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Critics Blast Apple's Cheesy New Ad Campaign
theodp writes "BetaBeat reports that people are pretty much falling over themselves to mock Apple's cheesy new Genius ad campaign, using zingers like 'intellectually cheap,' 'cringe-inducing,' 'borderline smarmy,' and — perhaps the unkindest cut of all — Microsoft-worthy — to describe them. Apple's trilogy-of-terror ad lineup includes Mayday ('An Apple Genius shows a fellow passenger how easy it is to make great home movies with iMovie. All before the tray tables are returned to their upright position.'), Labor Day ('An Apple Genius shows a soon-to-be father all the amazing things he can make with iPhoto.'), and Basically ('An Apple Genius points out there are a lot of things that separate a Mac from an ordinary computer, like great apps that come built in.'). The Atlantic's Jordan Weissmann says Steve Jobs would be appalled by the new ads, which certainly don't fare well in a head-to-head comparison with Think Different."
They even got their ad campaign freely detailed on Slashdot and by all those different critics. Can't be more successful than that.
From the Think Different Ad: "They push the human race forward."
By litigating so that their competitors can't sell what may end up being superior products! Yeaaaaaaahhhhhh! Keep pushing the human race forward Apple!
which is totally what she said
This inevitably pops up everywhere, but I think it's more symptomatic of a lack of confidence in post-Jobs Apple, producing a self-fulfilling prophecy, than necessarily an independent assessment. Perceptions of Apple have been so closely tied to Jobs for years that evaluation of how smart decision are are strongly influenced by that. There are things that Apple could do today that will get people kvetching about "ugh, if only Steve Jobs were still here he'd never do that", but if Steve Jobs himself had done the identical thing 5 years ago, people would raise an eyebrow, maybe think it's weird, but give him the benefit of the doubt, assuming he knows what he's doing. Basically, people don't trust Apple knows what they're doing the way they trusted jobs, so even things Jobs would've done get that "if only Jobs..." treatment!
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Really, why does this matter?
bah.
GEICO and Progressive ad campaigns generate giggles, but they're being dumped because they actually don't generate any increase in revenue.
Personally I can't see how anyone thought it was a good move to label Apple technicians "Geniuses". If they were geniuses, they would be doing something useful.
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You big-ketchup shill. Everyone knows Rold Gold is the finest in tomato based confectionery condiments. NO BLOOD FOR KETCHUP!
It's insulting, as a male, to see a husband portrayed as a complete ditz; if they'd done it with a woman, there would have been hell to pay, or people wouldn't have thought it was funny. Look at the idiot man, everyone!
As a techie, I found the way the Genius acts to show someone who is practically codependent. They're not people - they're apparently robots who spend their entire lives wherever they are, serving as customer service agents?
Please help metamoderate.
Apple customers need help for even the simplest thing on their Apple computer.
Apple customers lack common sense.
Apple customers don't even know what an Apple computer is.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
If they are basically truthful, then they are improving on their record.
The myth that more the eyeball, more successful the ad is just that, a myth. Pushed ad nauseum by mindless bots like you.
It's not totally untrue. Brand awareness does help sales. If people are looking for a product of a certain type, they are more likely to buy one from a company that they have heard of than one that they haven't.
In the case of Apple, however, it's a pointless goal. Everyone who hasn't been living under a rock for the past decade has heard of Apple. They've also probably heard of Nokia, Samsung, and Dell. An advert for a company in this situation needs to say more than 'we exist and are in this market!' it needs to say 'our products are good for these reasons.'
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Isn't an ad campaign basically a self-measuring practice? Either their sales will go up, or they wont.
Half of the money spent on marketing is wasted. The problem is figuring out which half.
Enough about that, let's examine Apple's most famous ad, "1984". Read the text, while thinking (differently) about the kind of company that Apple is in 2012.
How ironic, eh? Apple has become the very thing that they despised, back then. One True Way of doing things, and if you don't like it, hit the highway.
I'm a late adopter, for very good reasons I won't go into here. I recently saw my first iPad in the wild, my new roomie has one. I had some cool Cajun mp3s he wanted, so I gave him my USB stick to transfer the files. I even GAVE him the actual CD that I purchased from the hand of the artist himself, to keep, as I didn't particularly care for the music and he loved it. Oops! The iPad doesn't have a USB port. He explained he had to do everything by iTunes. Bummer, eh?
Next, he was going for a new job, and wanted me to look over his contract. He sent me the .DOC file by email, and I annotated it using Libre Office's "CTRL-ALT-C comment" function. I highlighted the parts of the contract I thought should be changed, made my comments, and resent the file to him. Oops! Turns out, there's no free .DOC reader that will show those comments. His brother ended up loading the files onto his PC and sending him JPG screenshots. I'm sure if he wanted to pay $19.99, there would be some sort of solution to his problem. Again, a garden of pure ideology, secure from the pests of contradictory and confusing truths.
Jeez, the entire Apple motto, "Think Different", is a riff on IBM's motto, "Think". Let's all think differently and ignore the obvious grammatical error. Oof, how outdated! It's like how Texas A&M defines themselves by the rivalry to UT, and has no personality without it...now they're in different conferences. Awkward.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
You big-ketchup shill. Everyone knows Rold Gold is the finest in tomato based confectionery condiments. NO BLOOD FOR KETCHUP!
You put ketchup on your confections? lol gross. I do NOT want to know what you do with mayonnaise.
It is generating buzz. Bad or good, that is the goal of an ad campaign.
You don't want to generate buzz by destroying your hard-earned brand identity. Let's compare:
1) Old campaign "You can intuitively and effortlessly do cool things with our products."
2) New campaign "You will find yourself in tech emergencies while using our products, from which only a trained professional can save you (even though we used to tell you this only happened to customers of our competitor)."
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
some dorky ads. Nothing to see here. Move along.
http://www.acetonestudio.com
I only watched mayday, and the thing that struck me was the impression I thought likely was that 'you better hope there's an apple genius around to help use your macbook, or else you will be screwed'. Historically, Apple focused on everyday people being self-sufficient without a lot of complexity, no 'genius' needed.
That and the tone of the ad just seemed so frantic and unsophisticated somehow.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Also,
1) Old campaign "You will be cool and fashionable as an Apple user"
2) New campaign "Only annoying geeks are Apple genius"
I think you are right, it was usually at the word "genius" that I started to cringe.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
GEICO and Progressive ad campaigns generate giggles, but they're being dumped because they actually don't generate any increase in revenue.
Such ad campaigns are deliberately designed to be annoying. They know its a negative effect but they also know it gets in your head. You're more likely to remember something you dislike rather than so the theory goes you'll remember the name Progressive or GEICO because you dislike their ads. This unfortunately does work, but not all the time. Most people aren't smart enough to determine why they remember "progressive" let alone make a conscious decision to avoid them because of their annoying ad (more often than not, these are the people who claim "advertising doesn't affect them").
Personally I can't see how anyone thought it was a good move to label Apple technicians "Geniuses". If they were geniuses, they would be doing something useful.
Apple thought it did. Apple needs to maintain the image that their products are for the "discerning" and "Intelligent" buyer despite the opposite being true (don't know how to use a computer, get a Mac because they're soooo simple). You cant have such a person serviced by an ordinary technician. No, they have to be serviced by a genius even if all the genius can say is buy a new Mac.
When you see someone getting out of a BMW in a BMW ad, they are a suave mid 30's business man in well tailored suit, square jaw, slightly ruffled hair, a hint of stubble and possibly an attractive woman in a low cut dress in the passenger side. Why do they use this image instead of Billy-Bob in his latest designer flannel (the on with only two holes in it)? Because BMW need to maintain an image of luxury and exclusiveness despite their cars becoming more common.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.