Marketing

Chris Rock Verizon iPhone 12 5G commercial

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[VIDEO] Saw this commercial during Tuesday night’s football game, forgot to post it yesterday. This is a great spot, would love to see Chris Rock in a wave of these. Video embedded in main Loop post.

Apple’s new, uncomfortably spot-on Privacy, Over Sharing ad

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[VIDEO] Some things shouldn’t be shared. iPhone helps keep it that way.

This ad nails that concept. Right to the heart of the value of privacy.

Tagline is: Privacy. That’s iPhone.

With that privacy Apple logo padlock animation at the end that’s become part of Apple’s privacy brand.

Video embedded in main Loop post.

Apple Music “Worldwide” ad

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[VIDEO] I find this ad amazing, a sign of how much energy Apple can put into a promo. A wild collision of styles, reminiscent of the early days of MTV. Video embedded in main Loop post.

Apple Japan “Apple Books” video

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[VIDEO] Nothing particularly newsworthy here, I just love the look of this video. In part, I’m sure, because we’ve got a bunch of anime/manga fans in the house.

Take a look. Video embedded in main Loop post.

Apple’s new “Climate Change Promise” ad

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[VIDEO] Apple wrapped up today’s slew of climate change, carbon neutral pursuit news with a beautiful little branding video (embedded in the main Loop post).

Just the right pitch. For the children.

Wheels for your Mac Pro: $699, free shipping

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Joining the Apple tax stratosphere club, a set of wheels for your Mac Pro, $699.

Been thinking about this pricing. The best I can come up with was this: These are custom wheels, with custom-made attachments. Apple will not sell a ton of these (limited number of Mac Pros, and a limited subset of those folks will want wheels) and so they had to amortize the cost to develop these wheels among those limited sales.

Wondering if somewhere in the hallowed halls, this high price is seen as embellishing the brand, raising the prestige.

Whatever the logic, I see $699 for a set of wheels for my computer (with no wheel locks) as extraordinary.

Apple posts two new iPad ads

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[VIDEO] First up, “Your next computer is not a computer”, followed by the sly, “How to correctly use a computer”. Apple is clearly all-out pushing the new iPad Pro as the computer for the masses. Both are embedded in the main Loop post.

Apple honors International Women’s Day with Behind the Mac video

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[VIDEO] The video, embedded in the main Loop post, features the women listed below, all backed by Beyoncé’s ***Flawless (feat. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie):

  • 00:01 — Malala Yousafzai: The youngest Nobel laureate for her work on girls’ education.
  • 00:02 — Ava Duvernay: Director known for “Selma” and “When They See Us.”
  • 00:04 — Marie Kondo: Tidying expert, bestselling author and Emmy-nominated television star.
  • 00:07 — Greta Gerwig: Director known for “Lady Bird” and “Little Women.”
  • 00:09 — Gloria Steinem: Women’s rights activist who helped start second-wave feminism.
  • 00:11 — Lady Gaga: GRAMMY®️ & Oscar winning artist and founder of the Born This Way foundation.
  • 00:13 — Megan Rapinoe and Shannon Boxx: World Cup champions fighting for equal pay.
  • 00:15 — Olivia Wilde: Actor and director known for her feature debut “Booksmart.”
  • 00:17 — Diane von Furstenberg: Fashion designer and founder of the DVF Awards.
  • 00:19 — Elizabeth Banks: Actor and director of “Pitch Perfect 2” and “Charlie’s Angels.”
  • 00:21 — Alicia Keys: GRAMMY®️ winning artist, touching hearts and inspiring the world through her art.
  • 00:23 — Lilly Singh: The first woman to host a network late-night talk show in 30 years.
  • 00:25 — Audrey Gelman: C.E.O and first visibly pregnant woman featured on a business magazine cover.
  • 00:27 — Black Mamba: South Africa’s women-run anti-poaching unit.
  • 00:30 — Victoria Monét: On-the-rise artist and GRAMMY®️ nominee, known for her hit songwriting.
  • 00:32 — Tarana Burke: Founder of The ‘me too.’ Movement.
  • 00:34 — DJ Switch: A 12-year-old DJ and founder of the DJ Switch Foundation for education.

A pair of Mythic Quest videos

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[VIDEO] If you’ve followed the last few episodes of The Dalrymple Report, you know I am a big fan of Apple TV+’s Mythic Quest. I’m a comedy nerd, a fan of silly, over-the-top humor that still has both intelligence and bite and, to me, Mythic Quest hits all the right notes.

Not for everyone, I do get that, but if you are at all a gamer, do check out the show.

And if you are a fan of the show, check out the video embedded in the main Loop post, a bit of marketing fluff where the show’s actors and creators share their favorite video games.

And follow it up with this, more serious interview with the show’s creators, talking about the real world of video game creation and how that inspired Mythic Quest.

I’m so looking forward to season two. My favorite Apple TV+ show.

Apple Japan, anime commercial

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[VIDEO] Big fan of anime, and love this cut-together commercial from Apple Japan (video embedded in main Loop post). Check out all the different Apple logo homages in the different scenes. Whimsy. Nice.

Courtesy of Google Translate, this is the English translation of the video description:

Beyond the Mac, new stories are born one after another. A story that is not yet in this world. Come on, you too.

Me too!

Apple shares Night mode ad

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[VIDEO] A little Night mode music, “We Only Come Out At Night” by Smashing Pumpkins. Video embedded in main Loop post.

Andy Hertzfeld posts demo reel of proposed commercials with Apple’s OG Mac team, recorded in 1983

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[VIDEO] Andy Hertzfeld:

A few years ago, I uploaded some interview snippets recorded in October 1983 with members of the original Mac team, intended for commercials that were never used. This post is the entire reel of proposed commercials, featuring mini-interviews with Mike Murray, Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson, Susan Kare, George Crow and me.

This kills me with nostalgia. The original Mac team, back before the Mac was even a thing. Oh how young they were. Video embedded in main Loop post.

Apple Arcade preview of new releases

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[VIDEO] This dropped while I was on vacation last week. The video is embedded in the main Loop post.

Worth watching if you have an interest in the new Apple Arcade games. But I also found this interesting from a marketing point of view. This is officially posted by Apple, but the take feels, to me, like a third party review.

T-Mobile says it owns exclusive rights to the color magenta

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AdAge:

New York-based Lemonade is a 3-year-old company that lives completely online and mostly focuses on homeowners and renter’s insurance. The company uses a similar color to magenta — it says it’s “pink” — in its marketing materials and its website. But Lemonade was told by German courts that it must cease using its color after launching its services in that country, which is also home to T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom.

And:

“If some brainiac at Deutsche Telekom had invented the color, their possessiveness would make sense,” Daniel Schreiber, CEO and co-founder of Lemonade, said in a statement. “Absent that, the company’s actions just smack of corporate bully tactics, where legions of lawyers attempt to hog natural resources – in this case a primary color—that rightfully belong to everyone.”

This is a ruling in Germany, but for an international company, it’s an issue with impact.

The idea of a company owning all rights to a color is problematic. Does Sprint own yellow? Does IBM own that specific shade of blue?

Selena Gomez shoots new music video entirely on iPhone 11 Pro

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[VIDEO] Sure, this is great marketing, a win-win for Apple and Selena Gomez, but it also stands on its own. Yet another example of how far Apple’s iPhone camera efforts have come (video embedded in main Loop post).

Filming a movie, or a review, or an ad on an iPhone is no longer a compromise. It’s a cost effective solution.

Apple posts triple-camera-system ad

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[VIDEO] I love the new camera systems that ship with the iPhone 11 and iPhone Pro series. The most impressive thing to me is the seamless transition as you switch between cameras, both in still model and when shooting video.

Incredibly impressive engineering work. Video embedded in the main Loop post.

Easter egg in yesterday’s “Apple Event in a Flash” video

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We posted the video yesterday, but turns out there’s a secret message embedded in six frames, at about 1:24 in the video.

Follow the headline link to the video, pause, then drag the slider to about 1:23 in. Now press period (“.”) to advance one frame at a time until the Easter egg comes into view. Have patience, might take a good number of frames to get there, but it’s there, I swear.

Whimsy!

You’ll find all the details in the original Reddit post.

Microsoft adds Dark Mode to Office, makes a video to show it off

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[VIDEO] Follow the headline link for an article posted by Microsoft on the process of designing and implementing Dark Mode for Office 365. Glad to see it, interesting post.

But whether you read the post or not, take a minute to watch Microsoft’s Dark Mode video, embedded in the main Loop post. Eerily beautiful, looks like it was all practical effects, old school.

You have no idea what you are doing. This is great.

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[VIDEO] So opens Apple’s latest Behind the Mac ad, officially called “Test the Impossible” (video embedded in main Loop post).

I love great writing and, to me, this is a great open. It speaks to me. Gives me permission to fail. Addresses the same soft call to genius as Here’s to the crazy ones.

I’ve always felt Macs were different. Special.

Nice writing, Apple.

UPDATE: Turns out this is from a speech Neil Gaiman gave in 2012. Here’s a link to Neil’s tweet laying this out. Yeah, he can write. [H/T Jon Alper]

I’m a Mac. And I’m a credit union.

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[VIDEO] Ran across this series of commercials the other day. They were for Apple Federal Credit Union and spoofed the old “I’m a Mac. And I’m a PC” Apple commercials. And when I say spoofed, they get it pretty right. There’s the casual shirt vs the suit and tie, the fit vs the slightly paunchy, and the whimsical piano as soundtrack.

It’s clearly intentional. And it kind of works. My favorite of the series is embedded in the main Loop post.

Oh, and the URL? TheOtherApple.org. Nice.

Apple posts two Face ID ads, “even more secure than Touch ID”

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[VIDEO] Both ads are embedded in the main Loop post.

The first ad is called “Nap”. It’s subtle. The takeaway for me was mostly about attention detection, the requirement that you make eye contact to trigger your iPhone’s Face ID approval. Even a squint will do.

The second ad is called “Face ID is even more secure than Touch ID”. Interesting that Apple would make that pitch, specifically call out Face ID as more secure. Is the idea here to prod resisters to buy a newer generation iPhone, to cast Touch ID as “old tech”?

A billboard that tracks airplanes

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[VIDEO] BMedia:

In the case of a recent British Airways advertising campaign, the sky was literally the limit. Through a mixture of old and new, they pushed the limits of billboard advertising to give the world something that had never quite been seen before.

Just watch the video embedded in the main Loop post. Great marketing, terrific implementation. [H/T, Scott Knaster]

Apple, the iPhone 6s, and Made in India

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A solid marketing campaign by the Indian government and a nice strategic move by Apple to ease their way into that market.

https://twitter.com/varunkrish/status/1128619867400167426

The iPhone 6s runs iOS 12, presumably will run iOS 13 as well.

From this Apple Insider post:

Using manufacturing partner Wistron, Apple has produced the iPhone 6S in India since 2018 and the iPhone SE since 2017, and has expanded to include the iPhone 7 for local sale. Current plans include tapping Foxconn for a trial run of production for the iPhone X, which may be a precursor to manufacturing the 2019 iPhones in the market.

Presumably, many of the parts for these iPhones are all sourced elsewhere, and the assembly and testing happen in India. Wondering what parts (such as the midframes and cases), if any, are actually manufactured in India.