Steve Jobs inspires Best Buy's Super Bowl ad

Last year when Best Buy was planning its Super Bowl ad, the retailer's US marketing chief, Drew Panayiotou had a revelation. Instead of getting a music or movie star for the commercial, Panayiotou suggested the company focus on Silicon Valley innovators. According to Bloomberg, he was inspired by Steve Jobs and all the tributes that came out after the Apple head passed away.

The ad won't be about Steve Jobs, but it will include other tech innovators like Kevin Systrom of Instagram and Philippe Kahn, the man credited with taking the first camera phone picture. The Best Buy ad will appear in the first quarter of the February 5 game during the third commercial break. It will share the spotlight with an Anheuser Busch InBev beer commercial and an M&M candy ad. I love geeky commercials like this and will be watching for it on Sunday, how about you?

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Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-01/bieber-no-steve-job…

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Last year when Best Buy was planning its Super Bowl ad, the retailer's US marketing chief, Drew Panayiotou had a revelation. Instead of...

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Brandt Hardin

Steve Jobs changed the entire world with his visionary outset and revamping of wireless media and communications. He’ll be a name which rings out through history for evolving the way we live, share and communicate. I was compelled to create a portrait of him, now In Memoriam on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/08/end-of-era-steve-jobs.html

February 02 2012 at 2:27 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

ttringle

Philippe Kahn? Is that the same Philippe Kahn from Borland all those years back? If so that's a blast from the past, I haven't heard his name in over a decade. I still remember when I lived in New York attending the announcement for Quattro Pro 3 or 4. It was literally the first time I had seen an application use the Right mouse button, and it pretty much was exactly as it's used today. Blew my mind at the time, sad that Microsoft pretty much put them out of business entirely, they had some great ideas back then.

February 01 2012 at 12:20 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Damien Moye

Well, at least this commercial won't get you drunk or overweight. But I like this idea because it talks about good American innovators. With all this glamorizing China, our kids need to know what is right with America.
http://www.geekchoice.com

February 01 2012 at 11:47 AM Report abuse Permalink -1 rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Damien Moye's comment

jnemesh

And Steve Jobs, the king of chinese sweat shop labor, will be the inspiration..."whats is right with America" indeed...(sigh!)

February 01 2012 at 2:15 PM Report abuse Permalink -1 rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to jnemesh's comment

xxp84

You're right, Apple should just make the devices in America and price them at 2-3 times what they cost now. People would totally still buy them.

Oh wait no they wouldn't, the company would go out of business. No mass-market company can afford to make things in America anymore--not because our wages are too high (they're not great compared to what they were in the good days, when you adjust for inflation), but simply because one of your competitors WILL source labor overseas and undercut you. Full stop.

Bitching and moaning about one company or another won't fix the real problem, which is that globalization by its nature equalizes. In 1965 the US had an amazing average (middle-class) standard of living, and China had basically just rice farmers. We decided to transfer our wealth to them by outsourcing all labor possible to China, and in return we grow closer to their standard of living each year. Theirs is getting better, and ours is getting worse.

What is the answer? There is none. The cat is out of the bag. There is nothing we can do to change this. Even if we ceased trading with countries like China that have no human rights and workplace standards (maybe a good idea), the debt we have incurred already will continue lowering our standard of living for the forseeable future.

February 02 2012 at 3:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down