Apple's Santa TV spot deemed best ad of holiday season
Apple's TV commercial depicting Santa Claus interacting with Siri on his iPhone 4S was named the most effective ad of the 2011 holiday season, and topped 34 other Santa-themed spots.
According to viewer reactions measured by TV ad analysis firm Ace Metrix and released on Friday, Apple's commercial collected enough points to be named the most effective ad during the crucial holiday season, beating out advertising veterans like Coca-Cola, Pillsbury and Nintendo, reports GigaOM.
The Santa Siri ad garnered 652 out of a possible 950 points, eight percent higher than other tech brands, from a group of randomly selected viewers who rated selected commercials by relevance, persuasion, watchability, information and other metrics. Ace Metrix says the reviewers are "representative of the U.S. TV viewing audience."
?It?s cute and funny,? Ace Metrix CEO Peter Daboll said of the iPhone maker's TV spot.
In general, companies that used Santa in their commercials performed above other ads in their repsective categories, proving Ace Metrix's point that "Santa sells." Old St. Nick was the star of at least 35 ads this holiday season.
Best Buy took away top honors for most effective campaign with its "Game On, Santa" series, which featured passive-aggressive moms outdoing the Jolly Red Elf by shopping at the big-box electronics store.
Apple's ad shows Santa interacting with the iPhone 4S, tasking Siri with a number of actions that show off the feature albeit with a tad of whimsy. A message from Mrs. Claus tells him to "go easy on the cookies," and the ad finishes with a humorous interpretation of Santa's upcoming schedule.
In usual Apple fashion the ad highlights the product first and foremost, though the introduction of Siri has made the company's traditionally wordless commercials more about interacting with the device instead of merely highlighting its physical attributes.
Since the iPod campaign, Apple's ads for its mobile devices have been fast-paced music video-like spots that mostly feature music by independent bands. However, Siri has offered a new opportunity to create commercials that are stark contrasts of previous iDevice ads, just as the company hopes Siri will set its products apart from the competition.
According to viewer reactions measured by TV ad analysis firm Ace Metrix and released on Friday, Apple's commercial collected enough points to be named the most effective ad during the crucial holiday season, beating out advertising veterans like Coca-Cola, Pillsbury and Nintendo, reports GigaOM.
The Santa Siri ad garnered 652 out of a possible 950 points, eight percent higher than other tech brands, from a group of randomly selected viewers who rated selected commercials by relevance, persuasion, watchability, information and other metrics. Ace Metrix says the reviewers are "representative of the U.S. TV viewing audience."
?It?s cute and funny,? Ace Metrix CEO Peter Daboll said of the iPhone maker's TV spot.
In general, companies that used Santa in their commercials performed above other ads in their repsective categories, proving Ace Metrix's point that "Santa sells." Old St. Nick was the star of at least 35 ads this holiday season.
Best Buy took away top honors for most effective campaign with its "Game On, Santa" series, which featured passive-aggressive moms outdoing the Jolly Red Elf by shopping at the big-box electronics store.
Apple's ad shows Santa interacting with the iPhone 4S, tasking Siri with a number of actions that show off the feature albeit with a tad of whimsy. A message from Mrs. Claus tells him to "go easy on the cookies," and the ad finishes with a humorous interpretation of Santa's upcoming schedule.
In usual Apple fashion the ad highlights the product first and foremost, though the introduction of Siri has made the company's traditionally wordless commercials more about interacting with the device instead of merely highlighting its physical attributes.
Since the iPod campaign, Apple's ads for its mobile devices have been fast-paced music video-like spots that mostly feature music by independent bands. However, Siri has offered a new opportunity to create commercials that are stark contrasts of previous iDevice ads, just as the company hopes Siri will set its products apart from the competition.
Comments
Samsung is scrambling to create an ad depicting the Easter Bunny using a Samsung phone to find hidden eggs or whatever?
... hidden ICS update.
Samsung is scrambling to create an ad depicting the Easter Bunny using a Samsung phone to find hidden eggs or whatever?
lol!
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The thing about Apple is if they are behind in areas (i.e. screen size and 4G) they don't either educate why they are (new antennas give 4G like performance) or they don't address the concerns (the screen size issue).
Siri is a definite differentiator and it'll take others a few years to catch-up. By then Siri will be on all iDevices and out for the Mac too. It might not appear useful on the Mac but if it can replace your search engine (Google or Bing). It would be odd if they wait too long to bring it to the Mac. I hope we don't have to wait for another iteration of OSX (Red Lion) for it.
That was a good commercial and I had a laugh at the end. Apple has the lead and the competition is once again scrambling.
The thing about Apple is if they are behind in areas (i.e. screen size and 4G) they don't either educate why they are (new antennas give 4G like performance) or they don't address the concerns (the screen size issue).
Siri is a definite differentiator and it'll take others a few years to catch-up. By then Siri will be on all iDevices and out for the Mac too. It might not appear useful on the Mac but if it can replace your search engine (Google or Bing). It would be odd if they wait too long to bring it to the Mac. I hope we don't have to wait for another iteration of OSX (Red Lion) for it.
Just because they don't have 5.3 inch screens, and lte their behind? They did adress it, years of research are the reasons.
The thing about Apple is if they are behind in areas (i.e. screen size and 4G)
Which doesn't seem to have any affect on their sales or customer desirability.
they don't either educate why they are
Except when they do.
(new antennas give 4G like performance)
"4G-like" isn't Apple's style.
or they don't address the concerns (the screen size issue).
How is that in any way a "concern"? I'd be concerned if they made a larger iPhone. There's no sense in it and I'd never buy one.
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Really?? I don't want to be a hater, but I think having Santa in an Apple ad is predictable, cheap and unimaginative.
Why. Filler.
Why. Filler.
Umm, because like I said, featuring Santa Claus in a Christmas ad is pretty predictable, which is contrary to "think different" [sic].
I know I'm going to get roasted for saying something negative about Apple, but my personal feeling is that this ad does not live up to their past brand marketing standards.
Edit - I think that if you gave a 2nd year college marketing class a project brief of "feature Santa using the iPhone 4S" you may have received more original spot. IMHO.
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Umm, because like I said, featuring Santa Claus in a Christmas ad is pretty predictable, which is contrary to "think different"
Apple has never done an ad with Santa before, so it's hardly predictable.
The ad looks gorgeous, so it wasn't cheap.
And everyone seems to love the joke at the end, plus the overall idea of showing Siri in daily use, so it's obviously imaginative.
I know I'm going to get roasted for saying something negative about Apple
No, you're going to get roasted for saying something completely wrong.
Edit - I think that if you gave a 2nd year college marketing class a project brief of "feature Santa using the iPhone 4S" you may have received more original spot. IMHO.
Do. See what happens!
All their commercials are well thought out like their hardware and software products.
By cheap, I mean the idea, not the production values. The ad was well-produced as would be expected.
As for saying something completely wrong, I am an Apple die-hard - iMac, MBP, ATV, iPhone, iPad and stock-holder...but I'm seeing some kinks in the armour and this spot re-enforces my concerns.
Is it a bad ad? Not really. Is it to past Apple standards? I'd argue no.
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Just because Apple hasn't done it before doesn't make it new. It makes it new for them. Hey, if it works for you, great. I'm just saying it's not all that original.
By cheap, I mean the idea, not the production values. The ad was well-produced as would be expected.
As for saying something completely wrong, I am an Apple die-hard - iMac, MBP, ATV, iPhone, iPad and stock-holder...but I'm seeing some kinks in the armour and this spot re-enforces my concerns.
Is it a bad ad? Not really. Is it to past Apple standards? I'd argue no.
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Why does it have to be original to be effective? I'll take effective over original any day.
And it came in at the top stop for santa-themed commercials.
And please tell me what "chinks" in Apple's armour you are seeing besides this obviously effective piece of advertising on Apple's part?
EDIT: My mistake. Top honours for ALL COMMERCIALS of the holiday season. I hope Apple keeps the chinks on coming!
Really?? I don't want to be a hater, but I think having Santa in an Apple ad is predictable, cheap and unimaginative. Apple is playing at Best Buy's level now. The first time I saw it I thought (and hoped) that it was an independent ad from one of their carriers, and was disappointed to see the sign-off with the Apple logo.
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I couldn't agree more. This was a very mainstream ad that is nowhere near Apple's standards in previous years. It's not a bad commercial in the overall realm of commercials, it just doesn't have the "Apple" coolness that they have achieved so consistently over the years.
Does anyone really think Steve Jobs would have approved that commercial? I was hoping that would remain the test at Apple at least for awhile.
I couldn't agree more. This was a very mainstream ad that is nowhere near Apple's standards in previous years. It's not a bad commercial in the overall realm of commercials, it just doesn't have the "Apple" coolness that they have achieved so consistently over the years.
Does anyone really think Steve Jobs would have approved that commercial? I was hoping that would remain the test at Apple at least for awhile.
Thank you! I agree, it's not a bad ad, but "not bad" isn't the Apple reference standard. I also originally with-held a comment that i didn't think that it would have been aired with a Steve Jobs oversight.
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Samsung is scrambling to create an ad depicting the Easter Bunny using a Samsung phone to find hidden eggs or whatever…
Well, when you're hot, you're hot. And Apple is hot.
Pity about Safari 5.x though, I'm on Chrome and it's super fast. I'm assuming Google isn't intercepting my https stuff. For http, ah well, they can have that data. Whatever.
As for Android... Not so hot.
PS. If you're on Windows, and don't want to use Chrome, use the 64-bit WaterFox. Compatible with Firefox 9 and blazingly fast.
PPS. As for Flash, I've removed/ blocked/ ClickToFlash/ ClickToPlugin it. Time to stop it completely.
PPPS. I'm feeling dirty using Chrome. Will switch to Firefox 9 on Mac. I don't trust Google.
Just because they don't have 5.3 inch screens, and lte their behind? They did adress it, years of research are the reasons.
What research was that? Samsung outsells the iPhone in several markets.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...nth-shops.html
Those are 4.3" phones. Apparently people like the larger screen size. I'd like the choice of having a larger screen as well but Apple feels one size fits all. If they truly believed that then they should only sell one model of MacBook.