Just imagine an imac advert in the not so distant future. Fully equiped with a 970 and they have children in the ad listening to music and making their own movies, where as the rest of us are using them for network render farms, servers, high end CAD, music production and Graphic design....Quality Nice!
Don't hold your breath on that idea. Apple (read: SJ) and their ad agency Chiat Day still don't get it. Apple's ads seem always to be preaching to the already converted. The ads are becoming predictible and they remain cute but have little impact on increasing market share. I don't believe Apple has ever run an ad where they actually showed what the product can do. Never have shown what you suggest. No hard-sell on all the features.
Exactly. Even stuff like "Baby Jack" (which had SO much potential) was, in the end, quite flat and ineffective. They focused on the emotion and "sweet/cute" factor and showed only a fleeting glimpse of the new Dad fiddling with an iBook and doing SOMETHING with the photos...
Yeah, and...?
Yes, all of us knew that he was importing them into iPhoto by just plugging in the camera, making a new album of baby photos, making a slideshow, putting music to it, etc.
But that's not really the issue, is it? WE know already. I guarantee you that no non-Mac user out there truly got that or was motivated to do anything about it. It was just a sappy heartstring tugger for the already-converted Mac-using crowd.
And that's about ALL they've been doing. And guess what? That isn't going to do much to cause any massive switching or migration. Vague, understated and esoteric only goes so far. And even though that's my preferred method of advertising, marketing and generally going through life, fact is you can almost be TOO much that way when dealing with a huge population who knows little or nothing about your products or company.
I really don't think they do ads that appeal to anyone but us loyal, "already getting it" Mac users. Any switching (or potential switching and questions asked by friends, family members and co-workers) has been brought on by ME and MY "evangelism" or enthusiasm about this stuff.
Getting tired of carrying their water. They've got a bigger budget than I do and I'm doing all the work!
But seriously, any switchers I've been responsible for have come about it from me and me alone. No help or prodding from Apple, I promise you that.
A buddy of mine who LIVES in Atlanta (in the Buckhead area, no less!) had NO IDEA that a) Apple had retail stores and b) there was one not only in his town, but practically IN HIS NEIGHBORHOOD, at the Lenox Mall not four miles from his apartment!
Does ANYONE besides the current Mac-using faithful even know when/where a new Apple store is opening? From what I see, you pretty much have to read maccental or one of the other Mac news sites to know about one. Never seen an ad for it (print, radio or video). I imagine that in these various malls, some curious shoppers might walk by and are intrigued by the 17" PowerBook or iPod spinning in the window and MIGHT go in to see what's what. But what about the person who's thoroughly disgusted with his PC and might like to look at alternatives? Would he even know?
The fact that my Atlanta buddy, who is fairly tuned-in, Internet-savvy, young enough to care about these sorts of things, is an "out and about" kinda guy had NO IDEA there was an Apple store in his own city pretty much answers this for me.
I dearly, truly love Apple. The hardware, the OS, the software. The whole vibe. I've never been more proud and happy to be a Mac user as I have these past couple of years. I'll always be one and I believe in what they do, how they do it and why.
But, having said all that, I can't think of another major company with as piss-poor and completely limp marketing "approach" as Apple's. Most companies would give their left eye and sell their soul to the devil himself to have what Apple has in the way of products, quality, customer loyalty, etc. And here Apple is with all that and constantly misfires (or doesn't really even seem to try that hard) at bringing new folks in.
Everyone creamed their jeans over the whole "Switch" thing, but, like all their other stuff in that arena, it was kinda quiet, kinda vague, kinda cutesy. And it went away. It was around for half a year or so? Maybe 9 months? Is that it? Is that all we get?
All I know is that if they just got a clue in this one area, they'd be unstoppable. Think how wound up and excited WE get at the prospect of new iPods, new LCDs, new PowerBooks, etc. Imagine if everyone (okay, not everyone...but A LOT more) was that way?
That would be the one, single thing I'd change or tackle if I was ever given the ability to. I'd make it to where you couldn't get through a day without seeing an Apple billboard, magazine ad, commercial, etc. And they'd have style and coolness, yes. BUT there would also be enough meat and substance that the average Joe and non-Mac-using person couldn't help but go "Holy crap...I'm GETTING a Mac!!!"
A very small, concrete example...since we all know that people in general (and consumers and potential buyers especially) respond to visual stimulation and actually SEEING stuff, consider this:
Imagine how much MORE effective the Switch campaign would've/could've been if, instead of wasting 30-seconds simply showing schlumpy-looking people gesturing and looking off camera or stumbling over their words (who CARES?!?) and recounting their various "why I got a Mac" stories, how about 3-5 seconds of the people shown (at the very beginning), THEN 20 seconds of footage (same sound-stage/studio, same background, same music with their continuing voiceover/story) of them actually SHOWING what they're talking about? And in the case of that vet or that stoned teen, just simply showing off and holding the product?
Nothing would be changed or deleted from the original, well-known Switch ads. You'd simply be adding a whole new component, shown while the voiceover continues. And yeah, you could switch back to the person with quick cuts throughout. We've seen that done elsewhere too. So PLEASE don't give me any silliness about how "the Switch ads would've failed if they didn't show the person for 30 seconds straight! That was the whole point...it COULDN'T show hardware or anything substantive because...".
Bullshit.
I find it simply amazing that a company totally known, respected and revered for their eye-popping hardware design (didn't Ives just win a big award?) showed absolutely NOTHING in the entire Switch campaign! What corporate/marketing department bonehead thought that "wasn't a good idea" and might not pique some additional interest?
I would've shown every one of those switchers holding (or in the case of the towers and iMacs, standing next to) their Mac of choice. Gorgeous "beauty shots" and camera work all around while the story was going on. How, exactly, could that hurt?
Then, you could show the person again during the last few seconds, for the tag ("I'm Paul, and I'm a nuclear scientist..." or whatever).
But during that entire middle 2/3 of the ad, you'd a) see the hardware b) see the hardware DOING something c) see the hardware interacting with an iPod, a digital camera, a camcorder, etc.
That chick that saved Christmas could've been telling her neat little story as she stood beside a white platform table with a sexy PowerBook on it and, while talking, plugged in her camera and show iPhoto launching and importing the photos. With quick cuts and editing, you could splice in further footage of slideshows, zoom in on the Print, Purchase, Share, E-mail, etc. buttons, etc. In just a couple of seconds, you get a) her story and b) the visual reinforcement of "wow, you just plug your camera in and it goes to work...cool!" AND c) "hmm...that little iPhoto program seems to let you order prints, make a slideshow, create a book, e-mail directly, etc. That's pretty sweet! I wonder what ELSE it does...". And you give the PowerBook (or G4 or iMac or iBook) some good face time. As well as the appropriate, talked-about iApp or OS X feature.
Everyone and everything wins. Real people, real stories, real hardware, real software. A Switch commerical done right, in other words.
They didn't do that and all you got was a cute story about "saving Christmas". But no one - outside of the current user base - knows how she went about it. That's just sad, and a huge lapse in judgement and marketing IMO.
Still have the same Switch ads with the same lovable characters telling the same popular stories. BUT you'd add some meat and potatos to the mix. They still get face time...just not 30 seconds. It isn't necessary and it's a waste of screen time, considering what ELSE could have been shown.
Even if it was just that goofy teenager cradling her iBook and cut in shots of it from various angles. Maybe have her opening it up to show the hinge or something.
The current iTunes Store ads are terrible. Why not show a person downloading a song to their iMac, transferring it to their iPod and THEN be happy and sing along. What are these current ads supposed to be selling? They're very narcissistic (read: SJ) in my opinion. I don't care if a teenager can sing along with an unheard song.
The iMac is a great FAMILY machine. Gee, what an idea... show a family using it. I think they did something like this when SJ was not at the helm. You know, when they had a large market share. Is there a pattern here?
Just imagine an imac advert in the not so distant future. Fully equiped with a 970 and they have children in the ad listening to music and making their own movies, where as the rest of us are using them for network render farms, servers, high end CAD, music production and Graphic design....Quality Nice!
I can't think of another major company with as piss-poor and completely limp marketing "approach" as Apple's.
Me-owwww. :P
Hmmm. Mr. Cates. Excellent post. Have you thought of e:mailing it onto Apple's feedback tab? Or better, directly to Steve Jobs himself?
I feel you made a very good point about how devoid the 'Switch' ad's were.
Apple have the looks, the os, the killer apps...the iPod...the music store...and yet...do you see any of it and HOW it can be USED in TV adverts? Ordering a 'print book' (STILL ONLY US!!!) from an iPhoto album? Pure gold. But Apple haven't told anybody but the converted about it.
Frustrating. Very frustrating. We wonder why M$ shafted Apple in the OS wars? Well, M$ ripped it off...but they told everybody about 'their' great Windows 95 and how you had to have it...even UK news prime-time featured the M$ ad' blitz. It was 'news' (not to Apple users...who'd had a gui for years...) But M$ spend hundreds of millions getting 'it out there'. I heard Apple didn't realise they even had an OS until around the time Gil Amelio got onboard. And that only started really going somewhere when Steve got back.
Lemon I totally agree with you. A few years ago when micro$oft released Windows XP, it was all over the news here in the UK and you couldn't turn a tv channel without them showin its "brand new easy to use interface". They had people from microsoft talking about how they built it from scratch to bring a new user friendly computer to your home. It was sickening
According to a late night PowerJack post on Spymac, a new snail add may be coming back. I kind of liked the steamroller ad myself.
Powerjack knows nothing! Besides ads like the snail ad are illegal in Europe - Apple should really start to advertise in Europe, so we need some ads that work over here too.
Um in New York there were ads all over the place on buses on billboards and on payphones when the apple store was opening.
Um, contrary to popular opinion, New York ain't the center of the universe, OR the only city out there.
I get people from NYC, LA and Eugene from the Bay Area telling me that I'm way off and that there is indeed a presence there. To which I say "well, no shit...I kinda EXPECT that".
\
NYC and L.A. always have everything - rightfully so - and the Bay Area is very forward-moving and digital/tech-oriented...plus, it's practically Apple's backyard, so I'd expect bus and billboard ads in Frisco and San Jose, as well as L.A. and New York.
Unfortunately, not every current or potential Mac user or customer is clustered in those three important cities, so...
Citing NYC having bus and billboard ads proves next to nothing, and in no way negates anything I spoke of earlier. I'd expect a place like NYC (and L.A. and NoCal) to have some of this stuff.
a new snail add may be coming back. I kind of liked the steamroller ad myself.
2nded and 3rded.
Tank. Forwards. (Ker-rumple. Pieces of Pantium 4 subsumed.) Atop the tank, a stunning new Apple tower. Red Hal laser blinks into the camera... Hal voice:
'I'm sorry, Dave...you were attempting to erode my market share...I can't let you do that...'
What a lot of folks are forgetting is the "big" dollars necessary to launch the kind of advertising campaigns you are talking about. Believe it or not, Apple is very smart about how they utilize what budgets they have. Apple is still in business because of good money management and innovative products.
Now, if 970 PowerMacs do become reality (I believe they will) and if they live up to half the hype (hopefully they will), then Apple will finally have a product that will be worth increased advertising budgets and aggressive campaigns such as these.
You don't just burn up reserves on marketing gambles, unless you are damned sure you have a killer product. While OS-X, the iMac, Music Store, Powerbooks and retail stores have all been nice but not of them have been a true "killer product" worth the big gamble...yet. However the combination of PowerMac 970 and Panther, just might be. We will have to see what we actually get.
I wasn't being critical, just trying to subtly point out that Apple maybe wants both parts of the Mac experience to be exemplary (H/W and S/W) before seriously hyping things via advertising.
The example I spoke of was meant to support what you were saying, that Apple has to have a serious ad campaign to left the "Joe Shmoe" people out there know about the capabilities of the Mac. If the ads are good enough (and target things that corporations/schools require), we may even see a slow turn-around in the enterprise market and schools. You're right, most don't care about the specifics of the processor, or why the architecture is fast or slow. They do want alot of "bang for their $$" though, and an efficiently coded OS is only half the battle (just as blindly fast H/W is only half the battle).
The WWDC should be a key to to both sides of the battle, particularly because the developers are going to have a new processor (64 bit capable of running 32 bit without degradation of performance) and an OS that will utilize that new processor. They need to be made aware of all the specifics that the everyday "Joe Shmoe" doesn't want to deal with, so that they can create the apps and utilities that those same Joe Shmoes want to use and will buy Mac instead of PeeCee.
Okies, I get off the "soap box" now. I know I was preaching to the choir, but ya never know when a boarder line switcher may mistakenly visit.
What a lot of folks are forgetting is the "big" dollars necessary to launch the kind of advertising campaigns you are talking about. Believe it or not, Apple is very smart about how they utilize what budgets they have. Apple is still in business because of good money management and innovative products.
Now, if 970 PowerMacs do become reality (I believe they will) and if they live up to half the hype (hopefully they will), then Apple will finally have a product that will be worth increased advertising budgets and aggressive campaigns such as these.
You don't just burn up reserves on marketing gambles, unless you are damned sure you have a killer product. While OS-X, the iMac, Music Store, Powerbooks and retail stores have all been nice but not of them have been a true "killer product" worth the big gamble...yet. However the combination of PowerMac 970 and Panther, just might be. We will have to see what we actually get.
I couldn't disagree more.
The ONLY people drooling, waiting and spazzing over the 970 are certain chunk of the Mac using population: high-end "pro" types, animators, 3D people, renderers, high-end graphics, etc. As well they should.
But in much the way that NYC and L.A. aren't the center of the universe (see my post above), THOSE types of users don't make up all of the Mac-using public.
The iMac wasn't/isn't a "killer product"? On what planet?
It doesn't get much "killer" than that. And OS X, the iPod, the iApps, the iBook and PowerBook, AirPort, .mac and the iTunes music store are only currently "half cool" because they don't have a 970 under the hood?
Give me a break.
Apple could sell ALL their consumer-level stuff with a G3 and nobody would complain or notice if they just marketed it right and made all the soccer moms and grandparents with digital cameras and mp3 collecting students think that they couldn't live without a Mac.
Yes, the 970 will probably be really cool. But it ISN'T going to be on the iMacs, eMacs and iBooks - at least not initially - so all this talk about "970 and Panther" isn't going to mean a damn thing - or change anything - when it comes to your typical Joe Public, consumer-level buyers.
Soccer moms and grannys and students aren't going to be buying the new 970s as much as they will the iStuff. So we just ignore them, let them slip through the cracks and remain ignorant about Apple until this much-hyped 970 arrives for the pros?
I don't get it. What's the connection?
Several of you here act like the day the 970 is announced, Apple's marketshare is going to jump to 15% overnight and that all these Dell- and Gateway-using soccer moms and teens are going to immediately come over because of one damn new chip.
Consumers don't give a crap about all this. My Mom, sister, all their friends, all my PC-using friends and co-workers, etc. wouldn't know a 970 from a BR5-49 and a G3 from a V8. All they want is to be able to get on their computer and everything just WORKS...browser connects online, they get their e-mail, they plug in their digital cameras and things download, they can organize all their legal and swiped mp3 files, they can attach silly "America's Funniest..." mpgs in e-mails, they can visit eBay and amazon.com and can write a letter or recipe, do a google search, make a contact list, plan their day/week/month ahead of time, chat with friends, print photos of the grandkids, do their taxes and bills, etc.
A Mac does all that stuff WONDERFULLY...and without a 970 in sight.
So again, what's the connection between that particular group of users and this 970/Panther combination? There isn't.
I'm really, really convinced (even more so, as of late) that the majority of people are simply NOT into specs and numbers as much as many of us would like to imagine. They want reasonable speed and they get it. But I think most just want well-thought-out, smart and functional apps and an OS. It's funny to think: just four years ago, every magazine, poster, book, etc. produced on a Mac was done with G3 or below machines.
So I think consumer-level hobbyists are MORE than served by 900MHz G3s and 1GHz-plus G4s in the various iProducts.
The only thing I'm looking forward to the 970 for is that perhaps it'll finally shut up some of the more vocal "Apple sucks and I'm going to leave the platform..." bitchers and whiners.
The 970, cool as it may be, won't have ANY affect on the consumer buyers and people like that who MIGHT make up a larger chunk of the computer-using public, as opposed to career/tech-specific fields as design, animation, 3D.
There are more surfers, e-mailers, music swappers, digital photo hobbyists, recipe collectors, website family photo album builders, etc. out there than designers and gearheads.
But it'll be cool when it does come out because I guess everything will kinda skootch up proportion-wise on the Mac side, so that'll be nice!
I'm all for speed and power and "cutting edge technology". But for the majority of users, they'll be more than happy and served with Apple's current offerings. Apple just needs to do a better job of letting these people know this stuff EXISTS.
I wasn't being critical, just trying to subtly point out that Apple maybe wants both parts of the Mac experience to be exemplary (H/W and S/W) before seriously hyping things via advertising.
No, I know. That's cool. I just think we have a narrow field of focus sometimes: it's only about the big hubs and it's only about the creative professionals.
Comments
Just imagine an imac advert in the not so distant future. Fully equiped with a 970 and they have children in the ad listening to music and making their own movies, where as the rest of us are using them for network render farms, servers, high end CAD, music production and Graphic design....Quality Nice!
Don't hold your breath on that idea. Apple (read: SJ) and their ad agency Chiat Day still don't get it. Apple's ads seem always to be preaching to the already converted. The ads are becoming predictible and they remain cute but have little impact on increasing market share. I don't believe Apple has ever run an ad where they actually showed what the product can do. Never have shown what you suggest. No hard-sell on all the features.
Yeah, and...?
Yes, all of us knew that he was importing them into iPhoto by just plugging in the camera, making a new album of baby photos, making a slideshow, putting music to it, etc.
But that's not really the issue, is it? WE know already. I guarantee you that no non-Mac user out there truly got that or was motivated to do anything about it. It was just a sappy heartstring tugger for the already-converted Mac-using crowd.
And that's about ALL they've been doing. And guess what? That isn't going to do much to cause any massive switching or migration. Vague, understated and esoteric only goes so far. And even though that's my preferred method of advertising, marketing and generally going through life, fact is you can almost be TOO much that way when dealing with a huge population who knows little or nothing about your products or company.
I really don't think they do ads that appeal to anyone but us loyal, "already getting it" Mac users. Any switching (or potential switching and questions asked by friends, family members and co-workers) has been brought on by ME and MY "evangelism" or enthusiasm about this stuff.
Getting tired of carrying their water. They've got a bigger budget than I do and I'm doing all the work!
But seriously, any switchers I've been responsible for have come about it from me and me alone. No help or prodding from Apple, I promise you that.
A buddy of mine who LIVES in Atlanta (in the Buckhead area, no less!) had NO IDEA that a) Apple had retail stores and b) there was one not only in his town, but practically IN HIS NEIGHBORHOOD, at the Lenox Mall not four miles from his apartment!
Does ANYONE besides the current Mac-using faithful even know when/where a new Apple store is opening? From what I see, you pretty much have to read maccental or one of the other Mac news sites to know about one. Never seen an ad for it (print, radio or video). I imagine that in these various malls, some curious shoppers might walk by and are intrigued by the 17" PowerBook or iPod spinning in the window and MIGHT go in to see what's what. But what about the person who's thoroughly disgusted with his PC and might like to look at alternatives? Would he even know?
The fact that my Atlanta buddy, who is fairly tuned-in, Internet-savvy, young enough to care about these sorts of things, is an "out and about" kinda guy had NO IDEA there was an Apple store in his own city pretty much answers this for me.
I dearly, truly love Apple. The hardware, the OS, the software. The whole vibe. I've never been more proud and happy to be a Mac user as I have these past couple of years. I'll always be one and I believe in what they do, how they do it and why.
But, having said all that, I can't think of another major company with as piss-poor and completely limp marketing "approach" as Apple's. Most companies would give their left eye and sell their soul to the devil himself to have what Apple has in the way of products, quality, customer loyalty, etc. And here Apple is with all that and constantly misfires (or doesn't really even seem to try that hard) at bringing new folks in.
Everyone creamed their jeans over the whole "Switch" thing, but, like all their other stuff in that arena, it was kinda quiet, kinda vague, kinda cutesy. And it went away. It was around for half a year or so? Maybe 9 months? Is that it? Is that all we get?
All I know is that if they just got a clue in this one area, they'd be unstoppable. Think how wound up and excited WE get at the prospect of new iPods, new LCDs, new PowerBooks, etc. Imagine if everyone (okay, not everyone...but A LOT more) was that way?
That would be the one, single thing I'd change or tackle if I was ever given the ability to. I'd make it to where you couldn't get through a day without seeing an Apple billboard, magazine ad, commercial, etc. And they'd have style and coolness, yes. BUT there would also be enough meat and substance that the average Joe and non-Mac-using person couldn't help but go "Holy crap...I'm GETTING a Mac!!!"
Imagine how much MORE effective the Switch campaign would've/could've been if, instead of wasting 30-seconds simply showing schlumpy-looking people gesturing and looking off camera or stumbling over their words (who CARES?!?) and recounting their various "why I got a Mac" stories, how about 3-5 seconds of the people shown (at the very beginning), THEN 20 seconds of footage (same sound-stage/studio, same background, same music with their continuing voiceover/story) of them actually SHOWING what they're talking about? And in the case of that vet or that stoned teen, just simply showing off and holding the product?
Nothing would be changed or deleted from the original, well-known Switch ads. You'd simply be adding a whole new component, shown while the voiceover continues. And yeah, you could switch back to the person with quick cuts throughout. We've seen that done elsewhere too. So PLEASE don't give me any silliness about how "the Switch ads would've failed if they didn't show the person for 30 seconds straight! That was the whole point...it COULDN'T show hardware or anything substantive because...".
Bullshit.
I find it simply amazing that a company totally known, respected and revered for their eye-popping hardware design (didn't Ives just win a big award?) showed absolutely NOTHING in the entire Switch campaign! What corporate/marketing department bonehead thought that "wasn't a good idea" and might not pique some additional interest?
I would've shown every one of those switchers holding (or in the case of the towers and iMacs, standing next to) their Mac of choice. Gorgeous "beauty shots" and camera work all around while the story was going on. How, exactly, could that hurt?
Then, you could show the person again during the last few seconds, for the tag ("I'm Paul, and I'm a nuclear scientist..." or whatever).
But during that entire middle 2/3 of the ad, you'd a) see the hardware b) see the hardware DOING something c) see the hardware interacting with an iPod, a digital camera, a camcorder, etc.
That chick that saved Christmas could've been telling her neat little story as she stood beside a white platform table with a sexy PowerBook on it and, while talking, plugged in her camera and show iPhoto launching and importing the photos. With quick cuts and editing, you could splice in further footage of slideshows, zoom in on the Print, Purchase, Share, E-mail, etc. buttons, etc. In just a couple of seconds, you get a) her story and b) the visual reinforcement of "wow, you just plug your camera in and it goes to work...cool!" AND c) "hmm...that little iPhoto program seems to let you order prints, make a slideshow, create a book, e-mail directly, etc. That's pretty sweet! I wonder what ELSE it does...". And you give the PowerBook (or G4 or iMac or iBook) some good face time. As well as the appropriate, talked-about iApp or OS X feature.
Everyone and everything wins. Real people, real stories, real hardware, real software. A Switch commerical done right, in other words.
They didn't do that and all you got was a cute story about "saving Christmas". But no one - outside of the current user base - knows how she went about it. That's just sad, and a huge lapse in judgement and marketing IMO.
Still have the same Switch ads with the same lovable characters telling the same popular stories. BUT you'd add some meat and potatos to the mix. They still get face time...just not 30 seconds. It isn't necessary and it's a waste of screen time, considering what ELSE could have been shown.
Even if it was just that goofy teenager cradling her iBook and cut in shots of it from various angles. Maybe have her opening it up to show the hinge or something.
ANYTHING!
The iMac is a great FAMILY machine. Gee, what an idea... show a family using it. I think they did something like this when SJ was not at the helm. You know, when they had a large market share. Is there a pattern here?
Originally posted by silvergun
Just imagine an imac advert in the not so distant future. Fully equiped with a 970 and they have children in the ad listening to music and making their own movies, where as the rest of us are using them for network render farms, servers, high end CAD, music production and Graphic design....Quality Nice!
Hm......that's a bit too Dell or HP
I can't think of another major company with as piss-poor and completely limp marketing "approach" as Apple's.
Me-owwww. :P
Hmmm. Mr. Cates. Excellent post. Have you thought of e:mailing it onto Apple's feedback tab? Or better, directly to Steve Jobs himself?
I feel you made a very good point about how devoid the 'Switch' ad's were.
Apple have the looks, the os, the killer apps...the iPod...the music store...and yet...do you see any of it and HOW it can be USED in TV adverts? Ordering a 'print book' (STILL ONLY US!!!) from an iPhoto album? Pure gold. But Apple haven't told anybody but the converted about it.
Frustrating. Very frustrating. We wonder why M$ shafted Apple in the OS wars? Well, M$ ripped it off...but they told everybody about 'their' great Windows 95 and how you had to have it...even UK news prime-time featured the M$ ad' blitz. It was 'news' (not to Apple users...who'd had a gui for years...) But M$ spend hundreds of millions getting 'it out there'. I heard Apple didn't realise they even had an OS until around the time Gil Amelio got onboard. And that only started really going somewhere when Steve got back.
Lemon Bon Bon
i think waht apple should do is take some of that 4 billion dollars and blanket the whole place with better ads.
it was great.
(bring back the snail ads!)
Originally posted by keyboardf12
(bring back the snail ads!)
According to a late night PowerJack post on Spymac, a new snail add may be coming back. I kind of liked the steamroller ad myself.
thanks.
which thread? (if you still have it cached)
Originally posted by Shaktai
According to a late night PowerJack post on Spymac, a new snail add may be coming back. I kind of liked the steamroller ad myself.
Powerjack knows nothing! Besides ads like the snail ad are illegal in Europe - Apple should really start to advertise in Europe, so we need some ads that work over here too.
Originally posted by O and A
Um in New York there were ads all over the place on buses on billboards and on payphones when the apple store was opening.
Um, contrary to popular opinion, New York ain't the center of the universe, OR the only city out there.
I get people from NYC, LA and Eugene from the Bay Area telling me that I'm way off and that there is indeed a presence there. To which I say "well, no shit...I kinda EXPECT that".
NYC and L.A. always have everything - rightfully so - and the Bay Area is very forward-moving and digital/tech-oriented...plus, it's practically Apple's backyard, so I'd expect bus and billboard ads in Frisco and San Jose, as well as L.A. and New York.
Unfortunately, not every current or potential Mac user or customer is clustered in those three important cities, so...
Citing NYC having bus and billboard ads proves next to nothing, and in no way negates anything I spoke of earlier. I'd expect a place like NYC (and L.A. and NoCal) to have some of this stuff.
a new snail add may be coming back. I kind of liked the steamroller ad myself.
2nded and 3rded.
Tank. Forwards. (Ker-rumple. Pieces of Pantium 4 subsumed.) Atop the tank, a stunning new Apple tower. Red Hal laser blinks into the camera... Hal voice:
'I'm sorry, Dave...you were attempting to erode my market share...I can't let you do that...'
'The New PowerMac 970.'
Lemon Bon Bon
Now, if 970 PowerMacs do become reality (I believe they will) and if they live up to half the hype (hopefully they will), then Apple will finally have a product that will be worth increased advertising budgets and aggressive campaigns such as these.
You don't just burn up reserves on marketing gambles, unless you are damned sure you have a killer product. While OS-X, the iMac, Music Store, Powerbooks and retail stores have all been nice but not of them have been a true "killer product" worth the big gamble...yet. However the combination of PowerMac 970 and Panther, just might be. We will have to see what we actually get.
Originally posted by Lemon Bon Bon
[B 'I'm sorry, Dave...you were attempting to erode my market share...I can't let you do that...'
'The New PowerMac 970.'
Lemon Bon Bon [/B]
No that's "I'm sorry, Bill..." My name is Dave and I use Macs. Hal was just programmed with the wrong OS.
I wasn't being critical, just trying to subtly point out that Apple maybe wants both parts of the Mac experience to be exemplary (H/W and S/W) before seriously hyping things via advertising.
The example I spoke of was meant to support what you were saying, that Apple has to have a serious ad campaign to left the "Joe Shmoe" people out there know about the capabilities of the Mac. If the ads are good enough (and target things that corporations/schools require), we may even see a slow turn-around in the enterprise market and schools. You're right, most don't care about the specifics of the processor, or why the architecture is fast or slow. They do want alot of "bang for their $$" though, and an efficiently coded OS is only half the battle (just as blindly fast H/W is only half the battle).
The WWDC should be a key to to both sides of the battle, particularly because the developers are going to have a new processor (64 bit capable of running 32 bit without degradation of performance) and an OS that will utilize that new processor. They need to be made aware of all the specifics that the everyday "Joe Shmoe" doesn't want to deal with, so that they can create the apps and utilities that those same Joe Shmoes want to use and will buy Mac instead of PeeCee.
Okies, I get off the "soap box" now. I know I was preaching to the choir, but ya never know when a boarder line switcher may mistakenly visit.
Originally posted by Shaktai
What a lot of folks are forgetting is the "big" dollars necessary to launch the kind of advertising campaigns you are talking about. Believe it or not, Apple is very smart about how they utilize what budgets they have. Apple is still in business because of good money management and innovative products.
Now, if 970 PowerMacs do become reality (I believe they will) and if they live up to half the hype (hopefully they will), then Apple will finally have a product that will be worth increased advertising budgets and aggressive campaigns such as these.
You don't just burn up reserves on marketing gambles, unless you are damned sure you have a killer product. While OS-X, the iMac, Music Store, Powerbooks and retail stores have all been nice but not of them have been a true "killer product" worth the big gamble...yet. However the combination of PowerMac 970 and Panther, just might be. We will have to see what we actually get.
I couldn't disagree more.
The ONLY people drooling, waiting and spazzing over the 970 are certain chunk of the Mac using population: high-end "pro" types, animators, 3D people, renderers, high-end graphics, etc. As well they should.
But in much the way that NYC and L.A. aren't the center of the universe (see my post above), THOSE types of users don't make up all of the Mac-using public.
The iMac wasn't/isn't a "killer product"? On what planet?
It doesn't get much "killer" than that. And OS X, the iPod, the iApps, the iBook and PowerBook, AirPort, .mac and the iTunes music store are only currently "half cool" because they don't have a 970 under the hood?
Give me a break.
Apple could sell ALL their consumer-level stuff with a G3 and nobody would complain or notice if they just marketed it right and made all the soccer moms and grandparents with digital cameras and mp3 collecting students think that they couldn't live without a Mac.
Yes, the 970 will probably be really cool. But it ISN'T going to be on the iMacs, eMacs and iBooks - at least not initially - so all this talk about "970 and Panther" isn't going to mean a damn thing - or change anything - when it comes to your typical Joe Public, consumer-level buyers.
Soccer moms and grannys and students aren't going to be buying the new 970s as much as they will the iStuff. So we just ignore them, let them slip through the cracks and remain ignorant about Apple until this much-hyped 970 arrives for the pros?
I don't get it. What's the connection?
Several of you here act like the day the 970 is announced, Apple's marketshare is going to jump to 15% overnight and that all these Dell- and Gateway-using soccer moms and teens are going to immediately come over because of one damn new chip.
Consumers don't give a crap about all this. My Mom, sister, all their friends, all my PC-using friends and co-workers, etc. wouldn't know a 970 from a BR5-49 and a G3 from a V8. All they want is to be able to get on their computer and everything just WORKS...browser connects online, they get their e-mail, they plug in their digital cameras and things download, they can organize all their legal and swiped mp3 files, they can attach silly "America's Funniest..." mpgs in e-mails, they can visit eBay and amazon.com and can write a letter or recipe, do a google search, make a contact list, plan their day/week/month ahead of time, chat with friends, print photos of the grandkids, do their taxes and bills, etc.
A Mac does all that stuff WONDERFULLY...and without a 970 in sight.
So again, what's the connection between that particular group of users and this 970/Panther combination? There isn't.
I'm really, really convinced (even more so, as of late) that the majority of people are simply NOT into specs and numbers as much as many of us would like to imagine. They want reasonable speed and they get it. But I think most just want well-thought-out, smart and functional apps and an OS. It's funny to think: just four years ago, every magazine, poster, book, etc. produced on a Mac was done with G3 or below machines.
So I think consumer-level hobbyists are MORE than served by 900MHz G3s and 1GHz-plus G4s in the various iProducts.
The only thing I'm looking forward to the 970 for is that perhaps it'll finally shut up some of the more vocal "Apple sucks and I'm going to leave the platform..." bitchers and whiners.
The 970, cool as it may be, won't have ANY affect on the consumer buyers and people like that who MIGHT make up a larger chunk of the computer-using public, as opposed to career/tech-specific fields as design, animation, 3D.
There are more surfers, e-mailers, music swappers, digital photo hobbyists, recipe collectors, website family photo album builders, etc. out there than designers and gearheads.
But it'll be cool when it does come out because I guess everything will kinda skootch up proportion-wise on the Mac side, so that'll be nice!
I'm all for speed and power and "cutting edge technology". But for the majority of users, they'll be more than happy and served with Apple's current offerings. Apple just needs to do a better job of letting these people know this stuff EXISTS.
Originally posted by MacJedai
pscates,
I wasn't being critical, just trying to subtly point out that Apple maybe wants both parts of the Mac experience to be exemplary (H/W and S/W) before seriously hyping things via advertising.
No, I know. That's cool. I just think we have a narrow field of focus sometimes: it's only about the big hubs and it's only about the creative professionals.
It's not.