When will Apple think different -When it comes to ads?
When I turn on the television today, I see actors like Cuba Gooding, Jr. in a futuristic ad for a telephony company. Or, I might see a women flying out of her workplace into the clouds when she turns on her Windows xp computer. Day In, Day Out, Mac users see all of these captivating advertisements for computer companies, and then we see apple. They are still advertising the outside of their computers. The computers are only one third of the beauty that is The Macintosh. I do remember when The Digital Hub was introduced; we saw some iApps being advertised. Even then, they show more computer than real world applications. For example, the iTunes ad showed the Graphite iMac with a visualization running and I small screenshot of iTunes. What is this? Someone sees a bubble and a shot of a playlist. Sure, that makes me purchase your computer!
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I am sure most of you remember those small 20 second movies showing Mail.app in action, Sherlock, and iChat that were posted on a remote page of Apple�s website; only to be taken down shortly after. These commercials were simple, but showed the punch that Apple was packing with its next revision of the Mac OS, Version 10.2 (Jaguar). These commercials never aired, as far as I know, and only lived a short time on Apple�s web space. Where are the commercials that challenge the PC industry, that force the Sane ones to �Think Different�?
Apple�s current advertising agency, Chiat/Day has done some great commercials, including the famous 1984 Super-Bowl Ad. That is a great firm, but they just don�t make commercials and put them on the air. Apple has the last say of what goes on Television. If Apple has this power, why do we continue to see all of these megahertz challenging commercials? The people that care about the amount of pipelines, and caches and eight gigabytes of ram are the ones that are already on the Mac, or have dedicated their lives to PC. The people that purchase the bargain PC, or think that Microsoft makes the computer, as well as the Operating System should be the individuals Apple needs to switch to Macintosh. The IT managers and Graphic designers already know about the Mac. They either use it or they don�t and won�t change. The Ones that know little about computer will be the prey in the fight for market share.
With PC companies many of Apple�s designs; it is time for Apple to show off it its beautiful operating system. Maybe Apple�s Advertising agency has not messed with the Mac OS since the late 80s. That is what it is. They still think that Apple just makes pretty computers, and does not know the power that is OS X! Whatever the case, it is a resource that has not been marketed yet to the consumer. If Apple can get people talking a few buying, then word of mouth can accelerate the Macintosh into real competition for Microsoft in the home market.
I saw a commercial this evening that triggered this entire editorial. I saw a commercial. It was a businessman. He was staying in a small hotel, was looking at delayed planes, traveling businessman. When he was waiting for a plane, he saw his young daughter sitting next to him in her pajamas. He asked her what she did today, and she went on telling him, how it went and just small talk really. This is when it hit me; please let this be a man with a Powerbook G4, on the airport�s Wi-Fi network with an iSight camera using iChat AV, and his daughter on her eMac at home talking to her dad right before she went to bed. This is a perfect commercial for her to fade away and he is looking at her on the computer. The Apple logo appears and the announcer says, �iChat AV. One of 150 Amazing featured that come bundled with Mac OS 10.3 (Panther)!� Well, then a Cell Phone logo appeared, and he was talking to her on the largest digital nationwide network and blah blah blah.
These are the things that apple does not think about. These are the things that Apple needs to put on TV! Real life situations for real people. Windows sharing, iChat, Safari, the Digital Hub, airport, etc. The List is endless. Show a commercial about the school districts that have switched to Mac and given every student and iBook and with rendezvous, and airport networking, these schools are showing strong improvements in grades and attendance. These are the things that make the PC users think, and the PC makers cringe.
I am not the first person to say these things. I am sure I am one of many. If Apple appeals to the normal user, and gets their head out of the clouds about megahertz we might have some more switchers. Show the software, and ditch the design. Keep it, but there is no need to advertise it. PC users are finished with pretty interfaces and design, i.e. Windows xp and its Luna and silver GUI. They want a machine that will allow them to surf the net, download music, play movies, and inspire them to create, as well as be productive. Apple you have that product, now show PC users the light side of the murky water.
