'Think Different' ad creator believes latest Samsung ads are getting the best of Apple - Page 3

 

Next year they'll air the exact same ad, except the horn will be bigger.

 

No, judges said that.

 

Absolute nonsense.

 

Nonsense.

Please read his blog again. Nowhere does he say that Samsung's ads are that great.

He says they're well produced. That's probably true.

He says that much of their success is the fact hat Samsung is flooding the airwaves with them. That's true, too.

Finally, he says that the message is potent. I'm not quite so sure about that, but even if it's true, that doesn't mean the ads are effective at getting the message across.

Apple is the primary target of Samsung's attentions, but not the primary victim. Apple's doing just fine. But look what's happening to Nokia, Microsoft, Sony, LG, HTC, HP, Dell, Blackberry in the mobile sector. Samsung's trashing the old guard en masse.

And all the billions in advertising are building the Samsung brand, not the Google brand. Google has a tiger by the tail. Samsung is nobody's lackey; it's merely milking Android for all its worth. Then what? Here's my prediction: Samsung will end up one of the big three in mobile with Apple and Google. I won't guess in what order.

Credit to Asymco and Horace Dediu for the stats behind statements made in the article.

 

I think they are effective at getting the Samsung name into people's brains and in a positive way.

I hate to say it but the new Samsung ads (that aren't attacking anyone) are pretty entertaining.

That being said, I don't think they are anywhere near Apple's level of quality.

The Samsung ads are idiotic. The people in them are singularly unattractive. We have a woman stealing credit for compiling sales figures, a guy arranging the smuggling of illegal energy drinks from Sweden (from a Russian named Oleg?), a guy who goofs off on half his screen while pretending to work on the other, guys going out for a pretentious lunch, a smug Asian IT thug, a roomful of gamer slackers who are allegedly creating a dumb game.

It's hard to believe these ads present the Samsung products in a favorable light to anyone other than a few urban hipsters. Most people will find these characters odious.

 

You put too much faith in humanity. What the man on the street sees on TV is his aspiration these days.

Positive? You gotta get off that island.

Segall calls them "people" ads. Big mistake. They're anti-people ads, creepy-geek ads. As jragosta says, the demographic that Samsung (and all Android) is after is different in a not so positive way. They are the Technoid Alienated that hates Nature, Families, FaceTime wholesomness, the Liberal Arts, unicorns, everything Apple stands for, including the cool and simple approach to competent design.

Samsung's ads have become little anti-morality plays. Remember the office drama where the file swapper gets credit for the report? In this one, Tim Burton the pretend psychdelicized hipster (who never swallows his acid) contemplates how to to destroy the fantasy lives of millions of children.

Apple should never lower itself to respond to this sleaze.

Wait, people still watch ads?  Like, the ones on the TV Machine?  Wow.  I haven't watched an ad in over a decade.

 

This ad dork's analysis does get at the crux of Apple's problem today:  a severe lack of creative boldness.  Steve Jobs surrounded himself with people who would tolerate his aggresive creativity, so the result is that today Apple is run by timid execs who are afraid to dominate their competitors.  

 

Pretty much. I doubt Google is happy about Samsung completely dominating the Android device market. I can see Samsung replacing Android functionality with it's own services more and more, and eventually forking Android. People aren't buying Android phones. They're buying Samsung phones. That's the product, and the brand. Android is becoming less relevant, not more. 

 

 

Yeah. plain logo just doesn't work.

If those Samsung ads appeal to you then you have not artist in you... Sorry. They are dry and pointless. Yes, on the other hand Apple's latest ads are bad... They're predictable and old... Watching them doesn't make me want to buy anything. Both companies need to go in another direction.

I think Apple has taught everyone else not only how to market, but how to develop products (even if they're copied from Apple). A variety of competitive products, from Samsung to Microsoft, incorporates decent screen designs, fonts, etc. that were once the almost exclusive domain of Apple. When I look at other devices and the new Microsoft OS, I've been actually kind of surprised. They might still have major faults, but they're "reasonable" for most people.

I think it's par for the course, but I also think that Apple needs to raise the bar once again, as they've done in the past.

Personally, I like the new Apple iPad ad. It features a large variety of very interesting looking applications. And after all, that's what the device is used for. While Samsung can get away with "people ads" that satirize Apple, if Apple did the same thing, they would be accused of being elitist and they would be criticized the way that they were when they ran the Lemmings ad.

I think one of the things Apple needs to do is run new ads for their computers, providing reasons why people still need them (and even though Macs now contribute a minority of Apple's revenue streams).

While I thought the Samsung ad with Tim Burton was funny, I don't think that the masses would understand it and I truly wonder how many people will recall that it was a Samsung ad. I didn't. What does the development of a killer unicorn game and spin-off movie have to do with a purchasing decision to buy a Pad or phone?

As for advertising on the SuperBowl, while the game gets very large audiences, the advertising buy is so expensive, that IMO, it's a poor use of resources. I think most companies advertise on the SuperBowl out of ego (and so they get invited to SuperBowl parties, etc.)

Thank you. That's what this is about. But:

Samsung, or its agency, knows its target as low-spectrum sociopaths with enough self-loathing to admire scammers and hustlers.

 

I don't like the Samsung ads at all, and I am scik to death of that zombie unicorn b.s. they are running it on. But they do have a point, Samsung phones are preferred by subsection of geeks.

Oh stop, this is too deep for you, and you just proved it.

Ads aren't easy to make. Most here will never like a Samsung commercial because they're biased. Apple's latest ads while not great do a good job showing what the iPad can in contrast the ads for the Surface are idiotic and doesn't not show the viewer why they should get one.

"I love Apple, but Apple hasn't innovated since Steve died, and now Samsung is winning and analysts say Apple has to chase Samsung and the Internet told me that Apple is doomed because they are resting on their laurels because they keep making stuff thinner instead of more exciting and where's my regularly scheduled breakthrough?"

 

Yes. Positive.

 

Everything that you say to prove the idea that these ads are negative is just your fantasized version of life. Some pseudo intellectual montage of what you feel is the real world when in actual fact it's your own emotional rebuke of a certain class of people. You sound like some really old guy whose next statement is going to be, "Get off my lawn!".

 

Negative is when you come right you and attack people. I see a bunch of young people having fun. Maybe not my kind of fun, maybe not your kind of fun, but I get it, I was there once.

 

That's Samsung's audience. As I've said before, I think it's a limited audience. It is getting Samsung's name remembered by people, though, and it seems to be working for them.

 

This sentence hurt to read. Good job!

 

Now there is a good example of what I feel is idiotic... the Microsoft ads. All that clicking and tapping! WTF!?!

There are "ads"?

 

That said it would behoove APPLE to crack open the wallet and let a little more of those billions flow towards advertising.

 

Oh and those Droid ads scare me. I doubt that's what they were going for? 

The consumers who are swayed by Samsung's ads deserve Samsung products, so what's the problem?

 

I'm not going to comment on that, because there is no right answer. The type of ads that are tasteful or effective continues to change dynamically with the position of the company (whether it's an underdog of established player), the marketplace dynamics, and tone and message it wants to send, the demographics it wants to attract, etc. ie. today, the "got a mac" ads would NOT be right. Apple has made a concerted effort to avoid all comparisons to other products/companies in tis ads in the past few years, as it should. The type of ad you may like and think is effective may not be the same as an ad that the average joe would respond to. Apple's latest ads have been innocuous, playful, and witty, as well as highlighting feature(s) of it's product in a clear, easy to understand way. I prefer this alot more than the over the top bullshit, half-truths, distortion of facts, and mocking people that buy a competing product thats present in Samsung's ads, but to each his own. For Apple to stoop to this level would be unwise.

That's why the most recent Droid ads were much softer.

 

Why (do you think you know this)? Advertising = desperate for attention. Apple's not. 

 

If Apple puts out a new ad when they have a new product, like they've always done, and then an ad or so when they start a new service or find a set of apps that their team thinks the world should know about, I think that's just fine. Saves that money for other things.

 

Apple needs to advertise just as much as Coca-Cola does, in my opinion.

Isn't samsung well known for being basically an organization ruled by thieves and criminals? yes, it is.

Do you really think Coca-Cola needs to advertise? In other parts of the world yes but not in the US.

Oh, I think it is safe to say that large groups of people will find the characters displayed in the Samsung ads to be repulsive.

 

Sure, hipster doofuses are a real market segment, but for every one you connect with, you alienate dozens of other potential customers.  The only thing Samsung has going for it is that is it cheaper.

Totally agree with you, but Apple could do much more.

 

C'mon... Android guy Vs iOS guy.

 

The Android guy with stupid colored clothes, with too much green (simbolizing samsung's shitty screens on the galaxy line), fat but strong, against an well dressed and athletic iOS guy.

 

There's endless possibilities.

 

An android tunning car with people making mods (android) against a mercedes class S 65 amg, or a pagani (iOS)...

No, but they are effective. They show you what an iPad / iPhone can do.

Isn't that market segment already saturated with Android users? Sort of preaching to the choir...well not exactly choir boys...but. Perhaps those ads are intended mostly to attract users of other Androids brands more than they are designed to attract iPhone users although they do compare the iPhone and BB in the accounting department ad but those are women. Clearly they are not targeting feature phone hold outs. Everyone in that hipster market segment already has a smartphone.

The quality of an ad never recedes. ie. 1984, Think Different, Mac/PC

 

This isn't about comparing Apple ads to any other company's ads. It's about the quality of Apple's own ads/ad campaign.

 

Apple today is about as interesting as General Mills.  Breakfast cereal too has innovations every year.

 

Did Coca-Cola stop advertising?

So "Good Enough" is the new slogan for Apple?

Are you talking about the ads or the products? The products can sell themselves. You can't beat word of mouth. It's hard to top Mac-PC.

Yes, they do. Even when you're on top, you need to advertise. There are lots of reasons to advertise:
1. Keep yourself in the customer's mind ("Out of sight, out of mind" definitely applies in advertising).
2. Spur unplanned purchases (somehow, we always end up at McDonald's after my daughter hears an McD commercial on the radio)
3. Remind people that you're still #1.
4. Tell customers about new products or services
There are other reasons, but that's sufficient to show that you need to advertise even if you're #1.

That said, Apple DOES advertise (as does Coca-Cola, of course). Whether they advertise enough is an open question.


I agree. The first time I saw the ad about the girl pretending that the sales figures were hers, I couldn't believe it. I get more disgusted each time I see it.

I don't think it's just urban hipsters that they appeal to. There's a significant audience that thinks that the ends justify the means - and particularly when it comes down to stealing from a big, bad company. Everything about Samsung (from their advertising to their 'product development' to their corporate bribery practices says 'sleaze'.

You said that the ads weren't Apple's best stuff. So does that mean that "Good Enough" is the new standard.

 

By the way... I don't think there is a company on the planet who believes that they can stop advertising and remain on top or anywhere near it. [read jragosta above]

 

For every 10 mediocre ads presented by Samsung, Apple needs only one really good ad imho. As it is, I think that Apple is at the 10 to 4 ratio right now.