Apple launches "Get a Mac" TV campaign

[josa92]

I love those new ads from Apple!!!!!

http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

w00t

[Ireland]

Originally posted by josa92
I love those new ads from Apple!!!!!

http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

w00t

Why did you do a new thread that exists already

[AppleInsider]

It's the one most Apple Computer enthusiasts have been waiting for -- a television ad campaign that once again pits the advantages of a Mac over the shortcomings of traditional Windows PCs.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based Mac maker kicked-off the campaign on network television on Monday. It consists of six 30-second long ad spots that touch on the Mac's strong points, such as immunity to viruses, operating system stability, networking, and the ability to run Apple's iLife digital lifestyle application suite.

In the ads, a calm and collected young man in a hooded sweatshirt (the Mac) engages in debate with a slightly older, stockier gentlemen dressed in a business suit (the Windows PC).

In one spot, dubbed "Viruses," the young man begins by saying, "Hello, I'm a Mac." The gentleman in the suit responds with, "and I'm a PC," and then proceeds to sneeze violently as if he has a cold.

"Gesundheit! You ok?," asks the Mac. "No, I'm not ok. I have that virus that's going around," says the PC.

In another spot, Apple highlights a stellar review given to the new Intel iMac Core Duo by renowned Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg. And yet another ad just touts the Mac as being "Better" than a Windows PC.

The new campaign is the first from Apple to specifically highlight some of the Macs advantages since the company announced its "Switch" series of television ads in June of 2002. That campaign featured what the company referred to as "real people" who had "switched" from the Microsoft Windows platform to the Mac.

Apple has posted all six of the new "Get a Mac" television commercials on its Web site in four different viewing sizes. The company also unveiled a list of 14 reasons why "you'll love a Mac" as well as a Web page that helps potential switchers decide which Mac is right for them.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[crees!]

It's about damn time!

[rok]

sigh... i prefer ads that do NOT make PC users look like dorks for what they use. heck, pc users have been doing the same thing TO ME for years, and all it did was make me hold more steadfast to my platform. peer pressure works on teens, not on purchasing adults.

but hey, maybe the ads will prove me wrong.

[amac4me]

Overall, the ads get a great message across. Macs are better than PCs to address today's Digital Lifestyle.

I thought that the "Virus" ad was funny.

[PBG4 Dude]

I saw the "Wall Street" ad last night during 24. I thought it sucked. Hopefully the other ads are better than "Wall Street".

[tetzel1517]

Originally posted by PBG4 Dude
I saw the "Wall Street" ad last night during 24. I thought it sucked. Hopefully the other ads are better than "Wall Street".

They are... in fact, that's the only one that didn't quite work for me, because I can see a lot of people tuning out as soon as the words "Wall Street Journal" or "Walter Mossberg" come out of the speakers.

But I actually chuckled at a couple, which is more than 99 percent of other commercials do.

[drakethegreat]

Obviously they are biased because Apple produced them... People seem to be getting angry over certain comments but hell its not as if they are that skewed or void of fact. The iLife one is the only one I would say is slightly skewed. Windows does have more then a Calculator and a Clock but still nothing quite as nice as iLife.

I just hope my friend watches these. I've been unable to convince to consider macs because he thinks that if 90% of the sheep out there are using Windows it must be better...

Of course using that same logic thats like saying Hitler must of been right because 90% of the German population stood behind him when he slaughtered millions or maybe it had something to do with ignorance and the 90% didn't know about it and didn't know any better then to stop his control.

[Ireland]

Originally posted by amac4me

nice signature!

[Mac Voyer]

These are the best Mac ads ever. Period!

[Ireland]

Originally posted by drakethegreat
Obviously they are biased because Apple produced them... People seem to be getting angry over certain comments but hell its not as if they are that skewed or void of fact. The iLife one is the only one I would say is slightly skewed. Windows does have more then a Calculator and a Clock but still nothing quite as nice as iLife.

I just hope my friend watches these. I've been unable to convince to consider macs because he thinks that if 90% of the sheep out there are using Windows it must be better...

You said it!8)

[rinnin]

These should have been done ages ago. PCs have come a long way in copying the Mac OS, and Longhorn, due next year, is a total rip off of OS X as we all know. The comparisons are becoming fewer and fewer especially now that virus threats to Macs are on the increase. The virus ad is enough to p*ss off any virus writer & start to taking aim at OS X.

Would've been nice to see some video screenshots of OS X's features or some of the great things Macs can do much more simply & elegantly than PCs. Afterall, to the average Joe, in this ad, Macs just seem like a pretty cool PC box with a different name.

Overall I think the ads are nice and simple, amusing at times and get the point accross that Macs are cooler than PCs. But is this image thing convincing enough for people to switch over? I'm not too sure. But then again, its only my opinion.

[retiarius]

Was the spare white background Errol-Morris-style
series, complete with tinkly music, done by Morris himself,
or did he leave the scene after the last effort was cancelled?
I would have loved to see his Ames room shots...

Also, it seems odd that Apple is hijacking the term 'HD'
to mean 848x480 -- even for (HD)TV, that usually is either
720p or 1080i (which is 540p with trick play).

If they think any wide aspect ratio 480p should be termed HD,
this could give a clue about where they are going from 320x240
for video. Even though most G4 equipment can scale
480p H.264 to fullscreen, and that the bandwidth requirements
are better for web downloads, it is still disingenous to
undermine the shorthand for "high definition".

[Ireland]

Originally posted by rinnin
These should have been done ages ago. PCs have come a long way in copying the Mac OS, and Longhorn, due next year, is a total rip off of OS X as we all know. The comparisons are becoming fewer and fewer especially now that virus threats to Macs are on the increase. The virus ad is enough to p*ss off any virus writer & start to taking aim at OS X.

Would've been nice to see some video screenshots of OS X's features or some of the great things Macs can do much more simply & elegantly than PCs. Afterall, to the average Joe, in this ad, Macs just seem like a pretty cool PC box with a different name.

Overall I think the ads are nice and simple, amusing at times and get the point accross that Macs are cooler than PCs. But is this image thing convincing enough for people to switch over? I'm not too sure. But then again, its only my opinion.

I just showed my mate the ads when they were put on apple.com , and he said seriously Apple computers don't get viruses like Windows, and I was like yes they don't, and he couldn't believe it. His eyes got very wide and he said do that's why you love apple so much, now I get it! Needless to say I was like 'eureka'

[SpamSandwich]

Originally posted by Ireland
I just showed my mate the ads when they were put on apple.com , and he said seriously Apple computers don't get viruses like Windows, and I was like yes they don't, and he couldn't believe it. His eyes got very wide and he said do that's why you love apple so much, now I get it! Needless to say I was like 'eureka'

Brilliant. Hopefully the rest of the PC world responds as favorably.

[666]

it's this kind of arrogance that will get the nerds writing viruses to take Apple down a notch. But they are pretty funny.

[jbh0001]

Originally posted by retiarius
Also, it seems odd that Apple is hijacking the term 'HD' to mean 848x480 -- even for (HD)TV, that usually is either 720p or 1080i (which is 540p with trick play).

If they think any wide aspect ratio 480p should be termed HD, this could give a clue about where they are going from 320x240 for video. Even though most G4 equipment can scale 480p H.264 to fullscreen, and that the bandwidth requirements are better for web downloads, it is still disingenous to undermine the shorthand for "high definition".

That's definitely one way of looking at it. But as I recall, when 16:9 plasma TVs started comming out, I was disappointed that the native resolution was 848x480 (WideVGA).

"HD" refers to the aspect ratio (16:9) in contrast to "SD" (standard definition) which is 4:3 aspect ratio. Pixel resolution for those aspect ratios is variable (e.g. VGA vs. WideVGA, XGA vs. WXGA, UXGA vs. WUXGA, QXGA vs. WQXGA, etc.) By this definition one could argue CGA (320x200) qualifies as "HD" because it is a 16x9 (ok 16x10) aspect ratio.

This is consistent with how Apple has used "HD" since the advent of QuickTime 7. All one needs to do is go to the QuickTime movie trailiers page to see how Apple has been doing this.

[MacCrazy]

I love the viruses ad but I find them too smug - like the switching ads campaign. I don't think they'll gain market share by making PC users look too bad - although some of the ads have a good balance.

Edit: That iLife one is hilarious too!

[jbh0001]

The "Mac" guy looks like it is Justin Long.

The "PC" guy looks like Dave Foley even though I'm pretty sure it is not.

My favorite is the network spot.

[chris v]

I like 'em. The didital camera is a babe.

"I'll go get IT." Heh.

[JoeAlamaiz]

gotta love that background music in the ads

like a children game, a toy... makes me want a mac even more...

i think the ads are very well done

[jbh0001]

[deleted by poster]

[tmp]

Nice, but I wish I could view them from my PC at work.

[Aquatic]

They're all decent except the WSJ one which is gay artsy fartsy hipster shtick...in other words they should pull it fast before they lose Switcher sales to it. "Oh great, just what I always though, Mac users are arrogant assholes." What were they thinking.


Also...two white guys. If they could have different people...women...non-white people...that'd probably be good.

Good start I guess, finally taking the kid gloves off. They should have one that mentions that Macs run Windows faster.

[JoeAlamaiz]

Originally posted by Aquatic
They're all decent except the WSJ one which is gay artsy fartsy hipster shtick...in other words they should pull it fast before they lose Switcher sales to it. "Oh great, just what I always though, Mac users are arrogant assholes." What were they thinking.


Also...two white guys. If they could have different people...women...non-white people...that'd probably be good.

Good start I guess, finally taking the kid gloves off. They should have one that mentions that Macs run Windows faster.

i dont think interracial would be good here when youre trying to compare something "good" with something "bad".

What race would you choose the pc to be?, and which race would the mac be? you get the japanese female camera and that's good enough... and hot.

well i hope you get my point...

... besides, these two guys are obviously a reflection of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates

[earthy]

Is it just me, or do the two actors look not a little bit like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs? I'd be surprised if this was just coincidental...

[cubist]

(sigh) it's been such a long time since Apple's ads actually showed a computer... but any advertising at all is better than none, I suppose.

[drakethegreat]

Originally posted by cubist
(sigh) it's been such a long time since Apple's ads actually showed a computer... but any advertising at all is better than none, I suppose.

This matters because? People know what Macs look like because they see them in everyday situations. Everyone knows what computers look like. What they don't know is why you should get one over the other. Thats the point of ads for computers.

Yes Macs look nicer but you should not just buy a computer because its pretty. You buy it because it does what you want and possibly more.

[TenoBell]

Also, it seems odd that Apple is hijacking the term 'HD' to mean 848x480 -- even for (HD)TV, that usually is either 720p or 1080i (which is 540p with trick play).

480P is apart of the HD designation, but few really use it because its not much better than progressive NTSC. 480 is not as sexy as 1080.

"HD" refers to the aspect ratio (16:9) in contrast to "SD" (standard definition) which is 4:3 aspect ratio. Pixel resolution for those aspect ratios is variable (e.g. VGA vs. WideVGA, XGA vs. WXGA, UXGA vs. WUXGA, QXGA vs. WQXGA, etc.)

No that's not true. HD pixel resolution is always beyond the NTSC designation. 16x9 is the official designated aspect ratio you can shoot HD at 4x3.

The fact that HD quantization bit rate, data rate, sample rate, and color space is greater than that of NTSC is also what makes the difference.

[tak1108]

480P is part of the DIGITAL TV standard, not HDTV standard.

[Dogcow]

The PC is John Hodman - most recently see in segments on The Daily Show.

[TenoBell]

I had to look it up again, yep you are right 480P is apart of the ATSC spec but not the official HD spec.

[solsun]

Originally posted by drakethegreat
This matters because? People know what Macs look like because they see them in everyday situations. Everyone knows what computers look like. What they don't know is why you should get one over the other. Thats the point of ads for computers.

Yes Macs look nicer but you should not just buy a computer because its pretty. You buy it because it does what you want and possibly more.

I do really like the ads, but to date, Apples most successfull computer campaign was for the original iMac, and all of those ads showed nothing but the iMacs.

[solsun]

I do think these new ads will present favorably to the pc buying crowd. Real world differences are what people really need to know about Mac.

The "Think Different" campaign (my personal favorite) flopped because it made people think that Macs were too different.. People are afraid of what they don't know.

The "Switch" campaign flopped because it came across as being too arrogant and pissed people off.

Let's hope the "Get a Mac" campaign will work!

[MacCentric]

I hope that the MacBook is coming real soon to benefit from all these advertising dollars being spent, otherwise they risk having the public retain the misconception that Apple does not have an offering in the low cost space even after it is released.

[retiarius]

Originally posted by tak1108
480P is part of the DIGITAL TV standard, not HDTV standard.

exactly -- 480P is more SD than HD. apple is now defining "wide SD"
as HD, which is tacky. they should have been content to label
the supersized choice "widescreen".

are we about to witness a collision of the digital TV and computer world,
where each industry has their own snake oil to win over consumers?

still waiting for that 42" 1920x1080 LCD TV (with DVI/HDMI/UDI
inputs) from apple.

[a_greer]

Originally posted by 666
it's this kind of arrogance that will get the nerds writing viruses to take Apple down a notch.

If it were that easy McCaffe and Norton/Symantec would have started writing ,ac OS X viruses long ago...

[akhomerun]

Originally posted by TenoBell
480P is apart of the HD designation, but few really use it because its not much better than progressive NTSC. 480 is not as sexy as 1080.



No that's not true. HD pixel resolution is always beyond the NTSC designation. 16x9 is the official designated aspect ratio you can shoot HD at 4x3.

The fact that HD quantization bit rate, data rate, sample rate, and color space is greater than that of NTSC is also what makes the difference.

480p is technically EDTV

although technically, the term HD has not been defined really in a set-in-stone way.

The "HD" trailer could easily mean "High Definition compared to other streaming media"

besides, anything that looks sharp and crisp can be called high definition. The word "high" just makes it compare to something lower.

so 720p is HD compared to 480i, just as a 20 inch painting is HD compared to a 10 inch painting

[MacCrazy]

Originally posted by akhomerun
so 720p is HD compared to 480i, just as a 20 inch painting is HD compared to a 10 inch painting

technically a 10" painting is just as detailed as a 20" painting as it's not made up of pixels - however the real issue is monitors!

I was the under the impression HD was 720i, 720p, 1080i or 1080p