New ‘Get a Mac’ TV Ads
Apple has recently launched a new TV marketing campaign, with six new ads to be seen in the coming days. The sentiment on the web is generally positive, but I’m not as big a fan.
The ads have their moments, but in general I feel that they lack the usual Apple originality. When Apple aired its ad for the Intel chip, it was stated simply that these chips would be put to better use in Macs. That was original because PCs hadn’t been insulted go fantastically on such a public stage (national television) by such a well-known actor before.
But these new ads reek of a rushed timeline - as if the marketing team simply didn’t have the time or motivation to come up with something new. It seems like the first idea out of any brainstorming meeting is, “Let’s assign each product a person! Then, we’ll rag on the person that represents our competitor!” With Apple, I assume that there is a smarter person in the room to say, “No, that’s been done. Let’s try this instead:…”
Still, the ads can be funny at times. For example, in the one titled, “Better“, there is a great setup where the Mac guy gives the PC guy props for what he can do with a spreadsheet. Then he goes on to say how PCs are better at some things and Macs are better at other things - like “life stuff” (music, video, photos, etc.), which is all true. But the ad is ruined by the PC guy asking what the Mac guy means by “better”… This gives the Mac guy an opportunity to explain in further detail the features of applications on a Mac, but the punchline is dull. I expect more from an Apple ad than almost-funny semantics.
And some of the ads are simply unfair to PC users. Take the “Restarting” one - for example. It’s one of the funnier ads, in my opinion, but it’s based on an old conception of PCs. In the ad, the PC guy freezes mid-sentence and has to “restart”. But I don’t hear too many complaints nowadays about PCs freezing up. My computer for work has had maybe one crash in the eight months I’ve had it… And I’ve seen Macs crash. My point is, whereas the Intel chip ad was a fun jab at PCs, it was at least a vague enough indictment (what is “dull”). But this ad accuses PCs of a very specific problem, and it’s one that isn’t so true anymore.
Anyway, take a look for yourself and let me know what you think.
Add comment May 4th, 2006