Is Samsung Apple-ing Apple?

Remember when Apple started to make their big comeback in the computer world after years of nothingness? They had well-designed products, innovative features and great advertising that propelled them forward into the mix with the stale PCs. You may recall an advertisement or two like this:
 Apple highlighted the disadvantages of PCs in a sharp, sarcastic way and spawned a series of commercials that continued to be popular (unlike Kia's recent attempt to reuse their hamsters).

Well, it turns out they aren't the only ones that can do that. Samsung has decided to take a play out of the Apple book and go with a sarcastic commentary on Apple's most dedicated fans. It definitely made me laugh while at the same time reinforcing why i'm currently not an Apple user. This isn't their first foray into this type of commercial but it is their most aggressive thus far I would say. The most interesting part of the ad is when the seat-saver turns out to be holding a spot for his 55-65ish parents while he enjoys the Galaxy S3. Hipsters aren't going to like the fact that the iPhone5 is now in with the older demographic crowd, that takes away from it's coolness factor. At least it used to.

Even though it is a blatant use of Apple's genius marketing, it's execution makes it feel a lot different. Well done Samsung.

Viagra-ing your brand

Newfoundland and Labrador don't claim to offer visitors a big city experience, in fact they market themselves as the exact opposite of that - quiet, small, and friendly. Have a look at some of their most recent television ads. The scenery is breathtaking, the music is calming and it makes you want to hop on the next flight to take it all in for yourself.





But they save the best for last, and enhance their brand image at the same time, by offering a personalized telephone number on the last screen. Sure it's a 1-800 number, but you have an actual person's name to speak too. How small town is that? How personal and special do you feel calling a specific person as opposed to a main phone line? Simply brilliant marketing, and no doubt leaves a smile on peoples faces - exactly the way they want people to react.

Confusing your customers

To write, direct, and produce a 30 second television commercial is expensive, then you get into placing it on television and the costs continue to rise higher and higher.

So why would you waste your companies advertising dollars on something that doesn't explain a competitive advantage of yours, or even really explain what your offering your customers.

Exhibit A: Ramada worldwide




At least there is an offer in the second ad that may help explain what the advertisement is for. What is their message supposed to be though? "Do your thing"
Do you get a lot of scottish kilt wearing business people that like to ride bulls as guests at your hotel? Is that the niche market your targeting with these ads? Because to me you seem to be advertising to just-graduated frat college people that are starting out in the business world and want somewhere they can crash after a party. If that is the message, well then I guess well done. But to me instead of making a couple of crappy 15 second ads, why not create a full 30 second ad that will actually grab peoples attention and tell them why they should stay at your hotel.

Compare that to the Holiday Inn Express commercials, which use the same sort of angle in their ads of not talking about the hotel but rather the person that would stay in it. However, Holiday Inn Express does a lot better job of getting across the message of why or who would stay at their hotels - Smart people. They are telling their audience that their hotel is a no brainer.



The Holiday Inn Express team obviously spends a lot more money on creating their commercials but they are getting a lot more return on their investment than Ramada is in my opinion.

Microsoft using their customers for more than feedback

Over the past couple of years Microsoft has launched a number of different advertising campaigns and some of them have been incredibly successful, thanks in large part to the use of an adorable little girl


However, none of their advertising ever seems to live up to the stylish, cool Apple advertising. So, most recently they have been using the "We listen to you" sales tactic in their advertisements. Not a bad idea. Let your customers know that you listen to them and value their feedback. Good concept, but as I kept seeing these customer-centric ads I could'nt help but feel like something just wasn't quite right.




Then it hit me.....they are using their customers as scapegoats! "Windows 7 was my idea". So when Windows 7 goes wrong like so many of its predecessors (Vista, XP, etc) then Bill can just point right back at the people complaining and blame it on them. It's pure evil genius! No wonder he is much richer than I am.

Great casting can make lasting impact

I don't know that I have ever seen a Banking commercial on TV that has actually made me think about switching banks.....until I saw the Ally commercials in Canada. Absolutely brilliant. They cast the perfect actor to play the role of the "big bank" and the children that they cast to act out the role of the confused consumer are budding stars.

Here is the latest ad from them that has me laughing everytime I see it.




That combined with this ad, which was the first one of theirs I saw make you seriously consider switching to Ally if ever your bank pissed you off.




Brilliant casting leaves a lasting impression in your mind. There are many different ways to make an ad a classic in peoples mind, and casting is clearly one of the best. Just think about the brilliant casting job Apple did for their recent apple v. mac ads, these Ally ads have much the same feel.

Tourism touts star gazing

Back in the good old days your family would all pack into your station wagon/mini van/camper truck and take a trip out into the woods for some camping. Inevitably when you were bored at night without TV to keep you company you would look up to the heavens and see all the twinkling stars. At that point your father would most likely attempt to act like he knew which one the big dipper was and you didn't have the knowledge to question his random finger pointing.

Well it seems that provinces and states are using a different kind of star gazing to try and attract tourists nowadays.

Today the province of British Columbia unveiled their new Tourism BC 30 second ad and it appears they are stealing a page out of the guvernator's book by flashing celebrities of BC heritage at people.



Now fortunately British Columbia is in fact one of the most beautiful places on earth and some of the footage they use in the commercial shows this natural beauty off quite well. The question is, does the fact that famous people come from BC have any relevance on making people travel to my wonderful province. Now, the current generation of people are certainly celeb-obsessed and maybe the appearance of some well known stars will help to peak this younger generations interest in the west coast, but I wonder if it could have been made just as effective by having real people that experienced it for the first time explaining what BC was like to them. I'm sure you could have found plenty of tourists that would say nice things about the province. I think the ad will be very successful anyways because it is done quite tastefully and shows off a little portion of what BC has to offer.

Anyways, here is the California video, which clearly was successful because it ran for a long time and a second version of it came out after the first to build on the success of the initial launch.



Arnold Schwarzenegger's acting ability still awes me to this day. He just hits his line with such poise and natural talent. I mean, without him movies like Twins and Commando wouldn't have been such instant classics.

So what will BC follow California into next, maybe this.

Microsoft vs. Apple

One of the most interesting business battles going on is the PC vs. Mac feud. PC was dominating until Steve Jobs came back and turned Apple into the current powerhouse it is, making it the hip and trendy company with teens, young adults, hipsters and artsy style people. PC continues to dominate the workplace computer landscape with no real signs of Apple breaking in.

But PC isn't happy with the big chunk of personal use sales that Mac has grabbed from it thanks to their amazingly effective television advertising campaigns including these:





Microsoft/Windows waited a couple of years and then countered with this:



Which led apple to easily come back with this:



But now Microsoft seems to have taken a different approach, one that I think is quite brilliant and well thought out. They continue to plug away softly at the young adult market, but are now focusing on the young child market and seemingly trying to create lifelong PC enthusiasts from a young age. Also they probably casted the cutest little girl in the world.



Who knows whats coming next but this advertising battle is definately one of the most entertaining in the world. Apple was dominating, but PC has started to put more money in and is making it a closer race.

You know you've got a great ad concept when.....

It's the same as anything else, copycatting is the most sincere form of flattery. And it rings true in the advertising/marketing world as well. In general once some creative tactic or ad or media buy or initiative proves to be a huge success there will be people everywhere copying it. Trying to make lightning strike twice.

One of the most successful television advertisements in recent years has been the Apple - Get a Mac ads. These ads have transcended the likes of being an annoyance in between parts of your program to something that people look forward to seeing. They may be some of the most powerful/popular advertisements ever, and they are still able to pump out new ones without it seeming like too much of the same.

Now of course people have caught onto this and the commercials are so well known that people are piggy backing on the concept.

Here is a Mac ad:
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=DDuB8NLTj_I

Now check out this video regarding a provincial election in British Columbia, Canada
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9nhHsFKato

Very similar concept and pretty good execution. When someone sees this commercial they may be more friendly and open to it because they recognize the format (unless of course they are voting for the other party).