Sure I don't work on Apple's advertising, but I can give a list of good reasons why the proposed approach isn't a good idea:
It provides competitors a single target for anti-apple ads, a target that also happens to cover all products not just the iPhone
It plays too heavily into brand marketing, Apple customers are not sheep who buy Apple product for the name.
Apple make significant innovations, these should be shown off in advertising.
Apple's audience is too large to cover with a one-size-fits-all aspirational message
Apple's tight ecosystem means that if a person is enticed by one of the ads, they are easily sold on further apple devices. This significant advantage would be lost if all ads didn't focus on cutting edge features.
It's truly only relevant to the authoring platforms that Apple support (Mac and to a small extent iPad), the behind-the-mac campaign is basically the same thing with different numbers.
"The passing of Steve Jobs created a completely different approach to marketing which we can see the results of," Segall said. "As a marketer, I look at that and can see the difference between Steve being there -- and not being there -- very clearly."
I wonder if Segall’s comments are inside baseball here. And, it is reflective of he himself being retired, watching someone else do the job at TBWA\Chiat\Day MAL, thinking that he would do better.
4 to 5 years ago, TBWA had a falling out with Schiller. James Vincent, whatever his name, may have single handily lost the Apple contract for TBWA. This was during the 2013 “Apple is doomed” era when Apple had the iPhone 5/5S, while Samsung started its ramp up to 5 to 6 inch display sizes. That was a big marketing stick for Samsung.
Whatever was happening in the 2013 time frame between TBWA and Apple, Apple began building up its own advertising assets in house, and by 2014, TBWA ceased to work for Apple. Then, with the iPhone 6 models, the 2013 “Apple is doomed” era was doomed itself.
2) It's great you quoted Steve's first thought on one of the most iconic ads in history, but then you failed to include the rest of Jobs thoughts on the matter:
"This is great, this is really great … but I can’t do this. People already think I’m an egotist, and putting the Apple logo up there with all these geniuses will get me skewered by the press.” […] Steve then paused and looked around the room and said out loud, yet almost as if to his own self, “What am I doing? Screw it. It’s the right thing. It’s great. Let’s talk tomorrow.” In a matter of seconds, right before our very eyes, he had done a complete about-face.
I didn't think Jobs saying "eh, screw it" added anything to the conversation. Obviously he ran it anyway. That he knew it could leave a poor impression was my only point.
2) It's great you quoted Steve's first thought on one of the most iconic ads in history, but then you failed to include the rest of Jobs thoughts on the matter:
"This is great, this is really great … but I can’t do this. People already think I’m an egotist, and putting the Apple logo up there with all these geniuses will get me skewered by the press.” […] Steve then paused and looked around the room and said out loud, yet almost as if to his own self, “What am I doing? Screw it. It’s the right thing. It’s great. Let’s talk tomorrow.” In a matter of seconds, right before our very eyes, he had done a complete about-face.
I didn't think Jobs saying "eh, screw it" added anything to the conversation. Obviously he ran it anyway. That he knew it could leave a poor impression was my only point.
I think Jobs saying it's the right thing to do and saying that the ad was great is very important to the conversation… and history shows that to be the case. Knocking jobs for a moment of insecurity and how it would personally affect him feels like an attack on his character or abilities as CEO. Whom amongst us hasn't had an emotional thought that that we quickly realized was silly before making a reasoned decision?
Comments
I wonder if Segall’s comments are inside baseball here. And, it is reflective of he himself being retired, watching someone else do the job at TBWA\Chiat\Day MAL, thinking that he would do better.
4 to 5 years ago, TBWA had a falling out with Schiller. James Vincent, whatever his name, may have single handily lost the Apple contract for TBWA. This was during the 2013 “Apple is doomed” era when Apple had the iPhone 5/5S, while Samsung started its ramp up to 5 to 6 inch display sizes. That was a big marketing stick for Samsung.
Whatever was happening in the 2013 time frame between TBWA and Apple, Apple began building up its own advertising assets in house, and by 2014, TBWA ceased to work for Apple. Then, with the iPhone 6 models, the 2013 “Apple is doomed” era was doomed itself.