Happy Endings – Is Apple a Commercial Success?

Happy Endings Archive

Is Apple a Commercial Success?

At 1:30 Monday morning I finally started fast-forwarding through Toy Story to see the Apple commercial spot that had been announced last week in an Apple press release. While it dawned on me that I should be worried over my obsession with seeing the commercial, my concern paled next to the sheer terror that gripped me when I realized I’d fallen into the Toy Story plot and was watching the whole thing at normal speed.

At least I got to see Steve Job’s executive producer credit for the movie.

After sitting through a few rounds of the story and commercial breaks, I flipped the arrow icon on my remote and began scanning for an Apple-like commercial. I saw that damned AT&T Worldnet commercial (the little girl with the "angel" body) — that I wish was an Apple ad — and some of those now-familiar Nissan spots. Finally, there was an ad I hadn’t seen before. It started with Einstein. Was this it?

Yes it was. To the smooth intonations offered by the voice over talent of Richard Dreyfuss, we were walked through a black-and-white montage of famous leaders and creators: John Lennon, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ali, Jim Henson, Amelia Earhart, Ghandi. We were told that they’re the "misfits" and the "dreamers" who "have no respect for the status quo." The final image was a small girl as we heard, "Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do." Fade to the Apple logo and "Think Different."

I like this commercial. I enjoyed watching it, and I’ve watched it a couple more times on Apple’s Web site for the Think Different campaign. But I would have liked it even more if it was an ad for the A&E; Biography series, not for Apple. I don’t see how it relates much to Apple. Even as a brand-awareness piece, it left a bit to be desired. In fact, it may even be offensive.

Product Awareness
Watching the commercial doesn’t make me feel good about owning Apple products, even in a romantic, nostalgic way. It didn’t compel me to buy other Apple products, because it didn’t show any. Although the familiar six-color logo appears, the word "Apple" isn’t even spoken or shown on screen. There is one little girl who looks like a potential computer user, but she isn’t using a computer. In fact, no one in the commercial is.

Some will write me that the lack of computers and the purity of the images were part of the art. After all, there were no computers in "1984." (Or, at least nothing recognizable as an actual computer product.) So what’s my problem?

AT&T; and Paul Reiser talk about people making phone calls. Coca-Cola often stoops to showing people drinking their product. Even the frogs are seen carting off cases of Budweiser. The Nissan GI-Joe is driving a little toy 300ZX.

As clever and heartwarming as the Apple commercial might be — and it’s arguably neither — I don’t think it made anyone more aware of the brand than they were before. Or, at least, aware of the company’s strength, determination and new product line. My mantra coming off the couch last evening? I want to see products.

I think it’s great to set Apple up as the company that thinks differently and has customers that change the world. But show the eMate while you’re doing it. My partner, Donna, walks around downtown coffee shops with her loaner eMate every few days and reports back on the confused stares and concerned glances that her "power purse" generates. People want to know what that product is.

If it’s feel-good that you want, show the kids in class getting the right answer in their multimedia presentation, or toting their luggable empowerment tools around with them. They’re standing in class getting an ovation for a project well presented — or they’re older kids, solving science problems in the lab. Show me a solitary thinker, engineering solutions to the world’s problems in the warm glow of a PowerBook, buried deep in the book stacks of her university’s library.

Good Taste
The images disturbed me a bit, too. I’m reminded a bit of the Lemmings debacle of Apple’s advertising past. Consider if you will: Martin Luther King, Jr. never used an Apple-branded computer. Neither did Einstein, Earhart or many of the others pictured. I guarantee it.

So why are they on screen, posthumously in many cases, endorsing the product? Richard Dreyfuss and Muhammed Ali are AppleMasters, so that’s cool. Put them in commercials along with Douglas Adams, Gregory Hines and Sinbad. Let me hear Dreyfuss tell me why he can’t work with any other computer, or Sinbad joke about how it’s just a lot of fun. Or talk to some school teachers and administrators who use Macs to educate.

But this montage of legendary people is troubling. Several didn’t live to hear about Apple, some might have shunned computing altogether, others aren’t indicative of the benefits of computing in any way. Some might say it’s in bad taste.

Some fans of the notion of being truly different from — maybe even incompatible with — the rest of the world will appreciate this advertisement. The message: To achieve greatness you need to be different, like Apple.

But I think the spot falls down. Wrapped up in its own ego, this 60-second television advertisement shows an Apple that is willing to taint the images of legends for its own purposes while giving us no indication as to why Apple might actually be different. Apple users might get a quick jolt of superiority from watching the spot, but I’d be surprised if the computer stores are over-run with Toy Story converts this week.

I know it’s just the beginning of the campaign. But were I Apple, I’d seriously consider pulling the ad and looking into some spots that discuss benefit, education, creativity and, above all else, computers. Even though I own Apple products, I’m no Hitchcock.

Apple can be superior about its creativity next year. For now, let’s concentrate on selling some Mac OS and Newton-based computers to people who want and, perhaps, need them.