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The Campaign (the new iMac, not the other one)


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The Campaign (the new iMac, not the other one)
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2004-09-01, 08:37



It's a little less than four months 'til the Christmas holidays. You've got a brand new snazzy consumer AIO to sell. Your past efforts have sucked (unless you consider a guy and a computer making faces at each other effective). You have the ultimate digital hub machine, and a world full of frustrated PC users looking for a better way.

What do you do, hotshot? What do you do?




I've got my thoughts. I wanna hear yours...

Specifics.

Commercials, print, billboards, etc.? Tone, vibe, etc.? Celebrities? Beauty shots? FX? Humor? Serious? Play up the digital hub angle? Bust some long-standing myths? One big "everything" commercial/ad, or a series of focused spots? Piggyback onto the iPod? Play up the design/cool factor? Accent the "plays nice in a Windows world" aspect? Focus on price? Show off specs?

Or a little of all the above?

Last edited by psmith2.0 : 2004-09-01 at 08:49.
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Satchmo
can't read sarcasm.
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Toronto, Canada
 
2004-09-01, 09:19

Heh heh, I was just about to start a thread on this!

First of all, while there should a reference to the iPod, no dancing sihouettes please (I know the iPod is selling like hotcakes, but those commercials are getting so repetitive! They're essentially all the same, even though Jobs' and Schiller's expression of how cool the next one is).

But I digress.

Tone wise, I'd like to see something similar to the very first iPod commercial.

-man sitting on couch watching movie on iMac mounted on wall.
-walks over to display, close up on slot load dvd as disc ejects
-he detaches display from wall, and attaches to aluminum leg on desk
-iPod in cradle also on desk as he connects to iMac
-quick screen shots of iTunes downloading
-camera pans to show the similar profiles of both the iMac and iPod
-fade to white

Tagline: "iMac G5...thin is in"

That's just off the top of my head...but somehow I can see a simple profile shot of the iMac and a slow pan to reveal the front profile.
A Jeff Goldblum voice over saying "I see the screen, but where's the computer?, oh! that IS the computer!

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Messiahtosh
Apple Historian
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-01, 09:20

They will tie in the iPod massively, I believe, as they have already hinted at doing. Both on the website and in the promo video, it says, "the makers of the iPod have brought us the new iMac," or it says something close to that.

The iPod Silhouette campaign has been a hit and it is now widely known and understood by the consumers.

I envision a commercial that starts off with the dancing silhouettes (iPods in hand), with the music going, etc...then suddenly the music gets garbled and slows down...the silhouettes are revealed, the iMac is now front and center and all of the dancers have stopped to check it out. Music starts again...

"Manage your music, movies, pictures. Burn DVDs and create. Do anything and everything, fast.

From the creators of the iPod comes the perfect computer companion, the all-new, easy to use iMac G5, from Apple."

All while there are beautiful close-ups of it and showing the interface a lot.

It ends with the music starting up loud again, and the iMac being shown as the background changes color, with that above voice over, and finally the music fades out with the Apple logo, on cue with "from Apple."

"We are reviewing some 9,000 recent UNHCR referrals from Syria. We are receiving roughly a thousand new ones each month, and we expect admissions from Syria to surge in 2015 and beyond." - Anne C. Richard, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration

Last edited by Messiahtosh : 2004-09-01 at 09:26.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2004-09-01, 09:28

Chris, you're getting more normal each day. Good post.
  quote
Messiahtosh
Apple Historian
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-01, 09:30

Quote:
Originally Posted by pscates2.0
Chris, you're getting more normal each day. Good post.
Hehe thank you!

Though some would agree that I am getting more demented, as I have ebayed my PowerBook to own the 17'' iMac.
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SKMDC
superkaratemonkeydeathcar
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2004-09-01, 10:00

you two planning on picking out furniture or what?
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Messiahtosh
Apple Historian
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-01, 10:02

Quote:
Originally Posted by SKMDC
you two planning on picking out furniture or what?


But seriously, yes.

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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2004-09-01, 10:17



Suck it, karate. He's not acting like a mad man as of late, and I complimented him on it. Positive reinforcement and all.

End of story.

Answer my damn topic question, or bug off.
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SKMDC
superkaratemonkeydeathcar
 
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2004-09-01, 10:24

i was joking. sorry.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2004-09-01, 10:27

So was I. We're getting married next month. You're invited. I've always wanted a college man.

OKAY, THAT ABOVE NONSENSE WAS A JOKE!!!!!!!!!! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!?!?!?!

Okay, back on topic...

I'd like to see a commercial that has that same cool blue-ish look as that promo video they played at the end of Phil's keynote. That had a great look to it. Have you seen it? "Icy and cool" was the thought that came to mind, with the white iMac and the cool blue backgroup/set. Nice camera work. Made the machine look really nice.

I was thinking they could edit that into a nice 30-second clip, interspersed with stuff showing the digital hub aspect of it, maybe? And yeah, definitely work in the iPod connection...that seems to be their ace card right now.

And I STILL - fours years later - think they should hire Gillian Anderson for any/all voiceover work. Anyone but Goldblum or Dreyfuss. I can even picture Michael Keaton sounding good in that role.

Last edited by psmith2.0 : 2004-09-01 at 10:33.
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2004-09-01, 10:28

*group hug*
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Ryan
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Promise Land of Trustafarians
 
2004-09-01, 20:31

Here's my idea for an iMac commercial that gets across both the iMac and iLife.

Start with a view of five iMacs in a group of somesort. Not a line, but something like a semi circle. Voiceover says "The new iMac"

Go to the first iMac, with a guy using iPhoto, cropping a photo or something.

"You can edit digital photos"

Then pan quickly over to the guy using iTunes, white earpuds, maybe doing a little chair dance.

"Organize your iPod"

Pan to the one with a iMovie, importing video of his DV cam.

"Make your own movies"

Then iDVD, with someone clicking on "Burn Disc".

"And burn them to DVD"

Finally GarageBand, dragging a sound byte to the timeline.

"Even mix your own music"

The fade to white, with an iMac and text(and voice) that says "The New iMac". Fade in the iPod into the lower right corner, and text/voice that says "From the makers of iPod".
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Messiahtosh
Apple Historian
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-01, 20:44

Your idea is ok, but I think mine takes the cake.
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MacUsers
Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Atlanta.
 
2004-09-01, 20:46

Quote:
Originally Posted by pscates2.0
I'd like to see a commercial that has that same cool blue-ish look as that promo video they played at the end of Phil's keynote.
Here is that video by the way (for those that haven't seen it)... very nice indeed. http://www.apple.com/imac/video/
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709
¡Damned!
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Purgatory
 
2004-09-01, 21:02

Quote:
Originally Posted by Messiahtosh
Your idea is ok, but I think mine takes the cake.
...and here we go again...





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Messiahtosh
Apple Historian
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-01, 21:46

BTW, the reason the word, "iMac" was put on the back of the iMac and not the front, IMHO, is because it will be prevalent in TV shows and movies. People will see it and know that iMac means computer, and that the thing they are seeing is a computer and not a monitor.

How many times in movies do they show people sitting in front of their computer, but show their face from the front, and in doing so the computer's screen has its back towards the camera.

Maybe?

"We are reviewing some 9,000 recent UNHCR referrals from Syria. We are receiving roughly a thousand new ones each month, and we expect admissions from Syria to surge in 2015 and beyond." - Anne C. Richard, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
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shatteringglass
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
 
2004-09-01, 23:45

No Jeff Goldblum, PLEASE.
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InactionMan
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-03, 10:01

Just saw the promo video for the iMac. If they get rid of the really embarrassing part with the Black Eyed Peas it would be perfect. That, and what was with the kid with the goofy mustache hopping around his room? Me thinks Apple was a bit inspired by the 'Petey Gets His First Mac' video.

Yeah, cut the promo down to a thirty second spot and saturate tv land with that a sixty second spot. The intro video is already a prefect sixty second spot, just replace the bit with Ive talking nonsense with a few more money shots of the iMac and it's good to go.

After a few weeks of saturating the world with the first commercial, switch to individual ads for each iLife app. Ten seconds for the iPod/iMac intro, fifteen seconds for the app, five second outro. No celebrities, no voice overs, just the music and all that flying text.

And puts some bloody flyers into every bloody newspaper in the world. Sure it's tacky, but it worked for Dell.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2004-09-04, 08:27

Ha...I didn't see the above post until just now. I got finished viewing that intro video and that whole first part (I timed it...it's about 55 seconds, before Ive starts talking) would make a GREAT spot. Somehow trim off about 25 seconds (maybe less showing of the iPod and cut right to the goodies?).

But that's a nice-looking bit of work (that white iMac looks really snazzy against that blue background, and the camera work is nice too...the close-ups and the viewing of all angles really makes this look like an attractive product to people).

If they don't have other plans or something already in the can, they could do a lot worse than taking that promo video and making a couple of 30-second spots from it, that's for sure.

$10 says they won't do either.



They'll leave it on their front page for a month and run an ad in Newsweek and that'll somehow "be enough". And then they'll remark, in their next conference call thing, only current, existing Mac users seemed to be buying the new iMac G5.

No kidding?
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Ryan
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Promise Land of Trustafarians
 
2004-09-06, 18:54

Geez, the promo video is taking ages to load. I've been sitting here for 5 minutes, and can't even download the smallest resolution! Its not like I have a slow internet connection(DSL), but(I repeat) geez!

Anyone else having this problem?
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DMBand0026
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Chicago
 
2004-09-07, 03:13

It took a very long time for me to load it. It's possible that Apple has capped the download speed of the video for some reason. That, or the server is just running really slow.

Come waste your time with me
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Moogs
Hates the Infotainment
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
 
2004-09-07, 08:27

I could be wrong but that's not a TV ad, that's designed specifically to be viewed online (and maybe at tradeshows and such). No consumer is going ot sit through something that long without clicking the remote.

In general I think the choice of music is poor. That song is way dated (and I know next to nothing about pop and hip-hop so do the math); it was beaten to death last Spring by ABC and ESPN for the NBA playoffs. Bad choice. Assuming they do more than one TV ad, they should have one with something from the classic rock era to get the boomers (no Zeppelin or Who as Cadillac and CSI have already beaten those to death). Something that will appeal to the 35-50 crowd buying computers for themselves or their kids.

The visuals are good for the most part. The flying text on the light blue background is nice, the always spinning iMac not as great. Give people a steady look already; they'll get the impression of it being dynamic from the commentary and music hopefully.

Spokesperson... Sean Connery. I don't know why but I can just see how his voice, combined with the right tag lines, would really generate some interest. I think the younger crowd is way more open-minded towards Mac than the middle-age crowd. With the iPod and kids heading to high school or college there will be a natural tendancy for them to at least consider it. Not so with the older group. I'd like to see something aimed at them.

Show the elegance and the power, don't just make it out to be "hip". That's the wrong way to go IMO. At least initially.

...into the light of a dark black night.
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2004-09-07, 08:46



I wasn't talking about that whole damn promo clip.

Just the good parts, showing the iMac itself and the type treatment.

Hell no on Sean Connery. Tired and played out, that whole thing and his voice. He's borderline pop culture punchline material now, and everyone on the planet does a half-ass Connery impersonation. Dilutes the impact, and like getting James Earl Jones to hawk diapers or baby wipes, seems a bit desperate and misplaced.

I don't need Darth Vader talking about "no leaks" or "it's soft on baby's skin".

Yeah, maybe a different song, I agree.

How about NO music...just a low ominous hum, like "oh, that's your ass now...".

I don't know. Visually, that just looks nice with the blue. Cut out the interviews and whatnot because, no, that's not a commercial. An EDITED version of the promo, the iMac-showing portions.
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Moogs
Hates the Infotainment
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
 
2004-09-07, 08:51

DUDES! I might have something... this would be about a 45 second ad.

You're sitting at home one night watching National Geographic or Monday Night Football... cuts to commercial, screen goes black. Pink Floyd's "Sheep" from their "Animals" CD starts to play from the beginning in the background. A slightly-transparent "fly-by" of a row of "suits" banging away on their PCs as they sit in their cubicles (obviously stressed, looking a little like ghosts because of teh transparency)...zoom to the last guy in the cubicle, transparency is gone but everything is B&W. He's clearly frustrated, tired of his computer not working. The camera all the while slowly zooms in on his weary eyes. Fade to black in time with the music...

...fade back in, still B&W camera slowly rises up from behind a typical PC rat's nest of cables, chintzy LCD monitor, but clearly this is not a cubicle because of what's in the background; it's his home. You see the guy's eyes. Those same, frustrated eyes we saw in the cubicle a moment before. Camera continues rising above his desk and we see he is trying to connect his camera, and has a thick How-to book flipped upside down so he doesn't look his page. He makes a keystroke, error message pops, he sits back, exasperated. As we see this scene unfolding, Sean Connery (or whoever we choose - Maybe William Peterson?) is heard lamenting the poor bastard's plight with some clever line...

...fade to black, Connery speaks again saying - in effect - "it doesn't have to be this way anymore", and as he says "introducing the new iMac G5" a nice, warm-colored background comes into view and a slow rotating color close-up of the beast. From there, fade again to our guy, now surrounded by our warm color, he's sitting at a simple desk in front of the iMac, the flying features text running off to the side the side as we go... you see him connecting, apprehensive... and then a big grin and a nod as he delves in. Fade to nothing but that warm color and a white apple logo.

End tag line by Connery / Peterson. Everyone buys a Mac, the world is saved.

PS - Paul, I agree Connery could be a disaster if used in the wrong way. But if used in the right context that speaks to the poor middle-aged sap who relates to Connery as the guy who was always the bad-ass Mr. Smooth type as he came of age (again I'm not targeting teenagers or college kids), it coudl work.

Speaking of work, I have to go. Maybe my G5 will have finished folding this monster protein by the time I get home tonight.

...into the light of a dark black night.

Last edited by Moogs : 2004-09-07 at 08:57.
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Messiahtosh
Apple Historian
 
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2004-09-07, 08:57

People will rue they day they saw that commercial!
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Gargoyle
http://ga.rgoyle.com
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2004-09-07, 09:07

I am a programmer nerd, not a creative nerd - but, I'll give it a go.

Screen opens to a front view of a computer desk... From left to right, the desk is quite neat and has the following...

* iPod (mini) in dock.
* iMac (keyboard underneath)
* Mouse
* Thin non invasive vase with 1 or 2 flowers. (Just scenery, you dont really notice it at first)


The camera swings round to the right, just before it moves the words "Now you see it" appear on the screen. As the camera lines up with the vase, the words say "now you dont."

Voice over could say something like: "from the makers of the iPod, the personal computer that won't take over your home"

Finally, as an afterthought, the camera could pan out to reveal that the iMac is not on a computer desk after all, but on a shelf, or coffee / side table.

OK, I have given up keeping this sig up to date. Lets just say I'm the guy that installs every latest version as soon as its available!
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Gargoyle
http://ga.rgoyle.com
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2004-09-07, 09:14

Or a combination of CubeDood's and Moog's ideas...

Line of black and white frustrated peeps (a-la-moogs) and the guy in the end cubicle has hawaiian shirt and is all in colour as is new iMac (rest of cubicle is in B&W) and he is doing his chair dance (a-la CubeDood) change of music etc.

Fade to black or white...

Fade in text

"iMac G5"

"Think Different"


"... AGAIN!"


Cheesy as hell, but just might work.

OK, I have given up keeping this sig up to date. Lets just say I'm the guy that installs every latest version as soon as its available!
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2004-09-07, 17:47

The moogs idea is quite interesting. I can see it in my head, and that's a good thing (stuff I don't like tends to not ever form a "grasp-able" mental image, so you've got that going for you, m.



Seriously, I dig that transition thing. The rat's nest of cables and the morphing into the same guy, experiencing the same grief at home, is a powerful visual, handled right.

I think those kinds of comparisons and connections need to be made. Everyone on a PC has experienced that pain-in-the-ass at one point or another (connecting a peripheral, installing software that gives cryptic messages, updating this, fixing that, etc.).

I don't know. That's nice, moogs. Definitely my favorite here so far. Isn't cutesy or ham-handed. And kinda straightforward and to the point, which I dig.
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wretched
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2004-09-07, 18:04

Maybe the guy who talks in movie trailers should do the voice overs for the iMac G5's,

imagine this:

Blackness and then you hear a heart beat and then the guys voice comes in

".... introducing the iMac G5...." and then the camera circles around the iMac G5 really quick (something like the trailer) and then settles in on the front of the iMac and zooms out "...from the creators of the iPod..."

Err... yeah. something like that. It could be teaser trailer. haha.

Starsky: "Do it."
Think for Yourself. Question Authority
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Matsu
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2004-09-07, 20:03

Apple sometimes tries to be too cool for their own good. You have to get that mac onto daytime TV, you have to do whatever it takes to make people want to visit an Apple store.

Oprah
The View
Good Morning America segments

How many housewives would insist that their children get a mac on Oprah's say so? There's a reason so many authors can't pucker up fast enough to kiss her ass.

The crazy yentas from the View have similar traction. Sometimes that's what you need to stop spinning your wheels and actually move.

Once underway, you have some room to create another kind of chic buzz.

Look at it this way. Bose sells their wave radio for a ridiculous amount on nothing more than celebrity, persistence, and cheap air time.

Apple has tons of celebrity support. They have a great online store and direct order phone service. Whip up an infomercial and start targetting markets with your mac.

Throw in time sensitive bundle deals, iBooks and iPods, buy both get 200 off, or 50 free singles, or a free ($49) printer or iTools accounts if you "BUY NOW"

Take 30 minutes to show people stuff they won't be able to do anyway, but make them believe they can.

Possible hosts/guests?

Meredith Viera
Regis Philbin
Jeff Goldblum
Seal
John Mayer
The Crocodile Hunter...

An infomercial doesn't have to have a guy screaming YEAH, look at the cleaning power, set it and forget it, or what have you.

I have trouble believing such a tactic wouldn't add at least a million unt sales per year to Apple's bottom line.
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