Top 10 All-Time Favorite Apple Commercials
Apple recently marked its 40th birthday, and the company settled into middle age with a couple of new TV ads. Through the last four decades, Apple has produced not only iconic products, but also memorable commercials. We take a look at our 10 favorite Apple ads of all time.
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Apple is a company almost as well known for its marketing prowess as it is for its design genius, with product campaigns that seem to effortlessly position the tech giant as the king of cool technology.
Apple has been a major force in consumer advertising for decades starting with the Ridley Scott directed 1984 ad, which aired only twice on American television, including the famous run during Super Bowl XVIII.
Originally a subject of contention within Apple, the battle to bring it to air is the subject of one of the scenes in the most recent Steve Jobs film. It has subsequently been called a watershed event and a masterpiece in advertising.
The 1984 ad created a blueprint for going after its competition -- at the time IBM, and then later, Microsoft -- which combined a certain attitude about Apple products coupled with a playfulness that remains a hallmark of the company.
With the exception of a funky George Clinton spot in the early 1990s, Apple hit a bit of a rough patch but bounced back with the massively successful ad campaign for the iPod, which featured people as dark silhouettes, dancing to music against bright-colored backgrounds.
[Read more about Apple's 40th anniversary.]
Apple's series of 24 "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" advertisements as part of their "Get a Mac" campaign was another highlight for the company, although some critics at the time thought Apple's smugness was off-putting rather than great marketing.
From 1984 up through its 40th anniversary ad, Apple has had hits and misses, but has never suffered from lack of creativity or the occasional temptation to pull on the heartstrings of potential users.
Apple turned 40 on April 1. To help mark its four-decade milestone, InformationWeek has pulled together our 10 favorite Apple ads over the decades. We think you'll (mostly) agree, especially if you'd like to see Taylor Swift wipe out on a treadmill. If we missed one that you like or if you think we got the order wrong, let us know in the comments section.
(All images courtesy of iStock)
Our Top 10 starts with this very 1990s gem featuring George Clinton rapping out about what power means while sitting in front of a Power Macintosh 6100. One of the company's stranger ads -- no features, or even the name of the computer, are ever mentioned. Apple figured a couple of seconds of software clips and Clinton's presence would be enough to capture the audience's attention -- and the company was right.
Poking fun at people who fall for scam emails and demonstrating digital assistant Siri's hands-free capabilities at the same time, this ad enlists the help of Saturday Night Live alum Bill Hader, who is simultaneously eating a giant sandwich and taking a chance on what he thinks is the opportunity of a lifetime.
This 2014 ad keeps Apple's minimal aesthetic. All it consists of is shots of the back of a MacBook Air screen and all the different stickers users have applied, most of them oriented around the company logo. A final shot at the end shows the computer being closed, showing off its thinness, but by that point you want one anyway.
A rare poignant and relaxed ad from the company pulls a tear-jerking bait-and-switch as a seemingly disaffected teenager subtly films his family's holiday gathering and surprises them with a professional-looking home movie. If you like smartphone commercials that make you cry, this one's for you.
The setup couldn't be simpler -- roller skates, bold colors, black silhouettes, and pop music -- but the combination of in-your-face wheeled acrobatics and the Gorillaz smash-hit song Feel Good Inc. gave everyone a taste of what life would be like with 1,000 songs in your pocket. We, along with almost everyone else, totally bought it.
As part of its 40th anniversary celebrations, Apple went uber-minimal with this ad, which runs through most of the company's major products, software, and service accomplishments over the last four decades. The ad features no video, just a chronological list of events married to an undeniably catchy tune.
Regardless of your feelings for Taylor Swift, everyone loves a good pratfall, and Apple delivered in spades, with Swift getting so distracted on her treadmill that she wipes out while singing along to her Apple Music playlist. Love her or hate her, everyone wins. The setup probably went a long way toward boosting the ad's viral success.
While we couldn't pick just one favorite from the three-year ad campaign, the whole concept proved to be enduring and endlessly clever, as John Hodgman (as a PC) and Justin Long (as a Mac) humorously sparred over their respective capabilities.
Right time, right place, right message. Airing during the Oscar ceremony in February 2007, the first television ad for the iPhone featured a rapid-fire selection of some of the silver screen's most famous actors (Harrison Ford, Marilyn Monroe, Robert Redford, and Clark Gable all make the cut) picking up the phone and saying hello.
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