Apple’s “new ads are nothing short of fantastic. Unlike the ill-fated Postal Service ad, these spots are advertising the best thing that Apple has going for it, OS X. But the ads go farther than just telling the public how great OS X is, they also point out some of the shortcomings of Windows. The campaign comes at just the right time, Microsoft is getting a stomping of gangland proportions by the media and customer trust is hovering somewhere around the Presidents approval numbers. If there was ever a moment tailor made for a Mac onslaught, this is that moment in time,” Chris Seibold writes for Apple Matters.
“There are going to be complaints about the PC being overly stereotypical or the Mac guy being too odd for people to relate to. In reality, the choice of the actors is clever. For most products the target market is 18-34, and the commercials take dead aim at the target market. Certainly, there will be other criticisms, but they will be more nitpicking than substantive. Taken separately, and applying the wildly subjective Chris Seibold Marketing Achievement Scale all the spots rate at least an eight out of ten. If all the commercials are at least a ‘very good,’ how can you be sure the ads will be considered a failure? Because they won’t move the Mac’s market share enough,” Seibold writes. “In six months, after the campaign is over, some internet hack will say that the ads were really great but Apple is still stuck with 5% of the market and hence the ads were, for all their niftiness, a failure. The person who says this will be an idiot.”
Siebold breaks down each of the ads in his full article here.
[UPDATE: 4:58pm EDT: Fixed “18-341” to “18-34.” The “1” is a superscript for a corresponding footnote. Please read full article.]
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Related articles:
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Forrester analysts: Apple should advertise Mac OS X Tiger on television and in movie theaters – April 29, 2005
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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
that oh-so-tough to get 300 year-old market.
“For most products the target market is 18-341, and the commercials take dead aim at the target market.”
You mean 18 until…death?
It’s really tough to pull the wool over the eyes of a 300 year-old. They’d just as soon keep using their abacus, quill and paper.
the Mac guy being too odd for people to relate to
What? That guy is like in his mid-twenties. Were they supposed to cast a 14 year old?
the “1” is supposed to be in superscript.
it should have been:
For most products the target market is 18-34<sup>1</sup>, and the commercials take dead aim at the target market.
But yall don’t have the piece its referring to, which is:
1. A notable exception to this would be the ads for erectile dysfunction. In that case, the target market is the age of the guy playing PC. Hopefully, for the actor after he is done with Apple’s commercials he can transition into that line of advertising. Though with the “subtle” way those drugs are promoted he’ll probably have to spend every filming session punching fifty cherry pies or something.
you’re welcome
hmmmm, the <sup> tag doesn’t work in comments…
I don’t really get this.
They’re saying, essentially that “the ads are great, but they won’t work.” Isn’t the effectiveness of an ad a measure of how “great” it is? Apple’s not making “art” ads for creativity’s sake.
If they’re great ads, then they should move market share.
effwerd, it says the Mac guy is too ODD, not too OLD.
Also, does anyone else think MDN’s headline is a bit misleading?
Ah, that’s what I get for being so old and trying to read such small text.
Yeah headline is misleading. Funny though he doesn’t really give reasons why it will fail.
effward-
The title is the author’s, not MDN’s.
I don’t think the Mac guy is odd in any way, why do people keep saying that? He looks and acts like a typical guy in his mid-20s, like me and most of my friends. Maybe because I’m part of that generation, I can’t see how frightening we must appear to the Baby Boomers. I really had no idea jeans, hooded sweatshirts and the tiniest amount of stubble sends boomers into convulsions of horror.
It gives one reason why he believes it will fail, basically saying that Apple needs to convince 1/3 of viewers to buy a Mac.
Rather dubious logic.
I guess any blogger can write anything about a Mac to get quoted, though.
Well, accoring to the author, MDN just made idiots of themselves with the subject line.
“The person who says this will be an idiot.”
You guys are stupid, he is saying that anyone who thinks these ads will fail is an idiot, Market share will be up over 10% before Vista comes out.
Altos.
What are you talking about?
The quote goes: “In six months, after the campaign is over, some internet hack will say that the ads were really great but Apple is still stuck with 5% of the market and hence the ads were, for all their niftiness, a failure. The person who says this will be an idiot.”
Has six months already passed?
Joe Mama-
Re-read the article again.
MDN Word: Were
Were it not for the fact that Windows can now be installed on a MAc, in parallels, I would agree with him.
But they can,so I don’t
I saw one of the latest Mac ads, and I’ve got to tell, that they are great! I’m not the target age demographic (I’m 51), but I still liked the commercials. I’m not as touchy about ageist remarks, I guess.
I couldn’t be happier that Apple is finally advertising the Macintosh computers again. It took them long enough. I get so sick and tired of Apple counting on us old Mac users to spread the word to people for free.
Keep up the good work Apple Advertising Department.
–rudge
Well, I’m 62, and I thought the ads were great! It will be an interesting next few months.
All publicity is good publicity. Wether the ads will convince people to switch or not, they have already created quite a buzz. In my opinion, that will only help Apple in the long run.
@macromancer:
Sure he gives reasons for “failure” measured by market share. His argument is that if success/failure will be measured by a change in market share, the ads will fail. That’s basically because producing a change in the “consumer-portion of the market” that will be reflected in the entire market requires a large shift.
Translation: Let’s say that Apple has 5% of the entire computer market. Since Apple is nearly non-existent in the corporate/enterprise portion of the market, let’s assume Macs are only bought by consumers for home/personal use. The consumer portion is about 30% of the whole. If you consider the consumer portion a separate market, Apple has 16.67% of that market. If Apple is to make any gains in that market it will be perhaps a couple of points. Let’s say they go up to 18%, that would translate to 5.4% of the entire market.
The point is that it would be easy to see that as being a mediocre change…
I’m just outside of the projected target at (47) and I think:
1. Its good to see Apple advertising again.
2. I wish they would stop relying on dissing the competition, and start educating the target audiences with information. Or maybe Macs really aren’t any better so all we can do is stick our tongue’s out at people who don’t use them.
Apple wants us to think different, but their ad spots are just Burger King vs. McDonalds all over again. Come on really, tell people why Macs are a better experience, and most likely, a better computer all together.
I’ve been a Mac user since the beginning. I’ve gotten most companies that I’ve worked for over the years to get Macs – some a little – some a lot, they all immediately started saving money – documented. And I never once directly pooh poohed Windows to get the job done.
Give me a call Apple, I’ll give you some intelligent design ideas.
By the way, 6% total market share is about 20% consumer market share!!
MDN is no different than the PC loving critics and their misleading headlines. They are ALL trolling for hits.