Thanks for the tip, Bren.
Posts with tag ads
New iPod ad, now featuring silhouettes
Thanks for the tip, Bren.
New "Get a Mac" ad: Office Stress
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
New iPhone ads: Bet, Brilliant, and Music Store
You can see all of these ads on the iPhone TV Ads Gallery page.
Cool South African iPod ads
Last year, we pointed out this cool campaign for iPods with video in South Africa. Tiny boxes of movie popcorn, posters and even a miniature "trailer" announced the idea of "Movies in your pocket."Today, Creative Bits describes another iPod campaign from South Africa. It features a set of earbuds that lead not to an iPod, but a pocket full of music, if you will. In one ad, a rock band does its thing in a woman's purse. In another, a boy band croons on a desk and a hip-hop act features a microphone wire that leads to the wearer's earbuds.
The images are great, and quite different from the silhouette ads we see in the US. Have you seen an interesting campaign or ad in your neck of the woods?
New iPod touch ad
Thanks to our commenters for the YouTube link.
Facebook featured on new iPhone ad
Oddly enough, with the two new iPhone commercials, there is no mention of the new 16GB model that was just released today.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
iPods outline "dead bodies" in ad campaign
We've seen clever iPod marketing from outside the US before, like this great campaign from South Africa. Today's ads come from the Sydney, Australia Police Department. Designed to encourage people to be aware of traffic while listening to their iPods, the ads depict users lying on the road, their eyes closed and an earbud wire partially outlining their bodies, Dragnet-style. The headline at the top of each image reads, "Watch for cars when wearing headphones." They certainly grab your attention.
We've posted before on legislative efforts to prevent 'walking while listening' -- a campaign like this might be more effective in the long run than law enforcement would be.
[Via creativebits]
Found Footage: They iScrewed me again
If you listen to our talkcast, you'll already know that Apple makes their product release decisions based around my own personal experience -- every time I buy an Apple product, Steve stands up and releases something even newer and cooler soon after. Of course, as the parody says, if you want to own something that doesn't ever get better after you buy it, there is always an alternative.
[Via Macenstein]
New Mac ad: Referee
Apple began airing a new "Get A Mac" ad during this weekend's NFL playoff games, and it was posted to Apple.com earlier this evening. This time around, PC has hired a referee to ensure that Mac's boasting about Leopard isn't unfounded.The ref peers into the replay booth, then declares:
"After further review, the ruling stands. Leopard is better and faster than Vista."
PC gets flustered and is eventually "ejected." It's not the funniest ad, but certainly timely. Check it out.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
New Apple ad "Misprint" cites PC World on fastest Vista laptop
Back in early November, PC World magazine gave a wet, sloppy kiss to the MacBook Pro, noting that "[t]he fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year--or for that matter, ever--is a Mac." Apparently this rousing endorsement of a laptop so freakishly powerful, so undeniably force-of-nature fast that it flat-out screams while running an OS that it happens to support only in 'bridesmaid mode'... well, that is the sort of thing that causes marketing executives to cock their heads and listen like extras in an E.F. Hutton ad.
Apple's new "Misprint" ad, appearing online and on TV now, features an irate PC calling the editorial offices of PC World to complain about this obvious benchmarking error. It's a funny ad, but along with the recent Podium and PR Lady ads, this new spot provokes some fascinating cognitive dissonance. We're told that Vista is undesirable, that users are 'upgrading' back to XP -- but hey, if you're gonna run it, you could run it awful quick on a Mac. Is it just me, or is that somewhat weird?
Thanks Alex
Apple posts 3 new Get a Mac ads
Ever since the iPhone was released it seemed that Apple was funneling all of its advertising budget into iPhone advertising. This meant a lack of those fun Mac vs. PC commercials that we have all grown to love. Luckily for us, Apple has just started airing three new entries into their 'Get a Mac' ad campaign, and i must say that these are the best yet.All two of the three ads (Podium and PR Lady) focus on the general public's lackluster response to Vista, and the fact that some PC users are actually downgrading to XP. The Podium ad actually made me laugh out loud, which is high praise for a commercial.
The remaining commercial (Boxer) focuses on people switching to the Mac for its ease of use.
All of the ads have been updated with an iMac sporting Leopard's default desktop.
What do you think of the new ads? Sound off in the comments.
New iPod touch ad was created by student, reuses Zune tune
As many, many readers noted, a new iPod touch ad appeared on TV over the weekend, and Apple has now posted it on their site. There's a long story behind this one that I hadn't heard yet, it would seem that the ad is a product of TBWA/Chiat/Day, just like most of Apple's ads, but the idea actually came from an 18-year-old English guy named Nick Haley. Nick created the ad (his original cut is above) back in September as a homage to Apple's new iPod, and it looks like someone in Cupertino noticed (or at least someone on Madison Avenue).
This might be old news to most of you, but I hadn't heard it and it's a good story. Apple has a reputation for getting their advertising from other sources, and it's nice to see them acknowledge an ad that came from someone who really loves their products.
Special thanks to reader running for figuring this one out for us: the song used in the ad is actually the same one used in this super weird Zune ad from last year. Even when Apple is completely upfront about the origin of their ad, they can't seem to keep from colliding with competitors in the same space.
Update: Calling it the iTouch was completely accidental, and I apologize. You guys are right-- it's the iPod touch, and I'm sorry for mistaking it. I guess the word was sitting in my brain and just wanted to come out.
Apple releases new iPhone ad: "All These Years" [Updated: two new ads]
Apple has released another iPhone ad unofficially titled either "All These Years" or "How?" I say 'unofficially' titled because it hasn't appeared at Apple's iPhone ads page as of this writing yet, but a copy is already on YouTube. This time around, Apple's giving a shout out to the business users, asking how they could have gone all these years without "email like this" or "stock updates like this" in their pocket. Personally, I'm glad they wrote the ad this way, because I would probably have spit out my beer if the voiceover would have said "without email like this... in your pants."
But seriously: I worry about how well this particular ad is going to do. The iPhone is receiving a lot of criticism from the business sector, much of it understandable, for not working with Exchange Servers. While I don't wear a suit to work every day (or pretty much any day), word on the street is that Exchange support is the major hurdle keeping the iPhone from storming corporate purchase receipts. If the iPhone is primarily targeted at consumers, that's great. But if Apple wants to truly go after business users, they need to play by that industry's rules and offer the software support those folks need.
That said, it is a bold ad that certainly highlights the iPhone's gorgeous UI in a business setting. I'll update this post with a link once Apple publishes the official ad.
[Update: There are actually two new ads, and Apple has updated their site with both - All These Years is the one I caught here, but another new one is All the Parts. Just like the first ad, I question their approach because the ad isn't entirely accurate. One major 'part' of the internet the iPhone lacks is Flash. While I personally would be happy as a camper if Flash never arrives on the iPhone, I understand that it's something many users want. Either way, the lack of Flash is certainly a glaring hole in their particular wording with this second ad.]
[via iPhone Alley]
Apple posts two new iPhone ads
Thanks to TUAW readers participating in tonight's TUAW TalkShoe chatcast, we found out about two new iPhone ads Apple has posted to their site. Both ads bring a new perspective to the iPod's appeal, focusing on how much it allows you to carry - or stop carrying - in your pocket. The first, titled Instead, informs viewers that they can simply carry an iPod in their phone, instead of an iPod and their phone. The second ad, titled Amazing, expands on the idea of how much you can carry: your favorite music, all your email, today's newspaper and - of course - a phone. The ads are both well done and, I think, speak a bit more clearly to the potential of owning an iPhone. Having all that stuff in one sexy little device that effortlessly syncs with one app is indeed a wonderful thing, and I bet these new ads might strike a stronger chord with consumers still on the fence about buying one to replace their other gadgets.
SafariBlock: More powerful ad blocking
Since its inception, Safari has been able to block pesky popup ads from clogging your display, but it's fallen short when it comes to blocking ads on a web page. Firefox, with its open plug-in architecture and enthusiastic community, has enjoyed an AdBlock add-on for some time which allows users to right-click an ad section and forever filter it from that page. But what's a programmer who prefers Safari to do? Why, write a plug-in that brings the same functionality to Apple's browser, of course! SafariBlock from FSB Software (click on SafariBlock in the sidebar; I can't link directly to it) aims to duplicate Firefox's AdBlock features by bringing the same right-click-to-filter functionality to remove ads from your browsing experience. A recent update even brought compatibility for Safari 3 beta users so everyone can give it a whirl.It should be noted, however, that SafariBlock functions as an InputManager. The specifics of what that means aren't really necessary to delve into right now, but as far as I know, the rumor is still that Mac OS X Leopard will remove support for plug-ins that run as InputManagers when it's released (hopefully) in October. What this means for the future of plug-ins like SafariBlock is still unsure, but it seemed worthy of mentioning.
