Featured Article: Editorial - iMac Ten Years Later: Another Dent in the Universe
Just a Thought - Advertise, Please!
by
- April 29th, 2005One of the biggest differences between Microsoft and Apple is not just the 90 + percent delta in the number of the world's desktops they can claim, nor the comparatively broad differences in perceived security of the operating systems either sells; no, the biggest difference, in my view, is the way Big Redmond advertises versus the way Apple doesn't.
I saw a really good Microsoft commercial the other day, and it really ticked me off at Apple. "Here it is, a week before the big release of Tiger," I ranted to my wife while gnawing on a pizza bone, " and I've not seen one commercial on TV that even mentions Apple; nothing in magazines or newspaper, nothing anywhere that is Apple related or technical, nothing!"
My wife, who knits like the wind (not an idle boast, she's really very good) and was concentrating on stitch counting, said, "Un huh. That's nice."
"I mean, at least they could advertise the hardware," I continued, " and show people what cool stuff they make. But NOooooOOOooooo! We get the occasional iPod commercial, and that's it! And even those are becoming scarce."
"It's a shame," my wife said, distractedly.
"Darn right, it's a shame! They go through the trouble of making great hardware, stellar software, and a system that often puts Big Redmond to shame, yet they tell no one outside the tech community about any of it. It's as if Jobs wants to keep Apple a big secret or something!"
"Yeah, Jobs, secret," my wife agreed.
I grabbed another slice of pizza and chewed it absently; I might have been eating cardboard for all I cared, I was mulling over the whys of Apple's seeming reluctance to tell the world just how great its products are when another commercial came on, this one was for a nickel! That's right, a commercial for a five cent piece!
Here it was, our government felt strongly enough about its new 2005 Westward Journey nickel series that it wanted to make sure folks knew about it. Why? Because if people know you have something cool they just might buy it. Gee, what a concept!
That really got my hackles up.
"You see that," I asked my wife and pointing at the TV? "Even the government can advertise a nickel -a friggin nickel, fer cryin' out loud- and Apple can't hawk a Mac or OS X."
My wife looked up and asked, "How much did they want for the nickels?"
Now, I have to believe that Steve Jobs likes the company he helped create, the computer he helped create, and the OS he helped create, so why doesn't the man advertise them?
I would be happy with an occasional artsy ad where they show nothing but the Apple logo and have some guy do a voice over where he reads one of the switch stories. Simple, neat, clean, and it keeps the logo fresh in people's minds.
Yeah, sure, the iPod has done an admirable job of getting the Apple logo out into the public psyche (where it should have been 10 years ago, if you ask me), but the little-player-that-could can't carry Apple's entire advertising campaign on its little shoulders. And Jobs shouldn't ask it to.
The solution is simple, in my not-so-humble opinion: Toss some money at TWBA-Chiat-Day, and get them to come up with an ad campaign, then use it.
Adhering steadfastly to that movie cliché, "If you build it, they will come," only works so far in the real world. Here, that saying should be, " If you build it, then advertise the hell out of it, they will come."
So, Steve -Mr. Jobs, sir- I know you don't know me from Adam, and you likely could care less about my fascination with all things Apple, and I doubt you have the time to entertain every suggestions from comparative nobodies, and I'm sure you've got your own reasons for keeping the advertising floodgates locked, but Dude, just a little ad every so often wouldn't hurt, would it?
Just a little teeny, weenie one in a prime spot, just to remind people that you are still there, still cool, and still relevant, and you've got more to sell than iPods.
You never know, you just might sell a few extra Macs. Wouldn't that be nice?
is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He's been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.
You can send your comments directly to me, or you can also post your comments below.
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Observer Comments
If only. IF ONLY! That's what I've been saying for the past 10 years or so. There were a few iMac commercials, and a few switcher commercials, but Apple has never had any kind of sustained marketing presence. And they've never really given OS X much screen-time at all — which, I admit, makes some sense, since your average Joe can't tell OS X from Windows XP any more than they can tell Coke from Pepsi. But for cryin' out loud, at least toot your iLife horn, Apple! Average Joe's can appreciate being able to Do Things™ quickly and easily.
By the way, the phrase "pizza bone" is going straight into my Scrapbook o' Plagiarism. ![]()
i think the last apple ad i was that was not iPod central was the Jeff Goldblum voice over of the guy getting blasted through five walls of his house-- and that ad barely showed the PM G5 at all
apple-- ADVERTISE OS X, ADVERTISE THE MAC LINES-- there is something cool out there with the mac mini-- and lay people need to know that there is a $500 alternative to their big ugly virus ridden windoze box
TRO
Fri Apr 29, 2005 11:31 am Subject: even our superheroes agree....
The annoying thing is that they DO make TV ads. Take a look:
http://www.esm.psu.edu/Faculty/Gray/movies.html
There are ads in there for iLife, powerbooks, iMacs...all kinds of things.
The thing is...I don't remember every SEEING any of those on TV. I saw an iLife ad where a couple makes a DVD of their beach wedding once or twice, but that's about it. Why are they making these things if they won't play them?
BTW, does anyone remember this ad?
http://pulsar.esm.psu.edu/Faculty/Gray/graphics/movies/ipod_60_480.mov
I do...I also remember that I had no idea that this was something important that I would ever care about. Funny how the big things don't always catch your attention at first, huh?
Fri Apr 29, 2005 12:36 pm Subject: Selling a Mac is different
Most people have to see it live, have someone (a little bit) knowledgeable explain a few things - maybe even do an iSight iChat. I once "sold" a woman an iBook, a G5 iMac, 3 iSights and 3 iPods on a flight between LAX and Sydney. She had no idea what a Mac was about until I pulled out my PB and did a few things. I ended having to make a list of the things she wanted for herself, her son going to college and her daughter. Told her to go to the closest Apple Store in the LA area with the list. No doubt that she was going to buy Macs for the iSight alone and the iPods were going to be Christmas gifts.
Yeah, it would be nice if they did.
Then again, looking at it from another point of view, they don't have to as much. All the media proffesionals know that Macs are the way to go. No need to advertise to them. Business oriented people constantly read about Apple's successes and products in their news sources. The iPod has given great word of mouth advertising.
I think the problem with advertising on tv is meeting the need of the customer to see the live product. I live in western mass and the Apple Store in West Farms, CT and Boston, MA are both over an hour away. Sure, I could drive down to the nearest Compusa to see what this Apple buz is all about, but the sales reps there strongly discourage me from even thinking about one.
Just a thought of my own.
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