Anyone read this yet... I tend to agree.

It's interesting how much people are willing to devote to the analysis of anything "Apple". Apple's ability to generate controversy and discussion often puts it in a no-win situation. The truth is that if Apple has presented more attractive "real people" in its new campaign, it would be attacked as "too elitist".

So these people consider the computer as their "friend", so what? Consider how much we rely on computer these days, is it really such a bad thing? The world is moving towards a post-industrial world (the US and Europe particularly), and part of that shift is the acceleration of consumer culture. In many way, in the capitalistic free world, products ARE our friend. It may be sad, but it's true. We have "our" brands. Yet the truth is that almost all items we purchase are the same - it's just the packaging that is different. Look at the active ingridient in tooth pastes, despite their varied packaging and claims, the active ingridients are the SAME! Yet we think some are better than others. In today's world, we are defined by what we drive, what we wear, what we eat, what we use - what we CONSUME! So in many ways, products, computers included, are MORE than our friends! They are an extension of our self image.

We would like to think that we are "above" such crassness, but the truth is we are defined by our consumption.

So the "real people" look freaky and strange, but that doesn't really matter in the end. What matters is that Apple presents a "feeling" that its products are indeed our friends. It's easy to use, something that we would like to call "our brand". In the end, as long as people are willing to identify themselves with Apple, the ads have achieved its goal.

Think Steven for Dell, if people are willing to identify with a dim-wit, people are likely willing to identify with anyone.
 
but often times, perception becomes reality. I guess time will tell on whether or not Joe Schmo PC user will take the bait and make the jump to the Mac. In theory I liked the idea of apples ad campaign, but in excution I feel the author of the article had some valid points. 3.5% market share is abysmal, when we all know that MacOSX is a superior OS. The trouble is convincing ordinary folks, along with corporate america, that this solution is the better one. Anything apple can do to narrow the gap is welcome, but I question whether or not that particular ad campaign will make any significant progress in that direction. One thing I have learned from being a webmaster is that people (the average, everyday, non computer geek) are sheep and need to be lead to the greener pastures. Some incentive and examples must be given to help these folks realize what we already do. Anything that a windows machine can do, mac can as well, if not better. Show them how Itunes works, show them how easy it is to setup your email, show them that Macs don't crash when you least expect it. Show them the way. Apple has been the innovator for as long as personal computers have been around. The problem is, nobody knows it.

Apples are perceived as either educational machines or as higher end graphic design platforms. Apple needs to attack this misguided mentality head on. Show them that Word documents open on macs too, show them that macs can play games, show them that it won't cost a fortune to buy one that is comparable in speed to the average PC. Show them even though the Imac is cute, its damn functional as well. I feel that apples ads have focused too much on the cool and innovative design of their hardware and not nearly enough on its ease of operation and interoperability with Windows machines. Apple has relied too heavily on the die hard devotion of its already converted and needs to focus on grabbing market share. Until they get over the 10% hump, I fear that the vast majority of software developers will continue to overlook us faithful mac users.

Go Apple.... Go FreeBSD :)
 
Originally posted by BSDimwit
Found this article on the register...

I tend to agree with it... what do you think?

http://www.theregus.com/content/39/25261.html
Click to expand...

Frankly I found the people in the ads very peculiar and somewhat dumb but I did agree with some of the things they said. Particularly the guy who said Windows was clunky (in reference most likely to Windows 98).

However the 'programmer-by-trade' looked like he was lying and had no intelligence whatsoever, much less the knowledge to be a programmer.

Andre
 
Yeah the commercials look fake to me but they are in the right spirit. Apple (as a community) needs techie people but they also need consumer people that will be attracted by those commercials. Most people who read that article on the register are going to agree with him because they are already well versed in computer lingo. You won't see Jane Schoolteacher reading that article but you will find her watching Buffy, sponsored by Apple ads.

If apple constantly made commercials targeting sys admins then they would go from 3.5% to 4.5%, only if they were lucky and got them all to convert. By going after the regular person they are more likely to go from 3.5% to 15% easily without having to convert more than 20% of these regular people.

Some people call them 'l33t' some call them 'geeks' but they are a very small percentage of spenders. They would rather build an athalon system for 700$ and hack all their programs for free. For a commercial to be successful it can't target these people or else Apple will lose money. This ad campaign will be successful.
 
I think that article at the register made some very valid points. The droning music, the lack of actually showing anything besides a bunch of loses confessing to us. The "Dell Guy" moves, he's witty, he's quick, he has friends, he has fun, they put him in situations that people can identify with. Do you think the ads would be nearly as appealing if he sat in front of a whitescreen droning on about nothing? He is the reason dell has jumped so much in computer sales while the others fall behind. he shows the ideal market, and the ideal market falls for it. Showing a fat woman talking in a monotone voice to slow and dainty music isn't what the average person likes to think of themselves as.

People want to think "Hey, i'm funny, witty, not ugly, active, etc" and apple's ad doesn't target those people. It tries, but the direction it takes is wrong. They should have crossfades of the person using their mac to do the tasks they enjoy, they should have more attractive people in the ads, they should have had music that gets the viewer excited, that gets them interested in the ad.
 
So ... you think Apple should have bought Steven from Dell and used him as their new successful ad campaign?

It's an ad campaign of a slightly different flavor, appealing to more conservative people. I think that this ad campaign alone would be weak, but it's definitely focusing on roughly te correct demographic of people willing to think for themselves, but not willing to code their own OS.

The thing about Steven is that he appeals to your standard weak minded extrovert, and they only do what the majority does, or what the majority of cool people do. A steven ad for Apple would not work unless Apple had 25%+ market share, and 40%+ share of a specifically cool market, just as the Steven ads for Dell wouldn't have worked 4 years ago. Both ad agencies are smart, and properly focused. Apple is simply not Dell.
 
Originally posted by theed
The thing about Steven is that he appeals to your standard weak minded extrovert, and they only do what the majority does, or what the majority of cool people do. A steven ad for Apple would not work unless Apple had 25%+ market share, and 40%+ share of a specifically cool market, just as the Steven ads for Dell wouldn't have worked 4 years ago. Both ad agencies are smart, and properly focused. Apple is simply not Dell.
Click to expand...

I agree on this point, I don't think that they should appeal as cool as dell tries to be. I do, however, think that providing more for people to identify with would really make the tv ads better. The switch idea, and site, is fantastic! I think they did that very nicely, it looks great and would convince me 10x over to buy a mac. it's the tv ads that aren't as convincing. At least to me.
 
I think this ad campaign is another example of Apple doing something completely differently and the mainstream press not getting it.

Yeah they are freaky, yeah they aren't all that good looking – just like the people we know. Do we always have to have popular, hip 'n' happening, following every cliché there is, people stuck down our throats? The old mantra of advertising - get the beautiful people 'who everyone wants to be their friends', up there and the punta's are so stupid they'll think "uh, I'll buy it because I want to be that guy". Well maybe advertising needs to move on and try something different - I think Apple is doing something new.

Time will tell if the public get it. Although I'm not surprised that the media doesn't.
 
I think these ads are targeting to people who think of themselves not knowing too much about computers, but really needing one that works. A Mac royal or a computer literal person may think those ads or the characters dumb, but again, they are not what the ads are targeting. Apple are making efforts to make people believe that a Mac is just another computer, a better computer, but not a specialty goods that only skilled people can use them. Although the results may not be so obvious in the short term, but that definitely changes the mental image of a Mac of an average computer user.
 
The fact that most of the Mac public doesn't get these ads is a good thing. These ads are targeted at people OUTSIDE the Mac community. This campaign is all about reaching the other 95% of the market and letting them know that using a Mac is a much better experience than using a WintelPC.

This is the kind of ad campaign Apple should have been running for years. Now that Apple has the stores in place to properly showcase the Mac to people, these ads timing couldn't be better.

I would hope, however, that as this campaign moves forward, the ads will get meatier. Basically, I mean that in addition to testimonials from real PC switchers, they also talk about the advantages of the Mac (iApps, ease of use, stability, etc). Phase 1 of the campaign should address the "stigma" of being a Mac user, while phase 2 addresses real world reasons why someone should make the switch.
 
I don't know if those ads are the best for the Mac platform but I think that Apple could do something like this:

An ad which shows fast the installation procedure of Mac OS X:
1. Boot from CD
2. Select Country, etc.
3. Fill personal info
4. Start using your Mac
At the end of this ad they could write: Just in 15 minutes you have your Mac ready to work...

Another could be on how you install an update or an app:
1. Log in
2. Double click or even drag & drop
3. Click two or three times (maybe not needed if you drag & drop
4. Start using your updated app or the new one
At the end of this ad they could write: You can update your system in just a few mouse clicks...

Or how to remove an app:
1. Log in
2. Select the app you want to remove
3. Drag & drop at the thrash
At the end of this ad they could write: Clean you Mac faster than you can clean your house

Or how one can burn a CD Mp3 or Audio or Data:
1. Log in
2. Select files
3. Insert empty CD
4. Drag & drop files on it
5. Burn
At the end of this ad they could write: Burn a CD faster than you can write the track titles on its cover...

The same can be done for DVDs. Anyway, I think that people and most important IT people must see how really easy is to use, support and update a Mac. After all aren't companies (their IT depts.) that want more free time to surf online? With Macs on their employers' desktops they can do that and with less money spending too!

Seriously though, I think that the short videos of how the Mac OS X works that anyone can watch at apple.com can, convince someone that his Windows stuff might not be the end all be all, that they knew all this time... :)
 
I agree that Apple needs to focus more on how much better it performs than say, acting differently or showing a handful of loserly converts with lame quotes. It needs to demonstrate what it can do as my [teen] demographic is hostile against Apple and Macintosh's in general for weak reasons e.g. nothing's compatible for them, it's mouse only has one button -_-;;, it looks gay with its candy case, doesn't have any games for it, or is only good for graphics. They need to show how the iMac performs well on PC titles such as Quake 3, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and Jedi Knight 2 : Jedi Outcast (coming soon) all perform suprisingly well without ever having to purchase expensive graphics cards (its not really an option with my iMac anyways) as well are all extremely popular titles, not to mention The Sims and Black & White. They simply refuse to believe that Macs are superior ; it's not the one with the monopoly after all..
 
I just want to chime in on DELL for a second. My last "all in one" store bought computer was a dell Dimension XPS D333, a pentium 2-333 with the usual trimmings for the time. It was an excellent computer, and design wise I considered it a real winner. It was sleek, small [for the time], quiet, and powerful.

These days I consider dell to have changed their image to almost what compaq used to be like, goofy "futuristic" looking speakers, strange color schemes, and overall just totally unprofessional looking systems. The same goes for their ad campaign, as amusing as the commercials are. [the first 5 times you see them].

As far as apple, just bring back the G4 cube and bring out jaguar and you will do just fine!

Sometimes I think companies try too hard, and rely a little too much on PR firms and Ad agencies, "demographic" information, statistics, and the like. While I make no claim that I can do any better, I often wish I could get in there and show them how its done, as im sure many other people here do from time to time.

:)
 
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