Apple Inc. advertising
In the past two decades, Apple Computer has become appreciated for the "artistic" and free-thinking messages of its advertisements, which reflect a business plan of marketing their products to creative individuals. Their most significant ad campaigns include a 1984 Super Bowl commercial which introduced their company as revolutionary, independent and subversive, as well as the 1990s Think Different campaign, which featured major artists, and the "iPod people" of the 2000s, featuring several colorful, dancing silhouetted people. Apple's sensational mp3 product, the iPod, has even been showcased as a piece of contemporary art in New York's Museum of Modern Art.citation needed
Since the original Macintosh Super Bowl commercial in 1984, which mimicked imagery from George Orwell's 1984, Apple has maintained a style of homage to contemporary visual art in many of its more famous ad campaigns, including the Think Different campaign, which linked Apple computers to famous social figures--including artist John Lennon and social activist Ghandi.
Apple has been criticized, however, for its sometimes questionable use of modern art as an inspiration for its marketing campaigns--at times re-creating a short film or music video shot-by-shot for its commercials. Some artists have documented entering into rights-negotiations with Apple, only to have Apple pull out of the discussions, then use the artistic imagery anyway. As a result, several lawsuits have been filed against Apple Computers by artists and corporations alike, such as visual artist Louis Psihoyos and shoe company Lugz.[1]
In 1997 the Think Different campaign introduced Apple’s new slogan, and in 2002 the Switch campaign followed. The most recent advertising strategy by Apple is the Get a Mac campaign.
Today, Apple focuses much of its advertising efforts around “special events,” and keynotes at conferences like the MacWorld Expo and the Apple Expo.The events typically draw a large gathering of media representatives and spectators. In the past, special events have been used to unveil the Power Mac G5, the redesigned iMac, and many other Apple products.
1980 - 1985
A “Macintosh Introduction” 18-page brochure was included with various magazines in December 1983, often remembered because Bill Gates was featured on page 11.[2] For a special post-election edition of Newsweek in November 1984, Apple spent more than US $2.5 million to buy all of the advertising pages in the issue (a total of 39).[3]
Apple also ran a “Test Drive a Macintosh” promotion that year, in which potential buyers with a credit card could try a Macintosh for 24 hours and return it to a dealer afterwards.
It began to look like a success with 200,000 participants, and Advertising Age magazine named this one of the 10 best promotions of 1984. However, dealers disliked the promotion and supply of computers was insufficient for demand, and many computers were returned in such a bad shape that they could no longer be sold.
1984 Television Commercial - Launching The Macintosh
"1984" is the title of the television commercial that launched the Apple Macintosh personal computer in the United States, in January 1984.
The commercial aired on January 22, 1984 during a break in the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. The ad showed an unnamed heroine (played by Anya Major) wearing orange shorts, red running shoes, and a white tank top with a Picasso-style picture of Apple's Macintosh computer, running through an Orwellian world to throw a sledgehammer at a TV image of Big Brother — an implied representation of IBM — played by David Graham[4]. The concluding screen showed the message and voice over "On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like '1984'." At the end, the Apple "rainbow bitten apple" logo is shown on a black background.
1985 - 1990
In 1985 the “Lemmings” commercial aired at the Super Bowl; Apple went as far as to create a newspaper advertisement stating “If you go to the bathroom during the fourth quarter, you'll be sorry.”
It was a large failure and did not capture nearly as much attention as the 1984 commercial did. Many more brochures for new models like the Macintosh Plus and the Performa followed.
1990 - 1995
In the 1990s Apple started the “What's on your PowerBook?” campaign, with print ads and television commercials featuring celebrities describing how the PowerBook helps them in their businesses and everyday lives.
In 1995, Apple responded to the introduction of Windows 95 with both print ads and a television commercial.
1995 - 2000
Think Different
Think Different was an advertising slogan created by the New York branch office of advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day for Apple Computer during the late 1990s. It was used in a famous television commercial and several print advertisements. The slogan was used at the end of several product commercials, until the advent of Apple's Switch ad campaign. Apple currently does not use the slogan, and their commercials usually end with a silhouetted Apple logo and sometimes a pertinent website address.
Even today, Think Different remains an intrinsic part of Apple's identity, alongside flagship products like the iPod and iMac. The use of the phrase, "Think Different", however, has ceased.
Television commercials
Significantly shortened versions of the text were used in two television commercials titled "Crazy Ones" directed by TBWA's Jennifer Golub with a voiceover narrated by Richard Dreyfuss.
The one-minute commercial featured black and white video footage of significant historical people of the past, including (in order) Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Richard Branson, John Lennon, R. Buckminster Fuller, Thomas Edison, Muhammad Ali, Ted Turner, Maria Callas, Mahatma Gandhi, Amelia Earhart, Alfred Hitchcock, Martha Graham, Jim Henson (with Kermit the Frog), Frank Lloyd Wright and Picasso. The commercial ends with a young girl opening her closed eyes, as if to see the possibilities before her.
The thirty-second commercial used many of the people above, but closed with Jerry Seinfeld, instead of the young girl. In order: Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lennon, Martha Graham, Muhammad Ali, Alfred Hitchcock, Mahatma Gandhi, Jim Henson, Maria Callas, Picasso, and Jerry Seinfeld. This commercial aired only once, during the series finale of Seinfeld.
Print advertisements
Print advertisements from the campaign were published in many mainstream magazines such as Newsweek and Time. Sometimes these were traditional advertisements, prominently featuring the company's computers or consumer electronics along with the slogan. However, there was also another series of print ads which were more focused on brand image than specific products. They featured a portrait of one of the historic figures shown in the television ad, with a small Apple logo and the words "Think Different" in one corner, with no reference to the company's products.
2001 - present
Switch
Switch was an advertising campaign launched by Apple Computer on June 10, 2002. "The Switcher" was a term conjured by Apple, it refers to a person who changes from using the Microsoft Windows platform to the Mac. These ads featured what the company referred to as "real people" who had "switched". An international television and print ad campaign directed users to a website where various myths about the Mac platform were dispelled. The television commercials were directed by Errol Morris.
iPod
Apple has promoted the iPod and iTunes with several advertising campaigns, particularly with their silhouette commercials used both in print and on TV. These commercials feature people as dark silhouettes, dancing to music against bright-colored backgrounds. The silhouettes hold their iPods which are shown in distinctive white. The TV advertisements have used a variety of songs from both mainstream and relatively unknown artists, whilst some commercials have featured silhouettes of specific artists including Bob Dylan, U2, Eminem, Jet, Caesars and Wynton Marsalis. Successive TV commercials have also used increasingly complex animation. Newer techniques included using textured backgrounds, 3D arenas and photo-realistic lighting on the silhouette characters. The latest series of ads, "iPod nano - Completely Remastered," have a totally different design. The background is totally black. The colored iPod nanos shine light and glow, showing some of the dancers, holding the iPod nanos while a luminescent light trails made by moving iPod nanos. This is to display the fact that the 2nd Generation iPod nanos are colored. The Apple iPod silhouette commercials are a family of commercials in a similar style that form part of the advertising campaign to promote the iPod, Apple Computer's portable digital music player. The commercials include television commercials, print ads, posters in public places and wrap advertising campaigns, and are unified by a distinctive, consistent style.
Get A Mac
In 2006, Apple released a series of twenty-four "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" advertisements ads as part of their Get A Mac campaign."
The ads, which are directed by Phil Morrison, star actor Justin Long (Accepted) and author and humorist John Hodgman (The Daily Show) as a Macintosh (Mac) and a PC, respectively. The format for each commercial is similar: Long introduces himself as a Mac and Hodgman introduces himself as a PC (assumed to be running the Microsoft Windows operating system), then the particular facet of computing is stated, after which the Mac is depicted as being able to do whatever the PC is able to do, but does it quicker, more safely, more creatively, or with more versatility.
Since the launch of the original ads, similar commercials have appeared in Japan and the UK. While they use the same form and music as the American ads, the actors are specific to those countries.
The UK ads feature famous comedy duo Mitchell and Webb; David Mitchell as the PC and Robert Webb as the Mac. The Japanese ones are played by Rahmens, with Jin Katagiri as the PC and Kentarō Kobayashi as the Mac.
In April 2007, British magazine PC Pro ran a cover story mocking the ads with two actors portraying the PC and the Mac but with the Mac made out to be the lesser of the two. The cover carried the headline "32 Reasons Why PCs Are Better Than Macs".
Criticism
Debate continues about whether Apple's liberal use of established visual art to sell its products is ethically acceptable. Artist Christian Marclay denied Apple the rights to his 1995 short film "Telephones" to market their iPhone, but then decided against filing suit when Apple ran a similar ad during the 2007 Academy Awards broadcast.[5]
In July 2007, Colorado-based photographer Louis Psihoyos filed suit against Apple for ripping his "wall of videos" imagery to advertise for Apple TV. Apple had allegedly been negotiating with Psihoyos for rights to the imagery, but backed out and promptly used the imagery anyway. [6]
Debate continues regarding the moral implications and precedents set by Apple's "homages" to contemporary working artists. Some artists contend that seeing one's work reproduced in a corporate landscape is the pinnacle achievement in the artist's quest to enter society's ideological landscape, and thus has its own rewards. Others argue that Apple's use of art without compensating the artist is unethical, and that shifting the message of a work of art toward selling a product significantly devalues the art.
For more see http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/05/apples-little-problem-with-ripping-off-artists/ .
In August, 2006, AppleMatters, a website devoted to Apple products, carried comments by blogger Aaron Wright questioning the veracity of Apple ads that suggest Macs don't crash.[7] Apple has previously advertised their products as being crash-free[8] and currently advertises Macs as being "crash resistant".[9] While a number of commentators have praised Mac OS X for its stability,[10] Apple has acknowledged the kernel panic[11] and other crash-like issues in their technical support documentation.[12]
See also
- 1984 (television commercial)
- Get a Mac
- Think Different
- Apple Switch ad campaign
- List of Apple Inc. slogans
References
- ^ Ryan Block. "Apple's Little Problem with Ripping off Artists". Engadget. Retrieved July 5.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Apple Computer. "Apple Macintosh 18 Page Brochure". DigiBarn Computer Museum. Retrieved April 24.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Apple Computer. "1984 Newsweek Macintosh ads". GUIdebook, Newsweek. Retrieved April 24.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Google Answers article #741952
- ^ Ryan Block. "Apple's Little Problem with Ripping off Artists". Engadget. Retrieved July 5.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Apple Faces Two Lawsuits for Alleged Copyright Violations". Engadget.
- ^ Wright, Aaron (2006-08-01). "Ask Apple Matters: OS X Crashes After-all". AppleMatters.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Ten reasons a Mac Is a Better Idea than a PC". Apple, Inc.
- ^ "Get a Mac". Apple, Inc.
- ^ Mossburg, Walter S (2005-11-30). "A New Gold Standard for PCs". AllThingsD.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "What's a "kernel panic"? (Mac OS X)". Apple Inc.
- ^ "Your Mac won't start up in Mac OS X". Apple Inc.