1984...2004 - Superbowl Ad?

[Toby O Notoby]

Okay, ad man here.

If they are actually doing this I would doubt that it would for the introduction of a new product. Most advertising can be split into brand ads which tout a philosophy (1984 and Think Different, for example) or product ads (the guy dancing out the door with his new iPod).

The original 1984 ad was about revolution. Sure, they could twist it to be about a revolutionary new product, but my guess is they'd use it to show how the revolution was successful.

As long as we're at it, a few fun facts about that spot:

1. It was shot by Ridley Scott not too long after he did "Blade Runner".

2. Apple didn't buy it when they were presented with the idea, so Chiat/Day when ahead shot it out of their own pocket and sold the finished ad.

3. The guy who wrote it had a brother who was really into history, so he had him write "big brother's" fascist speech. You can barely hear it in the ad, but it's actually really well done.

 

[MacFan26]

I also think that if there is so much anticipation and hype about this commercial, that it will not live up to anyone's expectations. The "1984" commercial just happened, and made its effect on viewers. If this ad is going to be talked about and discussed by the audience a year in advance, there is no way the commercial will live up to the likes of the "1984" commercial. I still think it will be great though! As long as the commercial says "This is what we've done, and this is why you need us," the ad will convey Apple's message.

 

[AndrewMT]

It's obvious that Apple is going to release another anniversery computer, super-bowl commercial or not. The 970 will be ready before January. You can still make an innovative and attractive computer worthy of Apple's 20 years in the personal computer market since the macintosh was relased without having to release a new processor.

 

[trebblekicked]

jeez. it's kind of hard to picture apple doing a gratuitous "pat itself on back" revolution-worked kind of thing, and it doens't make sense to me to do a switcher thing for the super bowl.
another 20th aniversary mac? i dunno. maybe the 64bit revolution? maybe just the "digital lifestyle" played out in active form instead of real-people talking about it.
i agree that apple will be moving away from minimalistic switcher-style ads as the year goes on. who would you want to direct the 2004 commercial? i'd say joel coen. or spike jonez.

 

[crassusad44]

Originally posted by moosecat
If true, they must have a monumental product introduction in mind. The 1984 ad counts as possibly the most well-known product introduction in media history. Apple would be shamed into oblivion if they launched another Super Bowl ad without a similarly "revolutionary" product.

Hmm... Think this is what they did with the 1985 Lemmings SuperBowl ad....

 

[melchior]

are you saying lemmings wasn't a revolution?

 

[AndrewMT]

Well, I just think it is silly fo Apple to position, even delay, their release dates to match up with macworld or the superbowl.

 

[areyouwishing]

This is kinda scattered, I apologize. (and my 1st post)

The whole point of the ad is to get more people to buy Macs, and eventually overturn the PC market...right? right...

The 1984 ad didn't do it
The PowerPC didn't do it
The Clones didn't do it
The G3 didn't do it
The G4 didn't do it
The 970 won't do it
The 2004 ad won't do it

Bottom line is that people are lazy, and 99% of people will not switch, because of their apathy. Steve/apple needs to focus on the people that don't have a computer, win them, and you will eventually win the market.

I am a firm believer that Steve could make it rain sulfur, but he will never get this uncompromisingly lazy society to stand up and spend $1,700 on a 1.8ghz 970 computer (without a monitor no less), when their 800mhz Celeron works for everything they need (email, music, internet, office).

If Apple/Steve wants market share, I got a few words of advice.
$200 imac... I don't care how fast it is, or what form factor, in the "real" world very few people know about the new imac, releasing a cheap old imac is the only thing to get the market share. Apple/Steve's ego will not allow ANY marketing for a low price point mac, they're too caught up in the "we are not fast enough," garbage. Steven needs to put speed aside and focus on price, price, price.

Apple knows they lost the desktop, they lost it over 20 years ago, and that's why they are trying to find themselves a new niche in the UNIX world, unfortunately there is just very few other places to hide.

 

[evoluzione]

Re: Asbestos suit on....

Originally posted by psxndc
Who besides mac fans remember the 1984 ad campaign? Being a switcher, I sure don't. I don't even know what it was, yet everyone here seems to be saying "Oh they have to top 1984" "It will be humiliating if they don't top the 1984 campaign". I bet you 50% of the people open to buying a mac (those that are 30 and under) were too young to remember an ad campaign from 20 years ago (they'd have been at the most 10 in 1984). What's the big deal?

-p

the 1984 ad is widely (worldwide) regarded as one of THE best advertisements of all time. and not just in the macintosh community. yes i of course know all about it being in the mac and advertising world, but, a couple of years back, TV Guide did a big feature on tv commercials, and rated "1984" as the best ad ever. The fact that 2 of 5 people you asked, under 30, remember it is really quite astonishing, 40% know of the ad 19 years ago when they werent't even 10 years old? if advertisers could get that result from every ad they produced, they'd be ecstatic. i'm not having a go here, just merely stating that it is far more influential than one might imagine. I'm English, it wasn't on TV during the Superbowl (I don't know if the superbowl was even aired back then, i know NFL was big when William Perry was around, before it died out again in the UK) but I still remember it.

oh, Toby O Notoby, nice to see Chiat/Day spelt correctly

 

[AndrewMT]

I remember hearing about this commercial a few years ago, so I downloaded the quicktime movie and was really starting to get excitied. I was thinking excellent production value, this is going to be cool, etc... Then I saw the main character running in with a hammer in her hand. What?????? You have got to be kidding me!!?? This is the main character? Doesn't she seem a little out of place? Don't you think the short orange (or whatever color they are) shorts and the tight apple t-shirt were a little out of place in such a profound commercial? I know she was supposed to be different than the rest of the people in the commercial, but she looks like she is running for a scene on Baywatch.

I loved the commercial - great concept great everything. Except for the character they drafted when they were obviously horny.

 

[dstorey]

I tracked down the '84 ad on google and to be honist I don't see whats so great about it at all. On the other hand the think different one was amazing and one of my favorite ads ever. The meaning, the script, tje people they used were all great to me, and using these 'crazy ones' that people know gives the viewr something to relate too and something cool to be associated with.

 

[DavPeanut]

Apple released the Mac in 1984. Twenty years later, they should release somehting totally new. The Gala. Even cooler design than the New iMac. I know. Have The whole case see-through, and make it like a giant Airport basestation.

 

[Winston Smith]

Originally posted by trebblekicked

another 20th aniversary mac? i dunno. maybe the 64bit revolution? maybe just the "digital lifestyle" played out in active form instead of real-people talking about it.

You only have to trawl this site to see plenty of opportunity for Apple to announce something huge: Partnership with Sony?, Digital Hub now = Home Hub? AND no wires, 3d Displays, OSX on intel iron or:

Originally posted by CheekyGit
Maybe they will annouce that the 17" PowerBooks are finally shipping
........very funny

But what about ideas for the style/theme of the ad?

 

[Awimoway]

If you can't top the 1984 ad... don't. I like the idea that this when they roll out a full suite of office apps, as a way of taking MS head-on. And, sure, they could rename the line "Gala" for extra luster ("MacIntosh" always sounded campy/ridiculous to me and "Mac" sounds violent). MS has certainly become the new established power to challenge. A Gates lookalike could be making the speech this time.

Maybe Jobs was sufficiently impressed with the response to and buzz about Keynote that he decided to go ahead with a full featured suite--giving his developers a year to pull it off, and this led to early planning on the ad.

 

[dynamicd]

Does anybody have a link or anything so that a lot of us can see what the first ad was?

 

[Toby O Notoby]

Toby O Notoby, nice to see Chiat/Day spelt correctly

No biggie. I'll give you a shiny nickle if you can spell out the proper name for BBH without looking it up.

And a link to a quicktime of the ad:

http://www.uriah.com/apple-qt/1984.html

 

[crassusad44]

Originally posted by melchior
are you saying lemmings wasn't a revolution?

Apple aired a commercial named Lemmings during the 1985 SuperBowl. The ad was super-hyped, but nobody understood it. Even worse, the ad showcased a product (The Macintosh Office), that would not ship before two years later. It was kind of.... a... bummer...

 

[dstorey]

Originally posted by dynamicd
Does anybody have a link or anything so that a lot of us can see what the first ad was?

http://www.redlightrunner.com/appleads.html

 

[psxndc]

actually....

The fact that 2 of 5 people you asked, under 30, remember it is really quite astonishing, 40% know of the ad 19 years ago when they werent't even 10 years old?

Actually the 2 that _did_ know did exactly what was mentioned. They had heard about it years later (recently) and searched the web for it. I asked them to elaborate and they said they don't really remember it as much as they had heard about it and tracked it down.

I remember the silverhawks cartoon from like 19 years ago, but that doesn't make it the best cartoon ever.


The point is: No one outside the mac community and ad people are going to compare the 2004 ad with the 1984 ad, so Apple doesn't need to top 1984.

-p

 

[AllenPSU]

Audience?

You would think that Apple would be weary of spending the big bucks for a Superbowl spot unless they wanted to specifically target that audience.

If they have an innovation that can break down the Windows door and think a SB spot would do the trick, I would expect Apple to do some basic trademark building on CNN, FOXNEWS, VH1, etc. before a big show on Superbowl Sunday.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[PeteyKohut]

Re: Two Tegian Ideas

Originally posted by TEG
1) The First 64-Bit Laptop. The Power Book Advanced.

2) The First Consumer 3-D Displays.

3) Mac OS XI (Pronounced Zai), The Stability of Unix, the Usibility of Mac OS, and capable of running Windows Based Programs (Highly Doubtful)

4) Renaming Macintosh -> to another apple, like Breaburn (Brae OS), Fuji (Fuj OS), etc.

My 24601 Cent Ideas...

TEG

I always thought that they should make a computer for senior citizens and call it the Granny Smith. What do you think?? The all new Apple Granny Smith

 

[evoluzione]

Re: actually....

Originally posted by psxndc
Actually the 2 that _did_ know did exactly what was mentioned. They had heard about it years later (recently) and searched the web for it. I asked them to elaborate and they said they don't really remember it as much as they had heard about it and tracked it down.

I remember the silverhawks cartoon from like 19 years ago, but that doesn't make it the best cartoon ever.


The point is: No one outside the mac community and ad people are going to compare the 2004 ad with the 1984 ad, so Apple doesn't need to top 1984.

-p

fair point, cheers


Toby O Notoby - BBH = Bartle Bogle Hegarty, I actually worked with John Hegarty (i.e. he came to my office to "see the magic" as it were lol) a couple of years ago on a reebok campaign, so I should know that one

 

[Stelliform]

The only revolutionary thing that I could think of would be OS X on the x86 chipset. 10 months is a realistic time table. But does apple want to do that?

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by Stelliform
The only revolutionary thing that I could think of would be OS X on the x86 chipset. 10 months is a realistic time table. But does apple want to do that?

hmmm, I don't know if that would be the direction Apple would want to go with a big, 20th Anniversary marketing event. It would take too much emphasis off of Apple. If they ever go x86 (which I don't see happening in light of the IBM 970) it won't be with such huge fanfare. They'll market it, push the switch, but as long as Apple has its own hardware, that will be the priority. They'd only be shooting themselves in the foot otherwise.

D

 

[peterjhill]

I think a brand advertisment would make more sense than a product ad. Unless then want to come out with a 20th anniversary Macintosh. As long as they don't try to sell it for $10k.

How about something that is a takeoff on the Monty Python and the Meaning of Life. An office filled with Macintosh computers being the Pirates fighting against an office filled with Windows machines. It would be a perfect play against the Pirates attitude of the original Macintosh developers.

Okay everyone, you saw it here first. ;-) I am claiming artistic rights for the idea.