Filed under: Apple Corporate, Retail
New "Get a Mac" web ad
You'd think the "Get a Mac" series of ads would be played out by now. But you'd be wrong.
They're still funny, snide and -- if sales figures are any indication -- effective. This week, Apple launched another clever web ad featuring Mac and PC. This time, PC has written an Op-Ed piece describing why people ought to stop switching to the Mac. It's cute, and the visual of PC pulling the text of the article out from "behind" the webpage is pretty cool.
While we're on the topic, what's your opinion? Are the "Get a Mac" ads yesterday's news or still good stuff?
[Via MacDailyNews]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
who? said 11:06AM on 9-09-2008
Good stuff all the way! I can't believe you would even ask!!!
TUAW≠Engadget
Reply
Brian said 11:07AM on 9-09-2008
Never not funny...
Reply
David said 11:13AM on 9-09-2008
I think the web ads are HILARIOUS. It provides a creative, little-before-used medium that really get the point across. While they're not interactive, they somehow feel like it since they're on the web. I find myself watching them several times, whereas with the TV ads, I usually just watch them once on Apple.com.
Reply
scrotes said 11:16AM on 9-09-2008
Somehow, they're still funny to me. I caught the banner ad on gizmodo and watched it 6 times. I guess being a huge Mac fan since 1989 with little support left a lot of pent up demand for an ad campaign like this. They're all relatively true - that's the beauty of it.
Reply
Tyrone Rugen said 11:16AM on 9-09-2008
They remind me more of political ads, telling me what the other guy won't do, rather than what they will do, especially the last year or so since Vista. Where are ads telling me *why* to get a Mac, what they can do for me? Cute ads, but spoiled potential so far.
Reply
ZeroCorpse said 11:31AM on 9-09-2008
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that's true, then the "Get a Mac" ads are very effective, and quite well-noticed. You can find thousands of parodies using the "Get a Mac" format now; Even the ones using this format to bash Macs are inadvertently supporting Apple's stance.
Everybody knows them, and everybody is copying them. Par for the course with Apple.
Reply
Ray said 11:31AM on 9-09-2008
Since I switched in Feb. to Mac, they have become just entertaining.
Reply
PlayWithTV said 11:32AM on 9-09-2008
On what site can this ad be found? It's always the best stuff. Hope they never stop and pay these two guys $500,000 a commercial.
Reply
Aaron Priven said 11:36AM on 9-09-2008
I have to admit, I laughted out loud at the end of the "Off the Air" ad. "Beee... eeeep!"
I'm not sure how well they work, but a lot of the time the point is just to make people feel good about the brand, and I think this does that. We all want to watch Wile E. Coyote but none of us want to be him.
Reply
Ben said 11:46AM on 9-09-2008
They're funny, clever and effective, but I don't like the angle. I would like to see them talk about what makes mac's great, instead of why vista sucks. "We suck less" is not a great motto IMO.
The last time one of those commercials came on my wife said it would be hilarious if they had a commercial where she ran on screen and just beat the holy shat out of the Mac guy. She's a mac user, but has a problem with smug, self absorbed a-holes.
Reply
Simon Arch said 11:41AM on 9-09-2008
It's clever, I suppose. Nice execution. I've always enjoyed the "Get a Mac" ads, and I think they can still be somewhat effective, but not like this. When a web page starts talking to me and I can't shut it off I'm apt to close that page and get pissed at the company whose ad was talking.
Ads like this are why I run AdBlock and FlashBlock.
Reply
John said 2:54PM on 9-09-2008
The ads are great. It is the reason I decided to get a Mac a few years ago. Several of my customers have switched based on both watching the ads and taking to people that recently switched to mac. They specifically target the market that is tired of dealing with Microsofts failing O/S which is why (IMO) they just point out Microsofts flaws in most of the ads.
Reply
Nuno Sousa said 11:57AM on 9-09-2008
Where can I see the ad? (live, not a video)
Reply
ChrisM70 said 12:09PM on 9-09-2008
Has anyone seen this online ad on an actual website?
It would be nice to see it "in the wild"...
Reply
chrisM70 said 12:15PM on 9-09-2008
it's currently running at cnn.com...
Reply
eboer said 12:27PM on 9-09-2008
a bit, but still funny. The ad/promo that IS getting old is the silhouette iPod campaign. Time for something new (but it doesn't look like it will be a part of today's release judging from the huge banner on the outside of the venue).
Reply
alex said 12:34PM on 9-09-2008
man, do i hate macs... But i do think these commercials are effective and work well.
Reply
Johnny said 12:32PM on 9-09-2008
I think they are funny, but they are getting old. I would like to see something truly original, rather than just bashing Vista without actually saying anything about it at all. As someone else said, it's like a political campaign where you don't find out anything great about Macs, just vaguely bad things about Vista. Also, as is often pointed out, they make Vista almost look better because John Hodgman is the more lovable character and Justin is a little 'smug' and there is never anything positive said about Mac, just picking on PC.
Reply
RIcky said 1:55PM on 9-09-2008
In my opinion, the most recent ads are where they've perfected the formula and have the most humor.
Reply
Samuel said 2:21PM on 9-09-2008
No, they're not old-hat. They're commercials. Saying these ads are old-hat is like saying Chevy advertisements are old-hat because they've been advertising since the 50s. These ads are funny, informative, and, frankly, I fail utterly to see what is so "snide" about them. I'm a PC user, too! Let Apple advertise. Criminy, the last time they almost went bankrupt because of lack of ad copy. It is, after all, the reason why Commodore went bankrupt.
Reply