Apple’s new TV ads

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Not Apple’s best effort.



  • Singerhmk

    Doesn’t appeal to me, but I think it could appeal to users thinking about switching.

  • satcomer

    They really don’t make that much sense.

  • http://noblepioneer.com/ Tyler Hayes

    Gives me the same feeling Bill & Jerry did. The forced emotions make me feel uncomfortable.

    To nitpick, if they wanted to go down this route they could have found a better kid to make the emotions feel less forced while still parodic.

    • willimholte

      I wonder if non-nerds will see the emotion as forced. The kid’s over-excitement might allow people afraid of, or unfamiliar with, computers to lose their fear of looking stupid.

      Removing the embarrassment of not understanding a product goes a long way to encourage new customers.

  • rwitt

    OK, these new ads really bug me, and here’s why: they ENTIRELY miss the point of the iLife/iWork software as I understand it.

    iLife/iWork are supposed to be the creative/productivity software for the rest of us. They’re supposed to be so intuitive learn and easy to use that you don’t need any help figuring out how they work. All you need to do is buy a Mac and you too can be the next Scorsese. There’s no Step 3.

    Enter these commercials. Now, all of a sudden iLife/iWork isn’t so easy to use. In fact, the people featured in the commercials are CLUELESS how to make a photo book or edit a movie or create a keynote presentation! The software is SO HARD to use that you need a dweeby kid to show you how to do it, otherwise you’re screwed. The message: don’t bother trying to learn how to use your Mac by yourself: it’s probably way too hard for you.

    See? The messaging is totally the reverse of what it used to be, and in my opinion, what it should be. Apple went from selling you on the product design to selling you on the SUPPORT. Now, they’re positioning themselves like Best Buy with it’s Geek Squad. WHAT? Is this intentional?

    I think these ads are dreadful and portend to bad things to come. For real.

    • http://www.tumblr.com/blog/his-divine-shadow His Shadow

      They’re supposed to be so intuitive learn and easy to use that you don’t need any help figuring out how they work.

      You have obviously never done technical support for end users. No, your mother doesn’t count.

      This is for everyone so put off or offended or whatever adjective you want to use to describe your hypersensitivity: the average consumer on the street doesn’t know shit about technology. Many of them in fact employ others for that exact purpose and no matter how many times you show them something, the basic principles of what you are showing them continue to escape them.

      I have seen users of AV system routinely plug their USB keys into the Bluray player instead of the PC directly below. I have seen people show up for their presentations with a USB stick full of shortcuts to files on their desktop. I have routinely seen users take the secondary VGA/HDMI cables provided on a podium for their laptops and plug them into the secondary input panel on the same podium as if the system was some kind of steampunk affair requiring manual configuration. This is on one site.

      Now, they’re positioning themselves like Best Buy with it’s Geek Squad. WHAT? Is this intentional?

      Is it that hard for you to grasp that there are people who are unaware of the services that Apple may provide in their stores? And that Apple may wish to make these services known? Stop applying your everyday experience to the masses who don’t give a shit about reading tech articles on tech sites.

      I don’t know why admitted nerds and geeks and techopjhiles are so offended by the imagined condescension in this ads, because these people exist. The simple fact of the matter is that the mere act of creating user accounts in order to comment on a tech site is completely orthogonal to millions of ordinary people’s everyday experience. These people are not stupid. They do not suffer from mental defect. In simple terms their day to day jobs, jobs sometimes paying far and above what any of us are making, do not require knowledge of what we take for granted as basic technological ability.

      For these people, tens of millions of whom watch TV, Apple is saying “we are here to help”. Is this message somehow offensive to you?

      Then that is entirely your problem.

      I think these ads are dreadful and portend to bad things to come.

      I think you need to calm the fuck down.

      • rwitt

        “You have obviously never done technical support for end users. No, your mother doesn’t count.”

        Roughly 50% of my job is providing tech support to end users. Pro-tip: if the projector in the conference room isn’t working, you might try taking off the lens cap. Troubleshooting like this is why I make the big-bucks.

        Also, I know this is the internet and all, but it’s possible to have a discussion without such thick condescension. Are you this rude to people in real life?

        • http://www.tumblr.com/blog/his-divine-shadow His Shadow

          Troubleshooting like this is why I make the big-bucks.

          Yet you find it hard to grasp why Apple may wish to make it known that they have staff who are there to help customers regardless of their level of technical expertise.

          Are you this rude to people in real life?

          Depends. Are you a drama queen in real life? Then ‘yes’.

          • Svp

            Read a marketing book. The question is not if people need help; the question is “do you want to make your product come across as needing a genius to operate”.

          • http://ComicsPundit.com/ Shawn L.

            “do you want to make your product come across as needing a genius to operate”

            for many people, they already think this of ANY computing device, no matter how easy to use it may be. These commercials attempt to express a “don’t panic, we can help.” message.

            That said, “Mayday” is a little too removed from reality to make any clear point about this.

            “Basically” is very good, as it’s more about the whole value of what you get in softare and support when you buy Apple.

            “Labor Day,” is simiar to “Mayday”, but not quite as bad (I can’t put my finger on anything specific that makes me feel that way. It just does).

          • http://www.tumblr.com/blog/his-divine-shadow His Shadow

            Read a marketing book.

            I can’t imagine anything more boring and unproductive.

            “do you want to make your product come across as needing a genius to operate”

            That would matter if the message was “we are going to follow you around and operate this for you because it’s too complicated to ever understand “. The message is “we are here to help”. Again, the critiques of these commercials are gadget nerds whining that their feel bads are hurt because Apple is insinuating that sometimes customers require hand holding.

            The fact of the matter is that sometimes customers require hand holding. If you aren’t one of those customers, congratulations.

  • No

    Either Apple Retail is slowing or Apple is getting ready for another onslaught on Windows 8 with Mac vs. PC style ads without actually attacking Windows by name.

  • WhitneyESQ

    I thought they were entertaining, Jim. I am particularly proud of the “Basically” ad that finally calls out the shameless copy jobs Apple’s competitors attempt to pull off – not because they had to call them out, but because they could.

  • Peter Cohen

    Consistent with Apple’s other ads, which focus on the product. Except this time, the product is one of the most prominent features of the Apple Store, and one of the key differentiators that Apple has against the competition in other retail areas.

  • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

    These don’t feel like Apple ads. Too sloppy and over-the-top.

  • http://blog.charlespinker.com/ Charlie Pinker

    I like ‘em. Nice to have some humour in their ads for a change.

  • lesposen

    @rwitt I don’t think anyone coming from Windows or just an iPhone will just pick up an iLife app or iWork feature and know what to do. But if you watch again, the Genius isn’t working say in the airplane on the basics of the app (iMovie) but how to get the best out of it, perhaps utilising aspects that are not that intuitive. They’re there to use if you know they exist. Otherwise, people like me wouldn’t be teaching even experienced users the finer points of things like Keynote.

    Ads like this are not meant to have across the board appeal. They are targeting a specific population with specific messages. Just the fact that Apple is doing something different again with its marketing gains attention. And if the Genius’s emotional display is OTT for an American audience, it’s three times as bad for Australians, maybe Canadians too. I think we’ll get our own more laconic versions.

  • Steven Fisher

    You know, I think I like these ads.

    “Mayday” is about someone panicking because they don’t know how to do what they’re trying to do. But most of the points they hit are about the how to do the thing from the creative angle, not the technical. The message I see if that they’ll still help. And this is something I’ve seen from them; they won’t just help use the software, they’ll help USE the software.

    “Basically” is a conversation I’ve had with people, magnified a little and turned into a joke. I imagine this is a current problem for Apple; having a funny ad on the subject can only be helpful to them.

    “Labour Day” is the only one that falls flat for me. It’s funny, but it’s also treating the guy as a bit of an idiot.

    • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

      Well, the whole premise of these three bits are that the average user is a bit of an idiot. That’s one of the reasons why Genius customer support is needed.

      • Dot

        They are idiots. :) I have to help people figure out how to download library ebooks. Trust me. Some of them can’t even tell me who made their ebook reader.

        • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

          Ow.

      • Steven Fisher

        Two of them just come across as confused about technology, which is pretty natural. Not idiots at all.

        But the guy in “Labour Day” comes off as complete out-of-touch with what’s important, and uncaring about his wife. That’s what I don’t like. Calling him an idiot is being nice to him. He’s just an asshole.

  • Dot

    I like the ads. I think that they are aimed at my age group. We’ll think he is a nice young man and so helpful and pleasant. :) And it informs people that they don’t have to ask a relative to help, especially one who makes them feel like an idiot. Apple has these nice Genius people eager to help out and fix things whenever they are stuck.

  • Buckeyestar

    I liked them, they have a similar feel to the Mac/PC ads.

  • franksspam

    Many of you are viewing these ads in the wrong way. First, the main purpose is to show that once you buy a Mac you are not alone. This is not true of any other PC. Buy a Mac and there are people ready to help you with anything you might want to do. Second, as shown in Mayday, the guy isn’t dumb, he’s just panicked because he’s short on time. And the payoff is when the flight attendant says that they have two minutes and someone needs help with Keynote the guy that the Genius just helped is eager to help the new person!