choice for the iBook.
Intel and or Microsoft may have had something to do with pulling the plug on this. Either that or the timing was not right. Not until the Intel chips are ready to go for mass production of new Macs.
I think Apple may have other big surprises in store for us. There is always a plan B. And that may be a lot better than plan A.
No need for switches, or buttons for that matter. Apple will soon unveil a new type of “ROM” — read operator’s mind. Hywel is already practicing up. (“I know what you’re trying to say…”
Apple ought to release them as viral ads over the net….
OK. I think rather than know what MDN was trying to say. I could, of course, have been wrong. MDN may have just have been plain stupid.
Its all part of John Dvorak’s vision. There’s no reason to switch users to a Mac. Apple’s bringing OS X to Windows users!
10 million copies of OS X sold to Windows users at $100 each comes to $1 billion in revenue. Thats a lot more dough than their hardware could generate.
Hywel,
I read it as it appears to the viewer that the subject is speaking to an interviewer (off camera) when they are actually looking into the camera. My guess is there is a parascope type device attached to the front of the camera that off-sets the image a bit, and a fake lense on the front of the camera that the subject would naturally be drawn to look directly at. Kind of like having the person look into a fake camera when the real camera is hidden just off to one side.
Andy
Dang. Apple was finally gonna start advertising again and abandoned it??!!?? I hope they have something even better in the works cuz now is the time to hit hard while the hittings good. All the planets are coming into alignment for Apple to gain real market share. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE advertise Apple and dispel some of the myths that are holding back a lot of people from making the switch.
Hey steve, pass the crack pipe….
or
Soon enough you wont have to switch shit… other than your os.
Switch .. not to a mac, but to OSX…. ?
don’t abandon the hardware steve…. Make them bow before you… dont feel the pressuse, because there is none, Make them feel the pressure..
Because the switch ads were about switching to Macintosh. Apple is going to open OS X to WinTel boxen and the Mac is dead.
I’ll be the last to believe it. Just as I was the last person to believe Apple would switch to Intel processors.
Is the Mac dead? What about the support issues? This is a very risky and dangerous road. Will Intel develop new chips without all the x86 legacy once OS X takes over the desktop?
Is this a really big flag that says a seachange is about to hit the computer industry?
MW:run
“10 million copies of OS X sold to Windows users at $100 each comes to $1 billion in revenue. Thats a lot more dough than their hardware could generate.”
Apple made $1.5billion from Mac sales last quarter.
BTW, here’s how the Interrotron works:
http://www.whiterabbitdesigncompany.com/Miscellaneous/images/Interrotron.html
I wonder if Microsoft started waving license fees in front of Apple for their iPod interface or threatened to pull the plug on Office.
When you think of it, the new ad campaign was really an anti-Microsoft campaign. Apple was scared to death to contribut to the anti-trust effort of Microsoft.
Apple really doesn’t get directly antagonistic with Microsoft all that much.
The “Ellen Fiess” link is dead.