jtherkal: This was the ad I originally intended to review when I ended up posting the iPhone entry. If there’s one thing Apple can do, it’s pick songs that get in my head and stick there. I love me some 30 seconds of “New Soul” by Yael Niam. I don’t know if I even want to get the whole song, :30 is just about perfect. The ad is clean and clear: this is a thin computer, buy it. If I didn’t think I would snap it in half, I might. A.
sjbooher: This ad is shocking in it’s simplicity. The thinness of the laptop is perfectly exhibited through removing it from a standard manila envelope. This action perfectly conveys the product’s selling point — the thinness. Well done… but the creepy hands are back! RUUUUUUNNNN!!!! A.
jtherkal: When the iPhone launched, I initially resisted the gadget-lust I was experiencing, sticking with my current phone and avoiding the $400 hit I’d take for switching. Not even Apple’s iPhone advertising could convince me I needed it. But fate has intervened. This weekend, my phone was on the blankets of my bed and when my girlfriend rolled over, the phone flew off the bed and landed…wait for it…in a full cup of water. The only cup of liquid within 50 feet of the bed. Bullseye. So it’s broken and thanks to that little cup of water, I now own an iPhone. Boom.
jtherkal: Who needs advertising when you have a product this awesome? This series of “how to” type ads do a good job of showing the iPhone in action. But they lack some of the sex appeal you get with other iProduct advertising. In light of that, the iPhone sells itself. B.
sjbooher: In related news, my cellphone was once sitting on a ledge, in vibrate mode. I received a call, the vibrations knocked the phone off the ledge… into a bowl of milk. Game, set, match, for the phone. I agree with everything he said, but I will say this — those “perfect” hands/fingernails make me feel uncomfortable. B.
The Teaser Ad
jtherkal: This made me want an iPhone before they were released. Apple did a great job creating hype around the phone, partially because of the PR and advertising, partially because the phone was so dramatically different from anything else on the market. A.
sjbooher: I love this ad. Usually I am anti-”product at the end”, but I think the flow of this one is enough to keep the viewer locked in. Great. A+.
If five other companies weren’t already running ripoffs of this Rudolph treatment, this would probably seem pretty clever. But I’ve seen at least two more–one is for insurance, I think, the other is for some terrible cell phone company. So Mac isn’t exactly breaking new creative ground with this. Other than that, the writing and concept for this one fall short of their other efforts in this campaign (which I generally like). Usually the joke is based on some sort of truth; this is just a childish jab at PCs.
The only two good parts are the beginning when Santa sounds the harmonica and the “he see’s you when your in sleep mode” line. If I didn’t love Christmas so much, this would be more in the C or C+ range.
This is nothing more than a hand reaching in and removing little iPods, while a video plays on the screen. Though very simple, it makes me pay attention to the television, makes me want an iPod Nano and, strangely enough, it makes me sing. I don’t know what that song is (actually, I do now, because I just looked it up—1234, by Fiest), but I love it. It gets inside my head and I walk around my apartment, belting out my own terrible version of it; a version with no discernable words in the lyrics, just sounds that could be words if they had to. An effective, enjoyable commercial, even if it’s not very original or creative–and if you ever heard me sing, you would avoid doing anything that might encourage a repeat performance.
