# why Apple needs better advertising...



## mightyjlr (Feb 3, 2003)

I brought my 15" Powerbook to the c++ course I am taking in college.  The instructor uses linux and unix boxes for his personal computing.  I showed it to him and told him it was Unix.  He said "Yea, I know, its a nice looking operating system, but I want to be able to use the console, which it doesn't have."  I was like... uhm... here it is, and I opened terminal.  He was like "no way..." and played around for a while.  Then I showed him X11, and he was even more shocked.  I wouldn't be suprised if he orders an iBook within the week.  Its sad, because he knew a little about MacOSX, but not enough to make him want it... Which I can understand, because Apple does almost nothing to promote Jaguar from what I can tell.


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## Stridder44 (Feb 3, 2003)

Your not the first to notice. Apple really needs to do some better advertising. Its situations like these that make me understand why apple computers is so unpopular in the windows world. Well, not so much unpopular...maybe its jelousy...


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## Dusky (Feb 3, 2003)

> The instructor uses linux and unix boxes for his personal computing.  I showed it to him and told him it was Unix.  He said "Yea, I know, its a nice looking operating system, but I want to be able to use the console, which it doesn't have."  I was like... uhm... here it is, and I opened terminal.  He was like "no way..." and played around for a while.  Then I showed him X11, and he was even more shocked.



Heh, thanx for the story.  Maybe he'll mention you by name if he makes it to a switch ad.


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## serpicolugnut (Feb 3, 2003)

I hear this all the time, but the truth is, many people just dismiss Apple without hearing what they have to offer, and no amount of advertising (at radio or TV) is going to change that.

However, for a professor teaching a class on UNIX to not have his facts straight about OS X says more about the hipness of the professor, and less about Apple's advertising woes...


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## dracolich (Feb 4, 2003)

Better advertising, like...

"The laptop of choice of professional graphic artists, musicians, photographers and video editors... now starting at 1199,00  (and going all the way up to 5023,00 )"

with a nice slideshow of iBooks and PowerBooks, aired during tech oriented shows.

 At least in Italy, this could work.


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## solrac (Feb 4, 2003)

Apple should put ads in all the geek magazines (whatever it is UNIX gurus and computer geeks read) that are more technical in its offering. Like an ad that says "Who cares that Mac OS X has the most advanced GUI in UNIX history?"

And in the picture, show a super cool GUI layout full of windows and DVD player and stuff, but a transparent big terminal in front of it all.

Then in small print underneath something like "full featured command line and console, fully transparent for the designer in you" or something like that.

But of course in Newsweek or something like that, just put the iMac ads with the digital camera as usual.


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## kukident (Feb 4, 2003)

Moneypenny, find out his name and hire him!



And if he doesn't want the job, kill him!


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## hulkaros (Feb 4, 2003)

...but I can't find it  

Apple for sometime was publishing a nice *NIX ad which was showing a PowerBook with Terminal and other Unix related stuff (on a double page ad, too) and was saying something along these lines:
-It sends other boxes into /dev/null

It was very funny (according to my taste) but at that time NOT so true (it was in 10.1 times)... BUT, now with 10.2.x + X11 a similar ad must ressurect and not only in a Mac magazine but other geek magazines, web sites, etc. At least, I would love to see such a move! 

As for people ignoring Apple no matter what they offer: SO VERY TRUE...

The majority of people don't even know that the Mac has Office for crying out loud or Corel Graphics Suite for that matter (which many Sith Lords of the Dark Side tend to love and care TOO much) 

Apple MUST advertise some more and NOT only in Mac magazines but in Windows/UNIX/LINUX magazines as well! 

U P D A T E :
----------------
Found it! In a place that I thought wasn't (!?) possible:
http://www.macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16076&highlight=/dev/null

GO... GO... GO... NOW!


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## Giaguara (Feb 4, 2003)

look on the international (any european = french, spanish, german, italian, scandi) swithc pages and you defitelly see why they need better advertising. "my computer has unix bla bla bla.. and even my girlfriend can use it" - that is the worst thing they have on those switch stories, and i frankly thought onlyh an italian could have said such ****** !!! untill i saw EXACTLY the same stories in all (but japanese)  sites. i really hate that comment. i'd like to say exactly the same comment, 'i love the unix things about my mac and it's amazing how even my bf can use it'. now that would sound really stupid.

Anyway. Why aren't there any other-than-from-Windows switches or co-users? I'd like to do a Linux -switch ad. migrating first from Windows to Linux, then co-using Linux and Mac and then deciding the Mac was enough ... i guess most outsiders haven't really realized that you can use most unix and linux software compiled on your mac... so many are afraid they will not find software to do what they need (or they can't find the pirated software). that (*X softwares) coulde be worth mentioning a bit louder as well.


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## porteous (Feb 4, 2003)

I couldn't agree with you more about Apple needing better advertising. The worst thing they ever did was discontinue the 'Think Different' campaign' - some may say it had run its course, but I believe it summed up in just two words the distinctive of Apple - and the Mac. 

And I hadn't realised at the time that it was also a side-swipe at the slogan of IBM's founder - 'Think'. Excellent!

Let's just hope their advertising agency can come up with something equally unique - or 'different' - for their next campaign....


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## ApeintheShell (Feb 6, 2003)

Many companies do their advertising by word of mouth or on the internet and this is fine. 
Although, i grow weary of the interns from Dell commercials.
I don't think Apple needs a linux switch ad because most of the switch ads were targeted at people who are home users. Some of them use Linux but the wide variety of the public still have relied on the Windows OS.


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## edX (Feb 6, 2003)

i've long thought apple is terrible with advertising. the only exception were the original imac commercials and now the yao ming one.  the rest have been stupid at best, and insulting at worst. we seem to still have a platform and be happy with our 'puters despite this. let 'e m waste that budget however they would like. 
but frankly, i don't think TV ads aimed at terminal jockeys would do anything but scare the general public further away. and they certainly wouldn't reach the intended audience. in fact i doubt that anything but word of mouth and actual demonstration will convince the penguin faithful.


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## symphonix (Feb 6, 2003)

Mighty, I've had similar experiences. None of my unix instructors were even aware that Mac OS X is Unix based, my Java lecturer went so far as to tell me I couldn't run Java on the Mac (when I know the Mac ships with a more complete and up-to-date Java runtime than any Windows machine) and my multimedia lecturer told me I wouldn't be able to use it for PowerPoint or QuickTime. And to think that these are the people who are teaching the world how to use computers, and are widely consulted for advice on software. Needless to say, I have set them right in each instance.
In the case of the networking lecturer who said I wouldn't be able to connect my iBook to the school network, I plugged into the wall and got a connection straight away. He scoffed at it. So I spent the next hour port-scanning the entire network and discovered root passwords for 5 of the universities servers, which I then showed him. Needless to say, he didn't appreciate this but he did learn never to tell me I couldn't do something.

Apple often seem to not quite hit the mark with their advertising. I've often said that the key to change is to start with the leaders. Consider the thinks-he-knows-everything-about-computers geeks with their overclocked boxes, or the programmers and web designers; these are the people who will be asked for an opinion on buying a computer. And Apple is not reaching these people much, if at all.
The answer is targeted advertising in industry journals. Java journals should have features showing Java programming on the Mac, and ditto for XML, Perl, PHP, and whatever else.
They should also be targeting the Unix/Linux crowd through Linux magazines. Adverts on the open-source and politico-computer sites like SlashDot, FreshMeat, OSDN, SourceForge et al would also go well, but these should be about drawing in a targeted market BEFORE telling them its a Mac, or they'll just dismiss it out of habit.
And most of all, Apple has to get back into the education market at the highest levels. How they'll achieve this, I can't even imagine.
Frankly, some of their advertising lately has been really wide of the mark.


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## fryke (Feb 6, 2003)

The "Don't preach to the converted" line must be definitely applied. WIRED ads are great, but they should be a bit different. Create lust. Why not show a desktop running Office v. X with two transparent Terminal windows in the front. (Like: We _have_ the command line, but you can also run the original MS Office on our beautiful machines, if you really want to.)


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## Ugg (Feb 6, 2003)

IMO I think that Apple needs to segment its advertising like they have the desktop and laptop line.  low end/ high end, personal/professional, educational etc.  

The other thing I think that Apple needs to do is take advantage of M$ lack of security and go after the EU market.   There are a lot of Govts. leery of Bill's very close relationship with the US military.   The Euromac is long overdue.  How about a royal blue apple with a gold star in the center???  Apple is way too US centric, especially with apps like Sherlock, it's time for Apple to take advantage of globalization and not just milk the European and Asian markets for the cream.


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## kukident (Feb 7, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Ugg _
> *Apple is way too US centric. *



I agree, most of the built in web services, like ordering photoos and sherlock, are useless here.
But then again, the use people make if these kind of services is not as developed yet as in the states.
For instance, ordering with a credit card is more problematic if hardly anyone has one.
Even in the "most developed" countries in Europe people aren't that used/willing to order online.

I think Apple would be wise in making some deal with VISA and make a kind of internet creditcard, that you get when purchasing a mac.


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## solrac (Feb 7, 2003)

> _Originally posted by edX _
> *... i don't think TV ads aimed at terminal jockeys would do anything but scare the general public further away. and they certainly wouldn't reach the intended audience. in fact i doubt that anything but word of mouth and actual demonstration will convince the penguin faithful. *



Definitely not. Such an ad with a terminal and whatever appealing to UNIX people and terminal jockeys should only appear in geek magazines, or *nix publications. This would not scare the general public away.


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