“Frequently when you see Apple ads they focus on nothing but the machine’s design. While the Apple is certainly a striking machine, people do actually have to use these machines. The two most common worries potential switchers who don’t use Apples worry about are price and the OS’s ability to do modern things, and all too often neither of which is addressed in the usual TV spot or magazine ad. As an Apple investor and user, it’s always good to see an ad that points out that yes, you can actually check your email and browse the web and do spreadsheets on an Apple. Due to an almost decade long period of relative incompatibility and decreasing market share, many people have some very odd core beliefs about the capabilities of Apple machines,” Tobias Buckell reports for Blogging Stocks.
“Now there is a sign that Apple is moving to correct some of this a bit more firmly. MacDailyNews points out that the September 8th issue of Entertainment Weekly will feature a fourteen page pull out booklet that directly addresses some of these concerns as well as actually shows potential buyers what the operating system looks like,” Buckell reports.
Buckell reports, “The operating system that runs the Apple [Mac] is truly a more interesting feature than how the machines look, and Apple needs to highlight it more. Actually showing people the OS that people will be using on a daily basis if they get a machine and not just talking about it is more important, don’t you think?”
Full article here.
Apple finally showing Mac OS X to the world: better late than never.
Related articles:
Apple debuts major Mac OS X print campaign with 14-page ‘Get a Mac’ booklet – September 07, 2006
Analyst: Windows Vista may still impress many consumers because they have not seen Apple’s Mac OS X – January 05, 2006
Why in Jobs’ name doesn’t Apple advertise the Macintosh? – October 27, 2005
More would switch from Windows to Mac if Apple advertised more effectively – September 04, 2005
Forrester analysts: Apple should advertise Mac OS X Tiger on television and in movie theaters – April 29, 2005
Mac fans line up for new operating system as passberby asks ‘what is a tiger?’ – April 29, 2005
Apple posts QuickTime movies of Mac OS X Tiger features in action – April 13, 2005
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
it’s about freaking time!
Many people have some very odd core beliefs about the capabilities of Apple machines.”
So true. I hear it every day – the inane questions and comments from archaic Windoze users.
Some people are just stubborn and some are just plain foolish.
MDN linking to trackbacks as major news items. What am I supposed to say?
HALLELUIAH…HALLELUIAH…HALLELUIAH,HALLELUIAH,HAAAALLLELUIAH!!!!!!!!!
FINALLY APPLE IS DOING WHAT THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN DOING ALL ALONG.
BEFORE, I WOULD COMPLAIN TO APPLE ABOUT THEM NOT ADVERTISING THE MAC’S STRENGTHS. BUT THEIR RESPONSE WAS LIKE NAILING JELLO TO A TREE!
SO FINALLY IT HAS GOTTEN THROUGH TO APPLE’S CRANIUM, THAT ADVERTISING THE MAC WILL ACTUALLY HELP…UH….SELL MACS!
LET’S ROLL APPLE!
It’s important to remember that TV channels like Home Shopping Network have people doing live demos of HP, and other brands literally every day. Who watches these? Clearly, people ARE watching and it would be VERY useful to have Apple be distributed this way. It’s overcoming the huge fear factor many people have about computers that’s important beyond just converting the existing windows users. People making that first time plunge into a computer will be SO much happier with a Mac but are still intimidated by the learning curve.
I’ve said for some time that a very well done infomercial, SHOWING how it works would go MILES toward getting people to call Apple and buy a machine.
The problem with doing this of course is that it would work SO well they couldn’t meet demand… I think they WILL do this at some point, maybe not so long from now, after they get their supply chain ramped up to handle it.
Arrggghhh… I get so mad when these so called “marketing professionals” give Apple and Chiat/Day TBWA instructions how to do advertising. Those guys KNOW what they are doing and propably have an atleast five years planned ahead. They will give more info when it is time…
Jaakko
creative director
Well, Jaakko, you may get so mad but let’s face it, Apple’s advertising has sucked for years as far as the Mac is concerned. They have *never* convincingly managed to sell the benefits of OS X.
That spreadsheet pie chart thing is going to hurt the effectiveness of that booklet.
I can make a way better pie chart and spreadsheet on OSX. XP is so…dull.
It seems that for the past few years, Apple has almost been ashamed of its PowerPC architecture. It was only after the Intel switch started that they started heavily marketing the computers, and now that the transition is complete they have ramped up the OS advertising.
Apple has knew well in advance of the Intel switch that this transition was going to be necessary, and evidently did not want to bring in new users before that transition.
jaako,
I have no problem with Apple’s advertising. It’s really quite good. I have no problem with their marketing tactics. Few do as well. I just think that for a complex, layered subject like OS X, which is the heart of the Mac experience you need a long form piece in the mix. This magazine section is going that way certainly. It EXPLAINS in some detail the difference between Macs and PC’s.. A very useful, important task.
But in print, you can only do so much to explain what a computer does. It’s an electronic device after all. It needs a 30 minute infomercial, cleverly done and run
with some frequency to really penetrate the mindset of middle America. Only that will begin to dispell the “good for graphics” and “only artists use them” myth that has been built up.
Has it really sucked? Marketing is much more than just advertising. My guess is that the reason behind not advertising OS X extensively is supply/demand issues. If they cannot produce enough units to begin with why create more demand?
…now that they are ramping up production and the mindset is there is time to turn the big wheel in motion. This leaflet is just the beginning.
I agree with Jaakko, just because you guys think apple advertising should copy MS, HP and Dell doesn’t mean anything. I believe apple is different and markets itself differently. And why do you think apple is not doing a good job I bought stock just before os x was introduced and have been very happy.
Magic word: did As in did anyone else notice that The price Is Right has been giving away iMacs lately? Saw it yesterday, and once before. They didn’t even say it was an iMac, or an Apple computer, just showed it and asked for bids. Most bid under $600 (!). The one that won bid $1100 I think.
Yes and before you start. There is more likely dozens of reason for not doing this before. All the transitions being one major. From Power PC to Intel and From OS 9 to OS X. Now that those are complete and OS X is mature enough and iPod and iTunes have a secure market share. And it also sure helps a lot that Microsoft is strugling with Vista and PlaysForSure… we could go on forever but lets just wait and see what hapens.
It’s too bad that the pricing and specs are already out of date. Not to mention no mention of the Mac Pro.
Apple finally showing Mac OS X to the world: better late than never.
You guys obvioously have never approached a pretty girl and asked for here phone number in a very long time. It wasn’t her brains that attracted you first. It was other attributes that got your attention. But now you’re interested, and the allure has worn off somewhat, you’d like to know if she has any brains.
Attract, then impress.
Apple is doing this just right.
you said “the Apple”. heh
Just as I have always trusted Steve and crew to produce excellent computers, I have also believed these same geniuses weren’t complete morons with their advertising. You KNOW they had to have something up their collective sleeves. And I still think they do.
Rather than bashing the masses with an advertising sledge hammer (as most on here have long suggested), Apple is slowing massaging the general public. They want the new user to have their very own “Ah ha!” moment; to discover the Mac for themselves.
To even attempt showing all a Mac can do or how it differs from Windows would be too confusing. Comparing feature to feature is pointless, too. So, Apple makes ads that touch the senses; they let the viewer come to their own conclusions on how it will enhance their own life.
If you like your Mac and have faith in the Apple staff, sit back and watch those same extraordinary minds reinvent computer advertising. They have been thinking outside of the box for a very long time, and the last thing they need are your screamingly box-like, pedestrian and amateurish, advertising ideas that a thousand other companies have already done ad nauseam.
Armchair quarterbacking is the sport of idlers and idiots.
M di L B Simoni:
Finally some sense and reason instead of pointless bitching.
I am not sure this will “sell” a lot of Macs if it is only going in one publication. Usually for a campaign like this to work, it would need to go into at least 7 or 8 pubs, with different Apple target audiences. Maybe Wired, Vanity Fair, PC World, GQ, Sports Illustrated, Maxim, Ebony and Playboy.
I’ve been saying this for 20 years. Yes humans have evolved to the point where we can assimilate being attracted and impressed, all at the same time… Go figure.
It does not have to be, nor should have ever been, either/or.
Whatever Apple’s plans are, it is working. Just this week, two co-worker bought Macbook Pro’s. One even bought an Airport Express and 30 gig iPod. I do remember telling them about my Powerbook G4 some time ago but that’s all I did.
All of a sudden, many more people in my office want Macs. I think the advertising is working.
I gave the two new switchers my number to call me as soon as they recieve their computers. I will answer any questions they have about their new systems.
I feel good..
This is good, but I think the timing isn’t a question of being “better late than never.” It’s a question of waiting for the right time.
Apple has run similar multi-page ads in the past, most notably in Newsweek or Time. The problem is, there wasn’t enough awareness or consumer curiosity for the ads to be really effective. It was always a case of preaching to the choir and ad money down the drain.
Now, after years of awareness-building campaigns via Think Different and Switch, after years of iPod as a pop culture icon, after years of most of the PC public getting assaulted by viruses and spyware, the moment is ripe for an informative ad campaign.
“Get a Mac” works now precisely because millions of people now are at least somewhat open to the idea. It wouldn’t have worked last year because most people were not psychologically ready for the ads. Thus, the ad campaign only appears late to people who know and love the Mac, but for the majority, I suspect it’s couldn’t come at a better time.