In the beginning, Apple was just like any other IT company. It spoke in babble and in words common men were not made to understand. It spoke of numbers. Of hardware. And specs.


Apple Ad – 1976

And more specs. But with bigger photos.

And then something changed. It gets better the second time around; more so because colored was the in thing.

From the Apple that was used to define Newton, to the Apple that was used to spur desire.

And even more desire.

Apple experimented often with what they wanted to convey. Desire was one. But at the same time, they also wanted to educate.

So they went back to basics.

They made use of a lot of text.

And very little text.

They asked questions.

They gave answers.

But you know at one point, they didn’t even need words anymore.

OK maybe a few words again.

And then things got interesting. Really interesting.

Classic (But they still kept the babble.)

One time they called in the Woz.

That’s when they really got creative.

And that’s when the Internet came.

And people started to think differently.

And Apple was no longer square.

[Apple Ads from The Mothership]

This is a print ad for the Apple II from 1979.

I heard from a distributor that although we’re exiting 2011, Apple always requests every region to come out with print ads and priority seems to be placed here, compared to online spending. Whether this is attributed to the age and inclinations of their overall marketing head, their print ads do say something about how they have evolved into a more minimalist take, attributed to the designs of Jon Ives and Steve Jobs’ fascination for zen minimalism, which if you read his biography, became rather apparent in the home space.

The “beginning” offered pretty much the same advertising spiel as most companies in the 70′s. Long blocks of text with a strong power of suggestion. Apple was like most other companies. In fact, you should check out their line of souvenirs and merchandise.

The tipping point was of course Apple’s thematic campaign with their 1984 Big Brother commercial that brought the company’s marketing towards a clear path. Call it serendipity but it was also in the mid-late 80′s where the minimalism trend for pop culture and design rose. Whites, lines, and simplicity were the buzzwords of that decade and it was also around that time Apple released their ‘Mac Charlie’ series as pictured below.

Mac Charlie from 1986

And so it stuck. Apple has always been a product-centric marketing effort, with saying more by showing less. The iMac, the Cube, the Powerbook, MacBook and so forth. You may argue this, but it seems like all of Apple’s minimalist ads in the late 2000′s would tend to lead people to watch Jobs’ Keynote or immediately hold these devices for themselves at the Apple Stores with Geniuses on standby.

This is a print ad for the Apple Power Mac G4 Cube in 2000.

With the rise of the MacBook and the switch to Intel, the industry seems to have caught up with Apple by presenting a milieu of ultrabooks from Lenovo, ASUS and Acer and has thus been turned into a war with price-point and specs.

I honestly think that consumers have held on to Apple’s 1984 proposition till today. But 1984 was a long way gone. From “here’s to the crazy ones” to patent lawsuits, it seems Apple may need to reinvent itself for this next decade.

It’s always refreshing to see the past. The 80′s were a darling decade and I remember growing up to the days when computers were starting to go mainstream and IT products were trying their darn best to market themselves into the mainstream.

Open a box of any Apple product today and consider yourself lucky to have two white Apple stickers to label onto your car’s windshield. Not in the 80′s. Back then, in their pre “Think Different” campaign, Apple’s multicolored logo was seen everywhere — from pens, notepads, wall decor and even kites.

That was pretty much what Apple merchandise was in the 80′s during the “hiatus” of Steve Jobs before he came back to reintroduce the Mac. When Steve returned to Apple’s throne, his philosophy behind making every product perfect reinforced his philosophy to make people want an Apple product, that even without the marketing — the smoke and mirrors, they’d still lust over his products. And this is exactly what he did. By focusing on building devices that were products of envy, these served the dual purpose as the Apple merchandise and the product.

Looking into Apple’s history, it is quite interesting to see a very different company from more than 10 years hence. Case in point: Microsoft is still selling Windows. Apple is doing something completely different. But the geek in me wishes for a time back in Apple’s past when things were a lot simpler and it was easy for any fanboy to buy Apple schwag from anywhere.

Still, the design pegs for Apple’s ads don’t stray very far from the lifestyle overhaul that Apple Computers wanted to establish versus Microsoft that took to making things a little more geeky.

I definitely would have wanted one of these Apple rainbow shirts. Such a classic.

Today, there are only so very little and limited Apple merchandise being sold exclusively from the gift shop in Cupertino. In the book The Perfect Thing written by Steven Levy, he talks about how every item was personally inspected by Steve Jobs himself as he wanted to really keep the corporate identity sacrosanct.

The Apple today is a shade of its former self in the 80′s. They’re doing so much better but I can’t help but wish for Apple to open up once more and maybe just “let a few things through.” They need to lighten up.

[images sourced]

So this isn’t about the famous “1984″ superbowl commercial. It’s about a print ad campaign done in the fall edition of Newsweek, where Apple Computers bought all the ad space. This particular issue was special as it commemorated the re-election of Reagan. Perhaps a premonition to the 1997 “Think Different” campaign featuring icons who changed the world?

A complete buy-out of the ad spaces was rather strategic, done especially for a commemorative issue that was sure to be sold out. Yes back then magazines did have an enormous reach for the “can afford” and it made perfect sense for Apple to do this. But the ad space alone alone wouldn’t be strategic.

If you check out the ads in higher resolution.

The ads really told the story of the Macintosh making it so enticing to buy one, you could have wanted to buy the Newsweek issue for the Apple ads rather than Reagan. And it precisely sticks to the overall spirit of how Apple did things, to some point even to today. Minimalist approach. Careful use of typeface. Demos. Yes, Apple has always been big on demos.

What Apple did was put the readers through an entire product demo by making the ads really stand out compared to the editorial articles themselves. And then balance it all out with “wordy” descriptions of what the Macintosh could really do.

If you look carefully through the pages, the reader is taken through a visual treat: introducing the Macintosh, showing the value proposition (such as the mouse), showing you what it can do based on tasks you want to accomplish at home — and then do it by showing the printed output. Lastly it does something that even products today don’t normally do — show the back of the computer.

Reading through each scan brings you back to a time of a more interesting Apple, where they were at the pinnacle of innovation not just in products but in how they presented these to the public eye.

The videos, hosted on the aptly titled URL advertising.apple.com highlight several iAds from AT&T, Audible, Campbell’s and Dove which showcase how intimate an ad can be on the iOS platform.

Which is your favorite or are you turned off by Apple’s revamp of the mobile ad?

Well, it’s official, FaceTime is the big deal for the iPhone 4. Yesterday, Apple released four new ads for the iPhone 4, and they’re all aimed at the heartstrings in one way or another. Even I, the guy who doesn’t cry, got a bit choked up at two of them. OK, that’s not really accurate. I’m a giant wuss when it comes to emotional ads and movies, so it’s not exactly shocking that I got an emotional response.

These commercials are interesting for a few reasons. I first noticed a lack of background music, something which all Apple ads – including the first FaceTime ad – have rolling in the background. I’m no marketing expert, but I imagine the theory here is to really put the impact of the message front and center. It works, too, because you’re forced to listen to what the people are saying and the message being delivered. It’s also interesting that FaceTime is the only real feature being shown. I can’t say I’m surprised, but there’s no talk about the great apps, the excellent rear camera, or the screen. I suppose you could make the argument that all of those things are being shown through FaceTime, but it is an interesting perspective.

This does cement my previous statement:

As Gruber pontificated, what’s next? The iPod Touch is a gimmie, and hopefully, so is integrating the technology into iChat. After that though, Apple could put FaceTime into anything else they wanted to. The iPod Nano has a camera already, and although it doesn’t make much sense to add Wi-Fi to the equation, maybe that’s one possible direction to go in.

Regardless, FaceTime is a step towards independence from cellular phone carriers, and a huge step forward for Apple. It may not be seen that way today, necessarily, but I think in a few years we’ll look back and see that the day the iPhone 4 way introduced was the day the game was changed.

I’m pretty sure Apple agrees.

Well, it seems like our days of seeing Justin Long and John Hodgman play dueling computers may have finally come to an end. Apple seems to have removed the popular “I’m a Mac” line of advertisements from their site, and replaced them with this new bit of marketing: Why You’ll Love a Mac.

I’m not particularly surprised, because the I’m a Mac line has been around for years now, and it’s about time things change. Since that campaign started, Apple has gone from a company that mostly pushes computers and MP3 players to a huge cell phone provider and the creator of a new line of portable computers with the iPad. Time for a different strategy.

This was the topic of conversation tonight with my wife over dinner. My mom loves her iPad, and every time I see her she’s asking me about new ways to get things accomplished on the device. She wanted a to-do list, so I recommended Things. It’s a bit pricey for the iPad, but it would do the job she was looking for. I mentioned that it synced via Wi-Fi with my Mac, and she asked if she could see that when she came by the house next time.

People who own iPhones and iPads may not be Mac users. For one reason or another, they’re using PCs to get jobs done, and that may be all they’ve known. But as they see how easy the iPhone and iPad is to use, they start to wonder about using a Mac for their main device. Would it be better? Easier? Simpler?

Previous Apple campaigns have pushed this same concept. But now, with people in the store to look at the other goods, this might have a better chance at working. I know it’s working on my mom, at least.

Apple has been quick to respond to the “Laptop Hunter” ads by Microsoft. The new series of ads (4 in all) mostly take shots at PCs. From their many viruses in “Biohazard Suit”, to how the only way to say that a PC works right is to include a full screen of legal jargon in “Legal Copy”. My favorite, though, is the one above. “Time Traveler” has PC making a voyage to the future to see if PCs will ever work right…of course…when he gets their the PC of the future freezes up before he can answer the question as to whether they will ever work like they’re supposed to.

The final of the four ads reveals some of the new features of “iPhoto”. It looks like this campaign was already up and going, then stopped mid-stream to turn into attack ads…I say that only because of the balance of attack vs. non-attack ads in the mix.

The back and forth advertising is amusing. Both companies are doing a bang-up job distorting the truth. It’s only going to get crazier from here.

You know what I’ve decided I don’t have time in my life for anymore?

The Mac vs. PC debate.

Honestly, the Internet can kill the fun in just about anything, and it has officially killed the fun of this back and forth for me. This new Ad from Microsoft is really what takes the cake. Not the ad itself – I think that ad (as an advertisement and nothing more) is well done, and effective.

I also think it makes Microsoft look incredibly frightened of Apple in ways that I didn’t realize.

Apple’s been taking jabs at MS for years, so I certainly don’t have a problem with them fighting back. It’s just the constant bitter back and forth from the different fanboy factions that I can’t stand.

It’s a debate that will never end – and I seriously doubt anyone is ever swayed by the back and forth. Anyway, nice ad on Microsoft’s part…much better than Seinfeld/Gates – but I don’t think it’s going to change the world.

I just got back from one of the early showings of “Watchmen” today, and was surprised to see that even in a 1985 where Dr. Manhattan has brought electric cars to the masses – the Macintosh is still a revolutionary product, and Ridley Scott still directed the commercial above.

If you’re an Apple fan the commercial will stick out like a sore thumb when you see it in the film, and I don’t want to accidentally spoil any portion of the story for those that might not be familiar with it.

I only have one word of caution for those of you with kids…this is NOT a super hero movie for them. It is a HARD “R” Rating – and you should keep that in mind before you decide if they should see it. There is graphic sex, nudity, extreme violence, and (of course) foul language.

Having said all that – it’s a fantastic film, and I highly recommend both it, and the graphic novel that inspired it. It is truly one of the greatest comic books of all time – and it has been very lovingly translated to the screen.

If you’ve “watched the Watchmen” – did you see the Apple spot?

In the defense of the makers of “Classics”, however, they do wrap the books in an amazing looking package – I just wish we could get some more recent content delivered in a format like this.

The second Ad is called “Fix” which shows you how to hail a cab on your iPhone, calculate a Tip, and even use your iPhone as level.

You can check them out right here.

Apple has released two holiday themed ads, each featuring “Rankin-Bass” inspired Mac and PC characters. The first ad “I Can Do Anything” focuses on Mac and PC having fun being animated, and even talking to an animated bunny – who PC drops snow on when he finds out the little guy is heading to an Apple Store. The second ad “Tree Trimmings” has the duo decorating a Christmas tree that PC has put the lights on to say “PC Rules”.

I find it kind of odd that we’re just seeing these ads now. They’re obviously expensive – and it’s Dec. 16th. They have less than a week to actually run them. Something tells me that the animators may have gotten behind…

The new ads focus on how earth-friendly the new Macbook and Macbook Pro are, and this is just the start of Apple’s campaign to promote their systems under this new “green” banner.

Steve Jobs has gone on record as promising to clean virtually all toxic materials from Apple’s hardware by the end of 2008 – but without some new desktop replacements (which are unlikely at this point in the year) that time table may be a bit off.

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I think one ad is a nice response to Microsoft’s ad campaign. Two ads is fine, but not totally necessary. Three is enough. I hope that the next round of “Get a Mac” ads go in a different direction.

We’ll see.

and…

Microsoft’s $300 Million Dollar advertising campaign has kicked into another phase with these “I’m a PC” Ads – which are a focused and deliberate attempt to tell the world that Windows machines aren’t the stuffy “work” machines that John Hodgman has so brilliantly portrayed them as in the long running “Get a Mac” campaign.

As far as commercials and advertising goes – these commercials are infinitely better than the Gates/Seinfeld ads we’ve seen previously. They’re well done, and they do a good job of showing that PC users aren’t just guys in suits. What they don’t do, is tell you why you should use Windows, or why a PC is worth having. My guess is they’ll get to that in the next phase of their campaign.

What’s REALLY interesting though is not WHAT the ads are – but HOW they were made. 9to5Mac reports that the images that Microsoft made available to the public yesterday are actually labeled as coming from “Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh”, and the ad firm that Microsoft has hired was recently profiled on Apple’s Canadian website. That profile has since been removed (gee – I wonder why?), but the archive of it is still around.

So even if all the people in the ad are PCs – the creative minds who actually MADE the ad – are most definitely Macs.

Those Microsoft Ads we’ve seen over the last few weeks that Redmond tried to spin as “positive buzz” that “got people talking” have been scrapped. Seinfield is out, and the Ad company behind the campaign is taking things in a completely different direction, with new Ads that will go so far in directly attacking the Apple “Get A Mac” ads that they will feature a John Hodgman look-a-like according to the New York Times.

The Ad will open with the Hodgman impersonator using the famous line from the Apple commercials “I’m a PC” and following it with “and I’ve been made into a stereotype.”

Bill Gates will make a cameo in the new ads, as will Eva Longoria, author Deepak Chopra, and singer Pharrell Williams. I’m sure that’s what Microsoft’s truly been missing – endorsements from second string television stars, authors, and a singer who’s 2005 single made it all the way to #48 on the charts. The big stars of the ads, however, will be everyday people like scientists, fashion designers, and shark hunters – who all are proud to say “I’m a PC”.

This will include over 60 Microsoft Employees who will be giving their email addresses out in the ads, including Gates.

When discussing the fact that they will be addressing the Apple ads directly Rob Reilly, a partner in the ad firm stated. “Apple has done a tremendous job marketing their products…so I don’t know if it’s David versus Goliath anymore.”

Mr. Riley was also asked if Jerry Seinfeld would be returning to any of the new Microsoft ads. “Jerry is a friend of the agency and Microsoft,” Mr. Reilly said,“You like to keep your friends close — and your enemies closer.”

My only question about his last statement is – does that mean they’re making these commercials with Macs?

The second Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates commercial from Microsoft has been released – and…um…it’s a lot like the first one. So far, comments on other sites and on YouTube seem to indicate that people are liking this one a little more than the first one, and I think I would agree that it is slightly better…but still very weird, slightly off-putting, and not at all what I would have expected from Microsoft…and I don’t mean that in a good way.

This one clocks in at 4:30 – which is kinda long for a commercial. Take a look at it – and feel free to tell us what you think in the comments below.

Apple has released a new commercial for the iPod Touch and it focuses almost entirely on the gaming aspect of the device. It shows numerous games including MotoChaser, Super Monkey Ball, Motion X Poker, and many more being played on the device.

While the tag line “The Funnest iPod Ever” is probably the worst tag line I’ve ever heard for an iPod – this is another clear sign that Apple thinks the iPod Touch can take on other portable gaming platforms like Nintendo’s DS and the Sony PSP.

It’s kind of funny to see that most of Apple recent advertising has been focused on Apps – especially when you consider how resistant they were to having them on the iPhone/iPod Touch at first.

The new Nanos are quite eye catching. Particularly the new UI. You can get a good look at them in the latest iPod Nano commercial that Apple posted yesterday after the “Let’s Rock” event.

Did you watch it? Ok…SO…let’s talk about THAT. I’m not real sure I’m ever going to be able to forgive my good buddy Dr. Macenstein for sending me that link.

Microsoft has launched a $300 Million dollar ad campaign featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld to combat the popular “Get a Mac” ads that spend a large portion of their time bad mouthing Vista.

These new ads are designed to be funny, and make Microsoft more hip. The ad you just watched is the first ad of this new campaign. After watching it, I literally found myself staring at my screen wonder what in the heck just happened.

For those of you that can’t watch the video for some reason Jerry Seinfeld is walking through a mall, when he sees Bill Gates buying shoes at “Shoe Carnival”. Sensing that The Gates needed help that the shoe salesman could not provide, Jerry runs into the store and begins to take over the shoe selection process. He suggests that Bill consider showering with clothes on, then follows Bill to the check out.

At the check out Bill uses his Shoe Carnival club card (which features a picture of a very young Bill on it), then the two exit the mall together. On the way out Seinfeld asks if Microsoft is ever going to develop something that will turn computers into cake. He asks Bill to “adjust his shorts” if the answer is yes…then we see a medium shot of both of their rears as Bill does some sort of bizarre hoola-hoop butt wiggle.

This is a commercial that will go down in history. This has to be one of the worst commercials I’ve ever seen. I don’t have any idea what they’re trying to tell me with this ad. I don’t think it was funny, and if they were going for “Burger King” levels of bizarre they definitely hit them – but not in a good way.

I can’t imagine a worse way to start off this campaign. The ad doesn’t make Microsoft look hip and funny – it makes Microsoft look like they WANT to look hip and funny, but don’t know how. Jerry Seinfeld is a guy who USED to be one of the most popular comedians in the world. His series was a huge hit and was adored by millions of people – if this ad had been running fifteen years ago, maybe it would have made Microsoft look hip…but this just makes Microsoft look old and out of touch – again.

Also – kinda creepy.

What did you think?

The Advertising Standards Authority received complaints from 2 local viewers in the UK who felt that the claims in on of Apple’s iPhone commercials was misleading because it claimed that “all the parts of the Internet” were on the iPhone.

Since the phone does not support Flash or Java, two critical components in viewing many websites, that claim hardly seems accurate.

Apple argued that the phrase was referring to Internet site availability and not every aspect of functionality available on every website.

The ASA made not of Apple’s argument, but ultimately decided that the claims “You’ll never know which part of the Internet you’ll need” and “all the parts of the Internet are on the iPhone” implied that users would be able to access all websites and see those sites in their entirety.

The ASA will not allow the advertisement to air again in its current form.

I have to say, I absolutely agree with the ASA on this one. I felt the same way about the ads that aired over here claiming to have the “full” Internet – because its just not true. I love my iPhone, don’t get me wrong, but lets not lie to people about what they can expect. I cant’ tell you how many people came up to me after buying the first iPhone and wanted to know why Flash didn’t work.

They expected it, because it is a major component of the “real” Internet.

Apple will surely make changes to the ad, or just skip it completely, and move on to the next ads. Maybe they can just replace this one with one of the recent App store ads…that one’s much better anyway.

Apple has recently posted two new iPhone Ads on Apple.com that showcase the importance of the App Store.

The first is Cro Mag, which shows you how with a few simple touches you can download, install, and play a Cro Mag Rally.

The second one called Lonely Planet, shows you how you can download a translator application that will give you common phrases in other languages and allow you to have them heard with the touch of a button.

Both Apps in with the phrase, “this…is going to change everything”.

Very nice spots that really show off how phenomenal the App Store is.

Apple has posted yet another “Get a Mac” Ad. This one is called “Off The Air” and features Mac, PC, and a Mac genius. Essentially the genius is there to drive home the point that you can take your PC into an Apple Store and they will move your files from your old machine to your new Mac for free.

PC is obviously unhappy about this, and tries to shut the commercial down by pulling down a screen of color bars and making off air noises with his mouth. It’s not as good as the ones released earlier this week, but still, a decent entries into the series.

You can view it in HD if you like right here.