Forget Switchers... It's Time To Think Different...

C

CreativeEye

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Should Apple be reviving the 'think different' campaign?

It was an iconic and seminal campaign - and done again in within Apple new marketing guidelines - with a cleaner style using the new apple logo and actually placing the product within it I think it would be back with a vengeance.

It's certainly somethin`g that would work effectively on the back of a campaign revolving around the new OS / hardware.

It would be a simple profile raising campaign - windows users with iPods would feel more of an affinity with the brand because they've had a taste of a great product / it would breed a sense of brand loyalty with them. Potential 'switchers' would already have had the hard sell and , again - feel more compelled to switch through the iconic imagery - in exactly the same way iPod ads have tapped directly into the younger market and cornered it.

More people than ever know the brand - and backing it up with an aspirational message such as 'think different' - with the same 'on message' direction as this previous ad (link below) - would be perfect in the current zeitgeist for Apple.

Finish it with the same end screen but subtitle it with '...With The Makers Of iPod / Mac / OS X www.thinkdifferent.com'.

http://www.applele.com/thinkdifferent_02.html
 
[preface] I'm no marketing expert[/preface]
but they'd have to put a unique spin on it if they did go [back] to that ad campaign.

I'd be nervous about consumers/industry seeing it as a recycled campaign, saving money/ad dollars, etc. Just seems to me like reusing an old marketing 'gimick' could look weak, not brilliant as Apple obviously is...

just my $.02 of course
 
well if they do the Think different campaign with the "Halo" switchers the ones who bought an iPod then got a Mac?? :)

or Advertise the Mac Mini, and the new iMac G5. Not just the iPod
 
Quiksan - I agree - the relaunch of an old campaign would (and should) be used as a marketing tool in itself. I'm sure a hard launch of such a campaign with a 'mini event' would see off any detractors.

Oscar - thats the idea - back up good marketing of Apple products (and I agree marketing of other products by Apple is long overdue) with marketing of the same quality which reflects the brand ethos.

Showing that a computer is fast just doesn't matter any more - Apple are in a unique position where they have a strong digital hub (iLife), so they can show off what a user can actually DO with a computer, and how they they can easily do it.

Apple then push the idea that they 'understand' us - but at the same time they know we want to do cool and imaginative things - that we all want to think different - and Apple know how they can help us do that.

'Think Different' isn't so far away from 'Your Potential, Our Passion' or 'Start Something'... but 'Think Different' already has more gravity (lent to it by the various people in the ads), more iconic status (people actually own and display think different posters in their homes!) and totally fits with the idea od 'Apple cool'.

It's certainly spin - but its the right kind of spin.
 
All I recall is the one lame PowerMac commercial with the kid being thrown against the tree and the wrecked house. All the new hardware since then, iMac, Mini, and the PowerMac need to have more exposure. A lot of people are in the dark "still" about the Mac.
 
A marketing campaign of any kind for Macintosh Computers, OS X or iLife is NONEXISTENT. There is no print, TV and minimal magazine advertising! This is unacceptable! Apple's market machine is geared for iPods only with some overtones to iTunes. I would blame the advertising agency for Apple but I think with Steve's micro control, the blame is on Apple as a company. Market share will not move with any significance without a GOOD advertising push.
 
I think that Apple had a stronghold on the market before, during, and after Christmas with showing off iPods and marketing their colorfull, younger-audience inspired iPod adds. And they did a good job of it. Who doesn't know what an iPod is by now? Hell, the word "iPod" is almost becoming synonymous with the words "Mp3 Player". I just wish I had invested money into Apple before the holiday season... :( But now is time for some change. Apple is going to start declining in market share if they don't start up marketing campaigns on things like the ones mentioned before; iMacs, PowerBooks, iBooks, Mini's, etc. Apple could seriously take off from the popularity of the iPod as a firm-ground unto the population.

I think that the idea of bringing back the Switch campaign again in a different form wouldn't be the greatest idea. Sure, it might grab some people, but I think that Apple now has enough audience recognition to just advertise as a singular company, with no intervention into the realm of "switching". They could market their great and superior product to the masses in just the new-age way they did with the iPod commercials.

Just think of the impact an Apple-style iMac ad would make... :p

EDIT: Oh, and the Think Different advertising. I personally like the idea, but I don't think it would appeal to the masses again. It's just a little too old to bring back now.
 
Here is another idea too for Apple.


Starts including all their entry level (iBook/Mac Mini) computers with 512MB of RAM and offered more discounts, not just student, i think a lot of people will be switching.

Also promote the Games on the System!!! Granted there are a few Mac Gamers out there....I am one of them and I will proudly admit it. There are a ton of Apple Games out there, it's just nobody knows where to get them, get some deals with EB Games to start carrying Macintosh Games as well. :D
 
Why would you try to lure gamers? They're exactly the ones who DISLIKE Macs, and who are knowledgeable enough to know that it's realistically not the platform for them.

Apple should advertise the iMac. A lot. Most people still associate the iMac name with the old five-flavours. They didn't know about the G4 and they don't know about the G5. People don't know that Apple really competes in the computer arena anymore.
Advertise to the old folks who are fed up with viruses, and who are keen to use iMovie, iPhoto etc. Not just the hipsters.
 
^^ too true - i recently convinced a friend of mine to get an imac g5 - she just wants music, photo's, internet etc. she wouldn't beleive she could get such a good computer for so little. plus she wouldn't beleive me when i said there wasn't a seperate box for the computer. the imac is very cheap, and very good.
 
riccbhard said:
Ah, Thanks! I see it is moved. I found this. Kind of neat

http://www.esm.psu.edu/Faculty/Gray/graphics/movies/Think-Different.mov
Click to expand...

I've had to edit this so as not to offend the guy below who can't take a joke or apology.

I didn't like the ad shown above, visually it's good, what it says is good, but it's very American, and I don't mean it in a bad way, some ads can be run here in the UK without re-dubbing the audio, but this one wouldn't work as well. That's not a critique of anyone, or any country, just an observation.
 
Oh it was, all it needed was kids singing in the background, cheesy. Maybe it's a cultural difference. :)
 
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