Sick of the Apple switch commercials

[Gregita]

The Bill Gates ad is a parody. I think you will like.


Here is the link to it:


http://www.macboy.com/cartoons/switch/gates/index.html

[Oscar Castillo]

You're right, I thoroughly enjoyed that.

Originally posted by Gregita
The Bill Gates ad is a parody. I think you will like.


Here is the link to it:


http://www.macboy.com/cartoons/switch/gates/index.html

:

[salsa]

Gregita, the Bill Gate's parody is hilarious. Thanks.

But I'm with original poster -- it does seem to appeal to the lowest common denominator. And doesn't really tell me anything about the OS other than stability. I find the ads rather stupid and without substance.

I do love the ads about the iMac, with the guy mimicking its movements through the store front window, and its quirky sense of humour appeals to me.

I liked some of the older ads by chiat-day.

Now, is this a hoax or not? I read on some post that actor Will Ferrell did an ad identifying himself as a "porn star". Where can I see that? (please don't think less of me!)

[Gregita]

I am glad that you two enjoyed the Gates ad.

I don't deserve credit for it.

Someone else on here posted it originally.

I just recycled it.

Of course, since I couldn't find the original thread it was on, I had to use Google to track it down.

I love that commerical. I even put a link to it on my blog at one time.

Anyway, glad you liked.

[pezagent]

Originally posted by Gregita


For the most part, though, I am happy that Apple is taking Microsoft on head on.

I think it is about time.

Apple taking Microsoft head on? Are you confusing marketing strategy with business design? I think so.

Please, stop giving into the hype. Apple would be more successful if those who already use it would be less idealistic and learn how the real world works.

[pezagent]

Originally posted by themacko
Umm, these are real people telling their real stories. Not everyone has Windows XP (which is no more stable than 98, IMO). I think the switch commercials are just fine and are targeted for the perfect audience of PC users who don't know that Macs are a viable substitute for PCs which tend to be buggy and flakey.

Non tech-heads don't care about numbers and facts, they want something that works well and is reliable. That's exactly the point that the switch ads are making.

Buggy and "flakey"? Is it fact or opinion that PCs are "flakey"? Can you give any "real world" examples of how PCs are more or less "flakey" than Macs?

The truth is, Macs are just as "buggy" and "flakey" as any other commercial operating system.

I use OS9, and it brings the WHOLE SYSTEM down all the time--virtual memory is a frickin' joke. At least with Windows, you can get out of a problem without bringing the whole system down. I only get the "blue screen of death" when the AMD chip overheats in the laptop--and that's rare. It's no more of a hassle then when Apple starts up with a "system error" reboot message.

As far as OSX is concerned, I hope Jaguar is as fast as it needs to be, because previous versions are frickin' slow compared to XP. I did a side-by-side comparison, and I could get the new iMac to crash numerous times while XP ran quite smoothly and stable.

If non-tech heads want something that is stable, one could recommend either platform. Apple switch ads are a feable attempt at wooing customers. I think Apple needs to "think different" about their marketing strategies at this point... just watching these ads makes me want to buy a PC.

[pezagent]

Originally posted by Oscar Castillo
You simply need to understand the marketing behind all the Apple commercials. The message is not catering to any particular group or segment of the viewing audience, but to the mass audience can understand.

What? If a marketing team ever came to me and said "we're not targeting anyone inparticular with this campaign" they'd find themselves unemployed.

Of course the switch ads are targeted... *you* simply need to understand whom they are targeting. I haven't watched all the ads because they annoy me, but it's pretty obvious they are targeting single (unmarried, with or without partner) 30 somethings who have bought a PC but might be looking to switch to something else. Since the group are in their 30s and unmarried, they're probably in the duck-phase of their lives, which means getting serious about coordinating household appliances--matching furniture, etc. That's where the quirky dancing iMac comes in... there's a single guy, out at night, probably about to meet his mates... store windows regularly attract buyers, and here's a new computer, so interesting in its design it stops and gets your attention--how? By dancing with you, of course. Hey man, that's cool. I bet one of these would look good with my new home office, blah blah blah...

Unfortunately for Apple, their Switch ads are really grasping for air--making people look like idiots for the sake of advertising is really low... it's like something the nurds at DDB would come up with...

[Oscar Castillo]

Originally posted by pezagent

What? If a marketing team ever came to me and said "we're not targeting anyone inparticular with this campaign" they'd find themselves unemployed.

Of course the switch ads are targeted... *you* simply need to understand whom they are targeting. I haven't watched all the ads because they annoy me, but it's pretty obvious they are targeting single (unmarried, with or without partner) 30 somethings who have bought a PC but might be looking to switch to something else. Since the group are in their 30s and unmarried, they're probably in the duck-phase of their lives, which means getting serious about coordinating household appliances--matching furniture, etc. That's where the quirky dancing iMac comes in... there's a single guy, out at night, probably about to meet his mates... store windows regularly attract buyers, and here's a new computer, so interesting in its design it stops and gets your attention--how? By dancing with you, of course. Hey man, that's cool. I bet one of these would look good with my new home office, blah blah blah...

Unfortunately for Apple, their Switch ads are really grasping for air--making people look like idiots for the sake of advertising is really low... it's like something the nurds at DDB would come up with...

If you bothered to read and quote the rest of my post...
Apple could have released ads listing systems specs, like MHz, GHz, ATA drives, GeForce4 so on and so forth and that would have been just perfect for me and others here as well, but everyone else is left out.
When you have a product that is for a segment of the market, such as for adults, but not for kids. Then you have to come up with marketing that targets only adults. But for a product that can be used by everyone, you will severely limit revenue by targeting one segment.
Targeting too much of the enthusiast segment will only get you that. But you loose the majority of the folks that are non-technical, which is a very big segment of computer users. The majority in fact have no idea about the inner workings and how it ties to the OS or even care to know. We've all met that person more times than we care to acknowledge. Those like me that go out and get the parts to assemble there own computer are a very small minority in the computer industry.
Simplicity is the trend now and not just for Apple anymore. The industry has been moving in that direction for a while now. Aside from the Apple ads that are simply for the humor and curiosity, the Switch ads are about what its always been about, simplicity and ease of use. Even Microsoft agrees there, just look at the Fisher-Price color scheme of Windows XP.