Apple Ad Campaign & Product Launch
Caitlyn O’Connor
Introduction
Apple is a large company that has consumers all over the world that rely on and use their
products every day. Apples advertising started a revolution that changed advertising for
everyone. Apples “1984” advertisement played during the Super Bowl in 1984 changing the role
of advertising forever. The commercial was played once and created a huge up roar. Viewers
were left speechless with all kinds of different emotions. The commercial was for the Macintosh
computer, yet a picture of the computer did not appear in the advertisement. Before the ad
appeared in the Super Bowl, the Apple board of directors disapproved of the ad.They said it was
the worst one yet and did not want it to run. They fought for it to be aired and Steve Jobs even
offered to use his own money to get it aired but it never came to that point. The advertisement
aired and lead them to sell more computers then they ever thought they would. Viewers were so
intrigued by the product and the suspenseful commercial. Over the many years apple has made
many new products and many new advertisements for those products. Some successful
advertisements as well as some unsuccessful advertisements. Apple continues to this day to take
pride in their advertising and continues to produce quality advertisements. They play a large role
on why advertising is what it is today. Steve Jobs once said, “Creating great advertising, like
creating great products, is a team effort” (O’Guinn). Creating advertisements is not easy, but
Apple has made themselves known in the world of advertising.
Compare and Contrast
Over the years Apple has come out with many different products, so they have had to use
many different advertising strategies in order to show the world their products. Three Apple
advertisements that show similarities are the original Apple “1984” advertisement, the iPad
launch in 2010, and the 2018 HomePod advertisement. The first general similarity Apple does on
their advertisements is the ending. At the end of their advertisements, they stop everything and
show a blank screen with their Apple logo in the middle of the screen. In the “1984” commercial,
the Macintosh is not shown so having this signature at the end shows that it is for sure an Apple
product. As well as in the HomePod advertisement the device is shown only a few times. Apple
makes their commercials suspenseful and then ends with a big finish of just the screen and their
logo. This is smart advertising because some people have bias towards brands and if viewers are
watching the advertisement and do not see its Apple until the end they might change their mind.
Viewers will want it for the product itself, which is genius because Apple has a goal of selling a
product, and the brand is a luxury. Another similarity the three of them all show is emotion. They
all have music to attract the viewers, but the choice of music in each brings out different
emotions. The “1984” advertisement has little color and all the people look very similar with
baldheads and the same outfits. The music is suspenseful in the background as a narrator
explains how there is a revolutionary change coming. In the 2018 HomePod ad there are very
few words but the actor in the advertisement is going about her everyday life to the rhythm of the
music being played on the HomePod. This ad is very powerful, and like the “1994” ad is
revolving around the music and peoples actions. The 2010 iPad commercial once again had
powerful music, but this time it was very upbeat. The commercial was centered on what the iPad
can do so the product was actually the focus of this ad with lots of colors and movement. All
three advertisements used color to portray the emotion as well as music, although they used it to
show different emotions for different products. A major difference for the iPad was Apple
launched the advertisement and then made customers wait 60 days until they could purchase it.
All three of these advertisements make you want to watch the whole advertisement and display
powerful messages.
After looking at multiple advertisements from Apple, some might notice they often have
similarities. Apple being consistent with their commercials keeps viewers guessing if it is an
Apple ad or not. I think Apple needs to keep some of this consistency to keep their name.
Although on the other hand, Apple needs to put new ideas in their commercials as well because
viewers do not like seeing the same boring advertisements all the time. Apple has many different
ad campaigns over the years that have been fun and new. Overall, the main goal of Apples
advertisements is to obviously get the viewers’ attention and get them buying Apple products.
Get a Mac
Apples “Get a Mac” campaign lasted four years, starting in 2006 and ending in 2009. The
ad campaign had a total of 66 advertisements that ran throughout the four years. The driving
strategy behind this advertisement was essentially to make fun of PC because the Mac computer
was better. This campaign was successful, although not all of the advertisements in the campaign
were successful. According to Adweek, in 2010 they named the “Get a Mac” as the best
advertising campaign of the new century. The advertisements starred John Hodgeman and Justin
Long and there were many other actors involved throughout the campaign as well. These two
guys became very popular in the world of advertising. They made many funny commercials that
kept viewers wanting to see these two pop up on their TV’s. With PC being the Macs biggest
competitor, Steve Jobs knew he needed to come up with something to make a statement. Jobs
was a perfectionist and often looked at the advertisements and told them what they needed to
change even if that meant spending more money. According to US Campaign, “Get a Mac” was
one of the most comedic, yet also one of the most expensive campaigns.
Hodgeman and Long worked tremendously well together. Their commercials were
essentially the two of them going back and forth and explaining the good features of the Apple
Mac and the bad features of the PC’s. Using a competitor in your own commercials can be a
risky decision, but Apple was able to make it successful. Having 66 different commercials with
the same two people and yet still people were watching them and going out and buying the
products, that says a lot about a company. While this was a successful campaign, it is hard to say
it is the best because Apple has made so many great campaigns and commercials.
Brand Loyalty
Brand loyalty plays a huge role in Apples advertising campaigns. According to the
Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion book, brand loyalty is when a consumer
continuously buys the same brand, rather than buying the competitors. The advertisements Apple
makes all follow each other. For example, the “Get a Mac” campaign is all about buying Apple
and not buying the competitor PC. Apple is showing their products are better than the
competitors are. Apple has many different products. If Apple can get customers to purchase one
of those products and enjoy it, Apple has a good chance of getting that customer to buy from
them again. Customers need a logical reason to buy products, especially if they are going to
spend a good amount of money on that product. Not many people are just going to go to the store
and buy a $500 iPad without seeing the reviews or being able to physically see what the product
has to offer them.
Another way Apple has many loyal customers is because they makes its very simple for
users. There are many ways on their devices that teach you how to use the apps as well as they
have a support center online and if you go to any Apple store there are always people willing to
help. Apple devices all run off each other, which is a huge advantage. A customer could have
one apple account and have all the same information on the computer, iPad, iPhone and all other
apple devices the customer might own.
Conclusion
Overall, Apple has proven to have some great advertisements and some great products.
They have had lots of success and have made a huge name out of themselves. Personally, I am an
Apple person. I started with the iPod touch many years ago and since then have had two iPads,
five different iPhones and just recently caved and got an Apple watch as well. With hopes of
getting a Mac Book sometime in the near future. Apple makes it so easy for the users that I am
too far into Apple products I do not want to switch. I would not want to switch to a competitor
because it would be such a hassle trying to transfer everything as well as learn a completely new
system.
While for this paper we only looked into the “1984” advertisement, the 2010 iPad
launch, the 2018 HomePod launch and the “Get a Mac” campaign, Apple has had many other
successful commercials and advertisements that have ran. Apple has a long history of
advertisements and arguably started the advertisement revolution. People all over the world are
using Apple products and Apple advertisements are constantly being aired. Apple has a wide
variety of simple and complex advertisements. Apple puts time, effort and money into their
advertisements and it has proven to make them a successful company.
Citations
Grills, Chad. “40 Lessons from 40 Years of Apple Ads – The Mission – Medium.” Medium.com,
26 July 2017, medium.com/the-mission/40-lessons-from-40-years-of-apple-ads-
f87101fed4f6.
Nudd. “Spike Jonze and FKA Twigs Made a Jaw-Dropping Short Film for Apple's HomePod.”
Adweek, 6 Mar. 2018, www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/spike-jonze-and-fka-twigs-
made-a-jaw-dropping-short-film-for-apples-homepod/
Heilpern, Will. “The Best Ad Apple Produced from Each Year since Its Watershed 1984 Super
Bowl Hit.” Business Insider, 22 Mar. 2016, www.businessinsider.com/apple-history-
through-advertising-40-years-anniversary-2016-3
Nudd. “Apple's 'Get a Mac,' the Complete Campaign.” – Adweek, 13 Apr. 2011,
www.adweek.com/adfreak/apples-get-mac-complete-campaign-130552
Smith, Jeri. “Steve Jobs' Advertising Strategy Is Why Apple Still Tops the Market.” Observer,
6 Dec. 2017, observer.com/2017/12/steve-jobs-advertising-strategy-is-why-apple-still-
tops-the-market/
Quenqua, Douglas. “An Oral History of 'Get a Mac,' Part 1.” Campaign US,
www.campaignlive.com/article/oral-history-get-mac-part-1/1417003.
DeMers, Jayson. “Here's The Simple Secret To Apple's Marketing Success.” Forbes
Magazine, 9 July 2014, www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/07/08/heres-the-
simple-secret-to-apples-marketing-success/#2660222911e3
O'Guinn, et.al., (2013) "Scenario: Polishing the Apple (Again and Again)," Advertising &
Integrated Brand Promotions, Cengage Learning

Apple paper

  • 1.
    Apple Ad Campaign& Product Launch Caitlyn O’Connor Introduction Apple is a large company that has consumers all over the world that rely on and use their products every day. Apples advertising started a revolution that changed advertising for everyone. Apples “1984” advertisement played during the Super Bowl in 1984 changing the role of advertising forever. The commercial was played once and created a huge up roar. Viewers were left speechless with all kinds of different emotions. The commercial was for the Macintosh computer, yet a picture of the computer did not appear in the advertisement. Before the ad appeared in the Super Bowl, the Apple board of directors disapproved of the ad.They said it was the worst one yet and did not want it to run. They fought for it to be aired and Steve Jobs even offered to use his own money to get it aired but it never came to that point. The advertisement aired and lead them to sell more computers then they ever thought they would. Viewers were so intrigued by the product and the suspenseful commercial. Over the many years apple has made many new products and many new advertisements for those products. Some successful advertisements as well as some unsuccessful advertisements. Apple continues to this day to take pride in their advertising and continues to produce quality advertisements. They play a large role on why advertising is what it is today. Steve Jobs once said, “Creating great advertising, like creating great products, is a team effort” (O’Guinn). Creating advertisements is not easy, but Apple has made themselves known in the world of advertising.
  • 2.
    Compare and Contrast Overthe years Apple has come out with many different products, so they have had to use many different advertising strategies in order to show the world their products. Three Apple advertisements that show similarities are the original Apple “1984” advertisement, the iPad launch in 2010, and the 2018 HomePod advertisement. The first general similarity Apple does on their advertisements is the ending. At the end of their advertisements, they stop everything and show a blank screen with their Apple logo in the middle of the screen. In the “1984” commercial, the Macintosh is not shown so having this signature at the end shows that it is for sure an Apple product. As well as in the HomePod advertisement the device is shown only a few times. Apple makes their commercials suspenseful and then ends with a big finish of just the screen and their logo. This is smart advertising because some people have bias towards brands and if viewers are watching the advertisement and do not see its Apple until the end they might change their mind. Viewers will want it for the product itself, which is genius because Apple has a goal of selling a product, and the brand is a luxury. Another similarity the three of them all show is emotion. They all have music to attract the viewers, but the choice of music in each brings out different emotions. The “1984” advertisement has little color and all the people look very similar with baldheads and the same outfits. The music is suspenseful in the background as a narrator explains how there is a revolutionary change coming. In the 2018 HomePod ad there are very few words but the actor in the advertisement is going about her everyday life to the rhythm of the music being played on the HomePod. This ad is very powerful, and like the “1994” ad is revolving around the music and peoples actions. The 2010 iPad commercial once again had powerful music, but this time it was very upbeat. The commercial was centered on what the iPad can do so the product was actually the focus of this ad with lots of colors and movement. All
  • 3.
    three advertisements usedcolor to portray the emotion as well as music, although they used it to show different emotions for different products. A major difference for the iPad was Apple launched the advertisement and then made customers wait 60 days until they could purchase it. All three of these advertisements make you want to watch the whole advertisement and display powerful messages. After looking at multiple advertisements from Apple, some might notice they often have similarities. Apple being consistent with their commercials keeps viewers guessing if it is an Apple ad or not. I think Apple needs to keep some of this consistency to keep their name. Although on the other hand, Apple needs to put new ideas in their commercials as well because viewers do not like seeing the same boring advertisements all the time. Apple has many different ad campaigns over the years that have been fun and new. Overall, the main goal of Apples advertisements is to obviously get the viewers’ attention and get them buying Apple products. Get a Mac Apples “Get a Mac” campaign lasted four years, starting in 2006 and ending in 2009. The ad campaign had a total of 66 advertisements that ran throughout the four years. The driving strategy behind this advertisement was essentially to make fun of PC because the Mac computer was better. This campaign was successful, although not all of the advertisements in the campaign were successful. According to Adweek, in 2010 they named the “Get a Mac” as the best advertising campaign of the new century. The advertisements starred John Hodgeman and Justin Long and there were many other actors involved throughout the campaign as well. These two guys became very popular in the world of advertising. They made many funny commercials that kept viewers wanting to see these two pop up on their TV’s. With PC being the Macs biggest competitor, Steve Jobs knew he needed to come up with something to make a statement. Jobs
  • 4.
    was a perfectionistand often looked at the advertisements and told them what they needed to change even if that meant spending more money. According to US Campaign, “Get a Mac” was one of the most comedic, yet also one of the most expensive campaigns. Hodgeman and Long worked tremendously well together. Their commercials were essentially the two of them going back and forth and explaining the good features of the Apple Mac and the bad features of the PC’s. Using a competitor in your own commercials can be a risky decision, but Apple was able to make it successful. Having 66 different commercials with the same two people and yet still people were watching them and going out and buying the products, that says a lot about a company. While this was a successful campaign, it is hard to say it is the best because Apple has made so many great campaigns and commercials. Brand Loyalty Brand loyalty plays a huge role in Apples advertising campaigns. According to the Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion book, brand loyalty is when a consumer continuously buys the same brand, rather than buying the competitors. The advertisements Apple makes all follow each other. For example, the “Get a Mac” campaign is all about buying Apple and not buying the competitor PC. Apple is showing their products are better than the competitors are. Apple has many different products. If Apple can get customers to purchase one of those products and enjoy it, Apple has a good chance of getting that customer to buy from them again. Customers need a logical reason to buy products, especially if they are going to spend a good amount of money on that product. Not many people are just going to go to the store and buy a $500 iPad without seeing the reviews or being able to physically see what the product has to offer them.
  • 5.
    Another way Applehas many loyal customers is because they makes its very simple for users. There are many ways on their devices that teach you how to use the apps as well as they have a support center online and if you go to any Apple store there are always people willing to help. Apple devices all run off each other, which is a huge advantage. A customer could have one apple account and have all the same information on the computer, iPad, iPhone and all other apple devices the customer might own. Conclusion Overall, Apple has proven to have some great advertisements and some great products. They have had lots of success and have made a huge name out of themselves. Personally, I am an Apple person. I started with the iPod touch many years ago and since then have had two iPads, five different iPhones and just recently caved and got an Apple watch as well. With hopes of getting a Mac Book sometime in the near future. Apple makes it so easy for the users that I am too far into Apple products I do not want to switch. I would not want to switch to a competitor because it would be such a hassle trying to transfer everything as well as learn a completely new system. While for this paper we only looked into the “1984” advertisement, the 2010 iPad launch, the 2018 HomePod launch and the “Get a Mac” campaign, Apple has had many other successful commercials and advertisements that have ran. Apple has a long history of advertisements and arguably started the advertisement revolution. People all over the world are using Apple products and Apple advertisements are constantly being aired. Apple has a wide variety of simple and complex advertisements. Apple puts time, effort and money into their advertisements and it has proven to make them a successful company.
  • 6.
    Citations Grills, Chad. “40Lessons from 40 Years of Apple Ads – The Mission – Medium.” Medium.com, 26 July 2017, medium.com/the-mission/40-lessons-from-40-years-of-apple-ads- f87101fed4f6. Nudd. “Spike Jonze and FKA Twigs Made a Jaw-Dropping Short Film for Apple's HomePod.” Adweek, 6 Mar. 2018, www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/spike-jonze-and-fka-twigs- made-a-jaw-dropping-short-film-for-apples-homepod/ Heilpern, Will. “The Best Ad Apple Produced from Each Year since Its Watershed 1984 Super Bowl Hit.” Business Insider, 22 Mar. 2016, www.businessinsider.com/apple-history- through-advertising-40-years-anniversary-2016-3 Nudd. “Apple's 'Get a Mac,' the Complete Campaign.” – Adweek, 13 Apr. 2011, www.adweek.com/adfreak/apples-get-mac-complete-campaign-130552 Smith, Jeri. “Steve Jobs' Advertising Strategy Is Why Apple Still Tops the Market.” Observer, 6 Dec. 2017, observer.com/2017/12/steve-jobs-advertising-strategy-is-why-apple-still- tops-the-market/ Quenqua, Douglas. “An Oral History of 'Get a Mac,' Part 1.” Campaign US, www.campaignlive.com/article/oral-history-get-mac-part-1/1417003. DeMers, Jayson. “Here's The Simple Secret To Apple's Marketing Success.” Forbes
  • 7.
    Magazine, 9 July2014, www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/07/08/heres-the- simple-secret-to-apples-marketing-success/#2660222911e3 O'Guinn, et.al., (2013) "Scenario: Polishing the Apple (Again and Again)," Advertising & Integrated Brand Promotions, Cengage Learning