4 ms·

I think they're fine. I'm not sure how else Apple could advertise the Genius Bar / Apple Store which is clearly what these ads are for. Any approach to that is

by jsz0 14y ago

I think they're fine. I'm not sure how else Apple could advertise the Genius Bar / Apple Store which is clearly what these ads are for. Any approach to that is going to be a bit exhausted. They could have a Genius stand there and explain the service, they could do consumer testimonials, they could do fake celebrity testimonials, they could do some mock in-store experience thing, but what else? There is no tangible product to show off. People are kind of missing the more interesting story here which is Apple deciding to advertise for the Apple Store and services. They've never done that before. It is a big competitive advantage so I think the message is important. If someone can come up with a better ad for the Genius Bar / Apple Store I will concede they are bad ads. Otherwise I think the message of the ads is more important than the style.

CoffeeDregs 14y ago
I suspect a key demographic for these commercials is parents who're afraid to ask their kids for help. I can imagine loads of commercials where a parent heads out of their noisy, busy house and heads over to the Apple store for a relaxing session at the Genius Bar. I think my parents would be turned off by the relative chaos and difficulty implied by the commercials.* Additionally, I don't think that younger target costumers will be engaged by a spastic know-it-all with the job title "Genius". * I saw the commercials last night and don't recall them that well, but was left with this impression. And my wife and I turned to each other and mouthed "WTF?" after the commercials ended.
ericdykstra 14y ago
Just because you can't think of a better ad doesn't mean these ones aren't bad. Maybe there could have been the same setup and a much better script. Maybe TV ads aren't the right place to advertise the Genius Bar / Apple Store. Maybe they could have advertised how great the service is without being condescending to the target audience. I don't know, but I think it's a cheap excuse to say that you, personally, can't think of anything better.
jmillikin 14y ago
They could show the product in use. An older man in a business suit walks in with a visibly old Apple laptop -- say, a G4 iBook or similar vintage. He explains to the tech that it's a great computer, but it can't go very long without being plugged in any more. The tech checks it out for a moment, comes back with a new battery, installs it, "all set sir, anything else I can help with ... (etc)". Cut to the customer on a plane the next day, smiling as he uses it for something. A young woman walks in to an Apple store holding an iPhone. She bought it a few months ago, and this morning, it wouldn't turn on. The tech checks it out for a moment, apologizes for the problem, copies everything over to a new iPhone, and hands it to the customer, "anything else ...". Cut to her using some personalized feature, like browsing photos, which people are often afraid of losing during computer upgrades. Swap in genders and ethnicities as desired. The point is to have something that happens to real people ("my computer doesn't work as well as it used to", "my phone isn't working"), and then demonstrate how the product solves their problem.
- panicslowly 14y ago
  > They could show the product in use. I'm thinking Samsung has exclusive rights to advertise for consumer electronics (or something like that) during the Olympics. (Keep in mind these ads debuted for the Olympics' opening ceremony.) Therefore Apple has to advertise in a way that gets around these exclusivity deals. Therefore products are a no show.
  - jessedhillon 14y ago
    That is a very important context to these ads. So much so, that it renders the rest of the conversation essentially moot. Do you have a link explaining the situation?
    - panicslowly 14y ago
      Nope. Conjecture, sorry. But there's a term for it, Ambush marketing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambush_marketing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambush_marketing
- 14y ago

by jsz0 14y ago

CoffeeDregs 14y ago

I suspect a key demographic for these commercials is parents who're afraid to ask their kids for help. I can imagine loads of commercials where a parent heads out of their noisy, busy house and heads over to the Apple store for a relaxing session at the Genius Bar. I think my parents would be turned off by the relative chaos and difficulty implied by the commercials.* Additionally, I don't think that younger target costumers will be engaged by a spastic know-it-all with the job title "Genius". * I saw the commercials last night and don't recall them that well, but was left with this impression. And my wife and I turned to each other and mouthed "WTF?" after the commercials ended.

ericdykstra 14y ago

Just because you can't think of a better ad doesn't mean these ones aren't bad. Maybe there could have been the same setup and a much better script. Maybe TV ads aren't the right place to advertise the Genius Bar / Apple Store. Maybe they could have advertised how great the service is without being condescending to the target audience. I don't know, but I think it's a cheap excuse to say that you, personally, can't think of anything better.

jmillikin 14y ago

They could show the product in use. An older man in a business suit walks in with a visibly old Apple laptop -- say, a G4 iBook or similar vintage. He explains to the tech that it's a great computer, but it can't go very long without being plugged in any more. The tech checks it out for a moment, comes back with a new battery, installs it, "all set sir, anything else I can help with ... (etc)". Cut to the customer on a plane the next day, smiling as he uses it for something. A young woman walks in to an Apple store holding an iPhone. She bought it a few months ago, and this morning, it wouldn't turn on. The tech checks it out for a moment, apologizes for the problem, copies everything over to a new iPhone, and hands it to the customer, "anything else ...". Cut to her using some personalized feature, like browsing photos, which people are often afraid of losing during computer upgrades. Swap in genders and ethnicities as desired. The point is to have something that happens to real people ("my computer doesn't work as well as it used to", "my phone isn't working"), and then demonstrate how the product solves their problem.

panicslowly 14y ago
> They could show the product in use. I'm thinking Samsung has exclusive rights to advertise for consumer electronics (or something like that) during the Olympics. (Keep in mind these ads debuted for the Olympics' opening ceremony.) Therefore Apple has to advertise in a way that gets around these exclusivity deals. Therefore products are a no show.
- jessedhillon 14y ago
  That is a very important context to these ads. So much so, that it renders the rest of the conversation essentially moot. Do you have a link explaining the situation?
  - panicslowly 14y ago
    Nope. Conjecture, sorry. But there's a term for it, Ambush marketing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambush_marketing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambush_marketing
14y ago