“How much do all those iPod commercials cost? It’s a bundle. Apple Computer spent $287 million on advertising in its last fiscal year, up nearly 40 percent from the $206 million it spent a year earlier. And the company spent $193 million in the year before that, according to its annual report, filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission,” Ina Fried reports for CNET News.
“The ad spending, though significant, is far less than the billions of dollars spent each year by the very largest advertisers–companies such as consumer products giant Procter & Gamble and automakers such as General Motors and Ford,” Fried reports. “And, though its spending is a lot for a tech company, Apple has also seen a significant spike in its sales, particularly the heavily marketed iPod music player. The company sold $4.5 billion worth of the players in its fiscal year, a more than threefold increase over the prior year.”
Full article here.
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The $287 million was for all Apple products, including Macs, Mac OS X Tiger, etc., not just for iPods. Apple probably spent only about $286.9 million advertising iPods. All the rest went towards telling the world that the Mac was the best choice for most personal computer buyers. Yeah, yeah, we know, iPods sell Macs.
Related articles:
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Here in The Netherlands I have seen ZERO ads from Apple this year. Niks.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Apple’s largest advertiseing campaign and it is free! Everyone who downloads iTunes gets Macintosh and iTMS advertising very couple of weeks.
They must get a HUGE response in sales from this, if not then at least mindshare.
I agree with Andy C. I’m guessing that Apple will start an ad campaign shortly after the Intel Macs come out. Hopefully get them out in January, wait a month or two to make sure there are no major problems and then start advertising and ramp up the production. Just imagine, they could even put the Intel sound at the end of their TV ads – that would work for Apple since it would make buyers more comfortable with the product since it seems familar (at least part of it).
I mean the emails advertising (forgot to mention it)
Hey Apple, why did you spend advertising dollars on the iPod? Whatever your answer, wouldn’t the same reasons apply to OSX and Macs?
Get of your ass and start advertising computers!
We’ve seen with the iPod that Apple is willing to advertise when it feels that there will be pay-off to justify the advertising expense.
If advertising is coming for Macs. expect a radical design change in their computers above and beyond the chips. The computer market needs to be shaken up a bit. Things are moving forward, but there hasn’t exactly been anything attention-grabbing for years.
Do you see any ads for Corvettes? Where else can you get $150K performance and comfort for $60K? GM sells every Corvette it makes before the end of the model year. Same with Apple and the current Macs. Will they advertise Intel MAcs on TV? I suspect so.
And Dave the Cook…How about right now? But the question isn’t when Apple will hit $70, but when will it hit $100. I think about April 2006….and then $300 in 2008. Remember, I bought when it was $7.50.
1- Radio- I haven’t heard a radio ad for an Apple Computer since the old Apple II days.
2- Television- I haven;t seen an Apple Computer ad since the launch of the PowerMac G5. That was on CNBC and nowhere else as far as I could see.
3- Newspaper- The last time I can remember Apple buying newspaper space was when they welcomed IBM to the fray back in the day.
4- Magazine- mostly in Mac centric publications. A few in specialty market mags.
5- Online- very limited.
I see iPod ads EVERYWHERE.
“Oh, boy. Just wait until Intel. Then Apple will be able to make Macs by the billions to meet demand!” – paraphrase.
Um. You may want to read this: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/12/01/intel_chipset_shortage/.
I didn’t see even one Mac ad on TV but I was gone for awhile.
Much of the big ad dollar probably went to the iPod, so advertising works. Since they didn’t spend anything on TV to promote Macs, and Mac sales grew like crazy, is that growth attributed to not spending money on Macs?
Had they spent $100-million or so on Macs, would sales have increased even greater?
I’m convinced that you can’t tell the ‘Mac story’ in a 30-second TV commercial. You can experience the Mac story in a nearby Apple Store.
Which is more valuable?
Tera Patricks
Mac360
The last Mac ad I saw was the one where a G5 (or was it a G4) came crashing through someone’s home. I could design a better Mac ad than the maroons at the Apple agency.
~ Da Big Picture ~
It is all too easy to knit-pick at various aspects of a complex entity such as Apple, but you must simply stand back and look at the whole picture.
FIrst and foremost, Apple MAKES MONEY… tons of it!! They do it by developing and producing leading-edge electronics for a wide range of markets from the 6 year old putting Disney tunes on his ipod Shuffle to supercomputers and high-end pro aps for the professionals. There are rare few companies of the Apple’s ilk willing to leave the herd and seek out new horizons.
The advertising that you don’t see is most likely hitting the markets you are not in. For example, “Aperture” is advertised in select publications, but in their high-cost front pages.
I like what Steve & Co. has done thus far and have extreme confidence in whatever is on their blueprints for the near future. Other than visiting an amusement park’s new roller coaster, few things in life bring such welcome anticipation.
Thanks, Steve!
A li’l Apple gem: Did you know that Apple has a demo website for their .Mac service? It is suppose to look like Steve’s personal home page at http://homepage.mac.com/steve . Check out his resume’ page. I wish more company’s had a sense of humor like this! But it IS true that you can write to Steve’s office at steve@mac.com . Even billionaires like to hear that their efforts are appreciated.
The website http://www.smh.com.au – the online edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, Australia – ran flash ads for Mac OS 10.4 all through April this year. Smack in the middle of the page. You couldn’t miss them.
How’s that for advertising?
MDN: chance – give ’em a chance! Just coz you don’t see TV ads for Macs all the time, doesn’t mean that Apple isn’t advertising at all. Remember, full-motion ads require a good visual gimmick. The design of the G4 iMacs provided that gimmick, but the G5 machines? Nup. They just sit there.
Who needs to spend advertising bucks when you have MDN to promote your product for you?
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Apple dudn’t spend on ads to make existing customers feel good. You’ll get your OS X and Mac ads when the people who get paid the bucks to allocate the ad budget decide it is appropriate. I bet we’ll see some with Leopard/intel Macs. I doubt if we’ll see any dedicated solely to the mini media center – the buzz should suffice. You’ll get your schadenfreude by word of mouth. Unless it’s a hit. Then the budget will cover it when the kinks have been ironed out and the thing takes off (if it does) and the production capacity is there. We’ve yet to hear about the DRM involved.
how many Mac ads did you see?
00000000000000000000000000000000 !
zero in France for years!
I see Apple advertising everyday of the year..
MDN spends its working life pointing to it..
It reaches millions of people – powerfully…
Its called Walt Mossberg; its called David Pogue; and myriads of others like them who are telling the world Mac is the computer to buy; OS X is the OS to buy; and of course iPod is the player to buy.
Quit moaning and accept that Apple gets more, and more powerful, advertising copy written about it and its products than any other business on the planet. It’s worth a billion or two I’ll wager.
Hey Apple, why did you spend advertising dollars on the iPod? Whatever your answer, wouldn’t the same reasons apply to OSX and Macs?
—
Yeah, and some PC using lug is sitting on his couch watching all this Aqua goodness and thinks aloud, “Why don’t you release an x86 for me, then?”
Asking someone to drop *egads $500 on a Mac too much money?
*sigh.. I guess.. I never saw a Mac Mini ad though.
Oh well.. Apple Stores sell Macs, not TV spots.
I said it before – I’ll say it again…
I don’t want every ‘commoner’ using an AppleMac.
Exclusivity has its rewards.
It ain’t for all.
“My theory is that Apple knows they can sell a LOT more Macs now if they advertise, but they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the demand that the advertisements could generate. Number one reason: supply of PowerPC chips.”
Very good thinking, Andy. NOT silly at all. Apple HAS had supply problems in the past. Often. If TV ads were to increase demand by 50%, that could WELL be a problem for some–or all–models.
That makes TV ads now a waste!
But Jimbo’s right about waiting until the time is right and THEN starting the big show. Intel Macs are the right time, not now at the end of the G4 era.
I didn’t see any ads at all, well except for a few posters at the local mac shop. I wish they had spent the dosh on r&r so they could come out with new inovative products.
Apple advertises what they can supply
When the PowerMac G5 first came out there was this TV ad.
http://www.esm.psu.edu/Faculty/Gray/graphics/movies/g5_intro_m480.mov
Demand was so high for the dual processor 2 Ghz G5 that Apple scrapped the single core 1.8 Ghz and made a dual processor 1.8GHz to fully utilize IBM’s production lines.
Of course single 1.8 owners were pisssed for a few hundred more they could have gotten two processors.
Apple advertises the iPod heavily because it locked up most all the mini-hard drives and then all the world’s flash memory. So there wasn’t anything to stop them from filling as much demand as possible.
NOW IMAGINE WHAT WILL HAPPEN WITH INTEL CHIPS!!!
There is a reason Apple is building all those stores.
Volume baby, VOLUME!!!!
Of course there could be a drawback, the world’s economy. Not everyone can afford Apple’s high price tag.
For instance $30 for a box of 6 iPod Nano Tubes?
$1700 for a iMac G5 that’s not upgradable, won’t play 3D games well?
Apple will need to rethink and play a bit lower in the low margin arena to increase market share and especially invade the buisness market, where all the big bucks are to be made.
Advertising is NOT ONLY tv.
Re;”I said it before – I’ll say it again…
I don’t want every ‘commoner’ using an AppleMac.
Exclusivity has its rewards.
It ain’t for all.”
So, what exactly do you have against the common people who could lead better lives if they had Macs instead of Windows? And why is the concept of common people leading better lives a problem for you?
The answer might be an interesting insight into your character.
Waiting………
Product Placement..is another piece of that marketing pie too.
It seems you can’t watch a primetime TV show here in the U$ without seeing an iPod or a Macintosh computer placed somewhere in it. The most recent example that comes to mind is the latest episode of “Vegas” where, right there in the middle of the Casino they have a new iMac that anyone can access etc. In the scene I’m thinking of in “Vegas”, the iMac definitely seemed to be framed in the shot with the other two actors on screen. Oh, and one of ’em was wearing an iPod also.
There are countless other examples of this kind of Subliminal marketing that Apple does.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that kind of placement wouldn’t be free.
It’s pretty ingenious, and much better than any other kind of Guerilla marketing as far as I’m concerned.
MW=even..as in..exit stage left..evennn.
-Sim