Now that the Apple Watch is in ready supply, it's time to start promoting it via advertising. And that's exactly what Apple is doing with four new video ads that show, often in a story-based environment, how the Apple Watch can be used to advantage. Bravo.
Here they are:
It's probably a coincidence that I noted, just recently, that Apple seemed to be very quiet when it came to this kind of advertising. "Lost: Apple’s Golden Opportunity to Market the Apple Watch." Clearly, these ads have been in the making.
In that recent article, taking Apple to task for its silence, I used the word marketing because it didn't seem like there was even a coherent effort to develop an overall marketing campaign that also included widespread advertising in key areas.
For example, it's one thing to develop some video ads and try them out in YouTube. It's quite another to have a broad spectrum approach to identifying where the potential customers can be reached. Such as, for example, high profile sports events (like Wimbledon), aviation magazines, certain kinds of TV shows and so on. Marketing also includes tutorials, handouts and success stories, but Apple shies away from the latter two.
Also, whether these four new ads show up on American TV or not remains to be seen. Perhaps they're in a test-the-waters phase right now.
Story Telling With a Purpose
In any case, what's important is that Apple has now launched some timely Apple Watch advertising. The company has found a way to tell a great story about tourists using the Apple Watch in Berlin and Beijing that, while apparently not aimed directly at Americans, should work well as effective stories set in great cities.
The story-based approach is effective because it's hard to get technical in a 30 second commercial. The details of learning about and setting up an Apple Watch aren't nearly as important as the instant visual impact, the message, of how a wrist-based device can be so much more handy, quick, and effective compared to the often inconvenient approach of pulling out an iPhone and unlocking it.
This is, after all, the glory of the Apple Watch: a finely crafted device that's worn on the wrist and properly partitions certain tasks that are better communicated more quickly there. I wrote about that here: "The Not-so-Obvious Design Feature of Apple Watch That Everyone is Missing."
Done with typical Apple photographic beauty and panache, these ads are a great start, I hope, to an even more extensive marketing and advertising campaign over the next few months. If Apple stays on this, the early projections for first year sales could well be achieved.