Apparently I’m obsessed with Apple’s “I’m a Mac” ads. I have to admit, I think they are brilliant. What particularly makes me think they have a genius in the marketing department has been the way they have maintained a simple brand and taken to so many advertising outlets. Today, I’m going to talk about their on-line advertising.
When I go to the New York Times homepage, there is always some kind of banner ad across the top and another block along the right side. Apple decided to use these ad spaces in tandem to create ads that not only were interactive with the audience, but also were interactive with each other.
The two locations on the site work as one, taking the viewer’s eye away from what they were reading to follow the Mac Cool Guy and the PC Nerd. The two boxes have graphics that move between the spaces and talk to each other, much as I imagine the paintings at Harry Potter’s school do.
For example, when the NY Times said that Leopard was faster and better than Vista, Mac responded with a clever ad where the PC guy tries to change what appears to be a headline from the paper (but is really one of the banner ads that Apple purchased). He climbs a ladder, taking him from the side box to the top. PC guy tries to change the headline so it doesn’t read so negatively for Vista. Apple guy just sits back and watches calmly.
With the “Refresh” ad, Apple knows their audience familier with working online. This ad plays up the ever changing stream of banner ads that the NY Times (and other websites) frequently have at the top of the page. The “ads” are quotes from reputable sources that state inefficiencies in Vista. PC guy, from the side box, keeps hitting the refresh button, much as a standard user could do. Unfortunately for him, all the ads that day seem to be anti-Vista.
In this campaign, Apple has jumped full force into online advertising. They carefully examined options for placement, and developed well planned campaigns that take the medium to a new level. They were the first to make interactive ads interact.
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