That Damn Ad
There is a large group of Mac fans that remain constantly befuddled as to why Apple doesn’t advertise the Mac on TV. The days of wondering why stockpiles of cash remain unspent while the public remains largely unaware that Apple makes nifty computers in addition to the ubiquitous iPod are now, officially, over. The reason, which is obvious in light of Apple’s new TV ad, (which only nominally promotes the Mac) Apple hadn’t been pushing the Mac on TV is because they clearly have no idea what makes the Mac special.
Before discussing the deficiencies and strengths of Apple’s long awaited TV ad for Macs the controversy surrounding the originality of the spot should be examined. The trouble stems from a video made by The Postal Service for their song Such Great heights. Yes, the Apple advertisement does bear a striking resemblance to the video. It is also nearly inarguable that the Apple spot is, at the least, derivative of the video. Temper these realizations with the fact that The Postal Service is getting a lot of ink and pixels due to all the controversy and realize that this is actually a huge win for the band.
With the controversy noted and dismissed, we can turn our attention to the more pressing matter of the thirty seconds of advertising ineptitude that comprises the new Mac television ad. There are four things the commercial is telling us and all of them are mistakes. If you need to acquaint yourself with the ad, take a look. For the link averse, the voiceover is as follows:
”The Intel Chip. For years, it’s been trapped inside PCs, inside dull little boxes dutifully performing dull little tasks when it could have been doing so much more. Starting today, the Intel chip will be set free and get to live inside a Mac. Imagine the possibilities.”
The first thing we note is that Windows users have been buying “dull little boxes” to perform “dull little tasks.” With that line Apple has not only denigrated the Windows world but has also managed to reduce anything a Windows user could possibly be doing on a computer to a “dull little task.” Calling the people you’re trying to convert to a Mac “dull” probably isn’t the best way to garner goodwill. Apple made the same mistake when they ran the Lemmings SuperBowl commercial in 1985.
The other problem is that by telling people that they’ve been doing dull little tasks you’re telling them that the Mac is capable of so much more than their mundane duties. It seems like a smart message, after all, who doesn’t want a computer that can do more than the competition? The truth is most people don’t want a computer that can do more, they want a computer that can do their “dull tasks” more easily. Where is the motivation to buy a Mac for someone who just surfs the ‘net, manages digital photos, and sends e-mails? Those are all fairly dull tasks after all.
The ad is also telling people that currently use Macs they are fairly dense as well. All this time you’ve been using a substandard chip, and you didn’t even know it. This is reminiscent of the early Hardee’s thick burger campaign (west coasters should substitute the name “Carl Jrs” when they see “Hardees"). Right now Hardees may be pushing their grease laden, heart clogging foodstuffs with annoying “Cheese Paper” ads or with titillation but when the campaign first began they started by telling their current clientele they had absolutely no taste in food.
For those that don’t remember the early Hardee’s ads, the commercials consisted of black and white interview type film with very jerky camera movements. The CEO of Hardees or perhaps the beef supplier would sit and tell the viewers how awful the previous incarnation of Hardees’ burgers were and how the new ones were infinitely better. It was tantamount to telling any current customers of Hardees that they had spent the last few years paying good money for food made entirely from downer cattle. Apple is sending Mac users, at least those without the latest iMac, the same message. My G5 wishes to thank you, Apple. Still, this may be the canniest part of the ad, now the vast majority of Mac users will feel that their machines are substandard and rush to buy a Mac with an acceptable chip.
All the previous complaints are petty and inconsequential when compared to the ads biggest transgression: reducing the Mac to a pretty box and a processor. The chip, we are solemnly told, “Will get to live inside a Mac.” Why there is no doubt that Mac’s feature spiffy industrial design the notion that an Intel chip just sitting in a pretty box makes the machine more desirable is ludicrous. It was a perfect chance for the copywriter to write “Starting today the Intel chip will get to power the most advanced operating system on earth: OS X.” The iMac on the screen would have made the point that Mac’s feature non-dull boxes.
When it is all said and done it probably doesn’t matter too much. Computers aren’t something people buy on impulse (the moments following a MacWorld keynote excepted) and even the deftest commercial won’t suddenly flip the market share numbers to Apple’s favor. In this case, all the people, including myself, yearning for Apple to promote the Mac in prime time media probably should have remembered the old adage: Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it.
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Comments
LMW,
I’d agree with you except this ad is more about conveying info than about style. i’d say the style is on the same level as a mediocre pop music video. I’m all for a super stylistic ad to enhance the mystique of the mac. This was not that ad.
Bubbagump,
you’re likely correct, too much ado about this subject, I’m likely over sensitized to this issue
APPLAUSE. Excellent piece, Chris. Negative advertising *doesn’t* work. This commercial is very risky. Apple have repeatedly tried negative advertising and it’s repeatedly failed. Not just the “Lemmings” commercial.
Unfortunately it seems that Apple advertising can’t get past the “1984” commercial. Sure it was memorable but how many Macs did it really sell? This new “dull little boxes” is just a rehash of that “1984” ad. The theme is exactly the same - “Break free from a dull/boring/tedious life”
Without a followup, it’s a waste.
But I hope these commercials represent step one in a series.
1) Tell the consumer the product they’re buying is inferior
2) Tell them what they should be buying
3) Show them why they should be buying
I wouldn’t do step 2, but I reckon Apple will.
Personally I would have went straight to step three. Get straight onto the front foot (in cricket parlance). Why not have a Made on a Mac campaign? Starting off with the iMovie themes demo from the Keynote.
Give people a real reason to switch. Get them saying “I want to do that!” How many people bought Amigas in the 80’s simply because of that bouncing ball? (I actually saw the same thing on an Atari ST and bought one of them - the Atari salesman didn’t tell me it was an Amiga ripoff. But it worked. I knew I was looking at a computer significantly better than other PCs).
As others stated, people don’t care if they’re using dull little boxes if it does everything they want. But sometimes they don’t know how much more they could do. The “dull little boxes” ad tells them they could do more, but so? It’s no better than saying “I’m right and you’re wrong”. No substantiation. People won’t switch from something they are familiar with unless you make their mouth water. Sell the sizzle in sales speak.
In writing we are told to show, not tell. Don’t tell us the hero is afraid of butterflies, show us he is.
I’m sure advertising works the same. Don’t tell us Macs are superior (or worse PCs are inferior), show us Macs are superior.
Why don’t they run an ad showing 2 guys walking down the street…
Slightly geeky guy: I couldn’t decide if I should just get anti-virus software or one that also protects against trojan horses, malware and spyware. What do you think?
Slightly cool guy: What’s a virus?
(as they enter an Apple Store)
++++++++++++++
The untapped market is for those people who don’t know a processor from a disc and don’t want to. They don’t know the difference between an operating system and an application. Nor should they. They want a “thing” in their life that works like their other things: the refrigerator (what’s a compressor?), the gas stove (what’s a valve?), the radio (FM actually stands for something?) and the TV (30 what per second?). A Mac is the “thing” that they can use without having to know anything about it. This kind of ignorance is bliss in the good way.
2 cents poorer…
D
Mac ads, it seems to me, like Jobs’s keynotes and their other marketing blitzes (with the notable exception of the iPod) aren’t about selling Macs to PC users. They are about selling the message to existing Mac customers.
How many Mac drones will now go out into the world regurgitating this message to everyone they know? I never have to watch the keynotes (I do, but I don’t have to) because I know that everything Steve says is going to be repeated to me verbatim in the coming weeks and months whenever I discuss Macs with one of the Faithful.
How many times did I hear it said to me that the new G5s were the “worlds fastest personal computers.”
How many times did Mac-fanatics tell me that there would never be video on the iPod and then turned around and told me just a few months later how great it was that video was on the iPod.
So the ads aren’t for the switchers. They are for you guys. They give you a cohesive message that you can propogate (or attempt to) to your colleagues.
FYI, here’s an archived set of Apple’s ads for this “Intel Inside” campaign:
http://adverlicio.us/tags/296
Enjoy—but please rate them and/or leave a comment for bonus karma
As I came in with…
“A kid with a camera, making a podcast etc can be shown fast enough in an ad to make PC users drop a jaw or two.”
No shopping channel infomercial. No geeky stats or numbers.
I’ll even offer a tag: “It Just Works”.
The angle I think needs a look at is a logical extension to the Apple Store’s springing up across the planet - which are not just about sales but also about the gospel. I just want more people to see what Macs do rather than how cool they look - the neat design is IMO a given. I hear “you pay extra for that design and you can’t do anything I can’t” from PC users. That may be true, but I’d like the unwashed to see just how easy it really is on a Mac.
I love the idea of a “Made on a Mac” push as well.
Beeb, you’re right - but when are Apple going to realize the over-zealous Mac fan is the worst thing for Macs?
Yeah Chris,
Beeb is on to something. Though I will note that I said video would be on the iPod as soon as it was beneficial to Apple. And lo, once Apple has a few videos to sell you...Look what we can do
Maybe the low hanging fruit in this case is current Mac owners…
Beeb, you’re right - but when are Apple going to realize the over-zealous Mac fan is the worst thing for Macs?
Right now, the Mac drones are really what’s keeping the Mac viable. But you’re right that the zealotry turns off a LOT of potential customers.
It’s especially puzzling if they actually believe in the analogy that the Mac is the BMW/Mercedes of computers. BMW commercials don’t talk about how stupid and unproductive Ford owners are. They simply talk about the luxury of driving a BMW.
On the plus side, if the Mac ever did manage to capture dominant market share, the cult of Mac would largely evaporate. And that would be a good thing.
^ I dunno about over there, but in Europe, BMW and Mercedes ads don’t have any talking at all.
In fact, isn’t this the first Apple ad to feature any kind of speech, at all, in a long time?
Surely all you guys who are wanting functional ads can appreciate that?
Nah, never satisfied…
“But you’re right that the zealotry turns off a LOT of potential customers.”
Neither of you is making much sense. How many customers even know the zealotry exists? How many of them read AppleMatters or your average mac fansite? You make a lot of insightful comments, but this isn’t one of them.
How many customers even know the zealotry exists? How many of them read AppleMatters or your average mac fansite?
Believe me, you don’t have to go to Apple fan sites to know that the zealotry exists. It permeates the culture surrounding the Mac. I knew about it before sites like this were even created. I hated it then too, probably more than I do now.
And I have friends who know about it who have probably never visited a fan-site in their lives. And Apple should be grateful that they don’t. Remember what happened to Tom Cruise? He’s been a Scientologist for decades. The only thing that changed last year was that the public became more aware of the details of his views.
I can only talk from personal experience...my family members are the quintessential average computer users and they’re not aware of it at all.
Anyway I certainly agree it exists, tho it also exists in the console market and probably many other areas. It’s annoying, but I still doubt the average consumer is aware of it or cares.
Remember what happened to Tom Cruise? He’s been a Scientologist for decades. The only thing that changed last year was that the public became more aware of the details of his views.
So, let me get this straight, you’re comparing the Mac platform to Scientology?
Just because I think Windows is poorly designed, overly complex and insecure, doesn’t mean believe an alien brought trillions of people to earth to be killed by blowing up volcanos with hydrogen bombs.
While it hasn’t always been this obvious, the entire computing industry has portrayed Mac users as “crazy” for using anything else but the status quo. This kind of characterization is one of the very reasons why many of them are so outspoken.
So, let me get this straight, you’re comparing the Mac platform to Scientology?
No. I’m comparing Mac-drones to Scientologists. I have no problem with the Mac platform itself. It’s the cultist, mindless drones that I and many others have a problem with.
And try as you might to play the victim and blame this on “the entire computing industry” (much like Cruise blames the media for the negative portrayal of Scientologists), the reality is that Mac fanatics themselves are the ones doing this to themselves. If you don’t want to be regarded as a cultist, then stop acting like one.