The Effectiveness of Apples Advertising Campaign for the iPhone - Case Study Example

11 November Commercial: Creative advertisements are extremely important for makingproducts successful in the market. They tell a lot about a product and create a definitive impression on the customers’ minds. Commercials can make or break a product, so a lot of energy and efforts should be invested in this area. The advertising business is highly competitive and to gain a competitive edge over rival products, advertisements should be convincing and creative. Success of a product depends on its soulful advertising. Products and services which otherwise appear boring and aimless are given true meaning by good advertising. Top companies in the world make great financial investments in enhancing the design and development of their ads and campaigns. This makes them successful and establishes their reputation. This essay aims to illustrate the importance of advertising in context of a very famous commercial product, the iPhone. Rather than basing ads on what others have to offer, Apple bases its ads on what the company itself has to offer to the world. Their ads promote this idea that consumers deserve only the best. Following discussion will help to explain how previous and current commercials have played a role in making iPhone more successful than ever. It will help the readers to understand the potential held by advertisements or commercials in making the image of a product. iPhone is widely known as a product which has revolutionized the world of smartphones. How did this product become able to accomplish such a huge task? It was and still is the force of highly innovative and imaginative advertising behind iPhone which helped Steve Jobs and his team to make iPhone a household name. The first ever iPhone was introduced in 2007 by Jobs and the mission statement declared was to reinvent the mobile phone. This product helped to take the industry to the topnotch level at where it is presently. Apple has used combinations of smart ad placement, attractive headlines, irresistible promises, and unique competitive advantages to shape and form its ideas of what a modern smartphone should look like throughout the history of iPhone’s advertising campaign. For seven continuous years, the world has been witnessing Apple’s iconic success which knows no end (Warren). World-class advertising coupled with creative ideas has done a lot to skyrocket this commercial product to the top of every smartphone list worldwide. Such advertising managed to convince masses of public that iPhone is the only product available which can give them something unlike any other product on the market. What promises the advertisements of Apple Inc. made to the public, their products delivered them fair and square. The key to making an advertisement successful is that it should only make those promises to consumers which can actually be fulfilled by the advertised products. Apple Inc. takes special care to fulfill this requirement of advertising as a result of which iPhone has been such a successful product for past several years. When discussing previous iPhone commercials, the first ever commercial which introduced the iPhone in 2007 is worth mentioning. This is one of the most reputable and successful commercials of all time which aired during the Oscars. Various famous celebrities were shown with an iPhone saying “hello” to the world. That is when the hype surrounding Apple’s phones originally began. Compared to recent ads, this 2007 commercial is clearly very simple and not quite imaginative. It does not focus on shouting the product, rather the objective is to simply catch attention. If this ad is compared to more recent Apple ads, it becomes clear how the iPhone has come a long way in context of its manufacturer’s advertising campaign. Some consider the 2007 commercial quite lackluster, but truth is that it was quite clever. The strategy was to keep it simple which in my opinion worked because the idea was not pushed on people. As years rolled by, the iPhone ads began to get more and more imaginative. For example, the 2009 ad which introduced the iPhone 3G boasted “There really is an app for almost anything” (Usher). People found it really hard to disagree with the title of this ad because in real life, every promise made in the video was delivered practically. This ad had a compelling headline and it gave its consumers a unique competitive advantage. Both features are essential elements of successful advertising. This suggests that as years passed by since 2007, Apple’s ads began to employ more and more essential elements of a winning business advertisement. Apple Inc. has for sure a unique and rare talent for “repeatedly producing exciting, informative, and entertaining TV advertisements” (Usher). Samsung has gained a notorious reputation for mocking Apple announcements, but this has only served to reinforce the idea of how irresistible iPhone has become. Rival companies desperately try to steer consumers away from their favorite iPhone, but the functionality of this product is too huge to be ignored. Apple’s advertisements always remember to highlight the feature of functionality. Other mobile phone ads give a misleading impression to people that Apple’s ads only focus on how powerful iPhone’s battery is or how long the phone’s battery would last. But, Apple’s latest ad rejects this false idea promoted by rival mobile phone manufacturers because it concentrates on empowerment, not power (Ritchie 2). In contrast to rival manufacturers’ ads which openly mock iPhone and concentrate on belittling it, Apple’ ad never once mentions its competitors. This shows that Apple makes use of only winning elements of advertisement and does not waste time with cheap techniques which can get a business nowhere. This strategy has always helped Apple in making their ads seen by a large target market. Focus is laid on objectives, not on emphasizing myriad competitor’s weaknesses. Focusing on personal objectives is hugely important to advance advertising efforts which is a tip well-remembered by Apple. This is why Apple’s latest iPhone ad hopes to promote the main objective by showing people a number of exciting ways in which the iPhone can be used with kids. This latest ad equates to quality. It is about empowering consumers in exciting new ways. Other than that, the ad ensures that the product effortlessly appeals to consumers’ aesthetic sense by focusing on thin and light design of the phone. Apple’s advertising campaign for the iPhone has been truly inspirational and optimistic so far. This is because never once has the company fell for the degrading option of calling consumers of other big manufacturers stupid or lame for buying their products and not the iPhone. Their ads treat the target consumers with respect. Such thoughtful advertising is one of the most powerful deciding factors in purchasing a product. Consumers are not attacked, rather they are enlightened about what they can have with the iPhone which they cannot have with other products on the market. Apple’s latest ad does just this by concentrating on what they do well and what they can provide their customers with. Such healthy advertising campaign has helped to make Apple the standard to which other devices are compared. Smart marketing forms the bedrock of this campaign. The latest ad shows that the goal is not to make users of other phones feel inferior. The goal is to demonstrate new features added to the iPhone which do not come with any other phone like “leaping to 64-bit before anyone else even realizes it’s possible” (Ritchie 2). According to a research report, with the new iPhone 5s ad, “Apple shines a light on ‘Parenthood’” (Ritchie 1). This is because this ad teaches us that besides colorful games, the iPhone can be used to teach kids. This new ad is given the title of “Parenthood” and target consumers are parents. Establishing target market is critically important before designing an ad because it increases the chance of smart ad placement. Concluding, it becomes clear that Apple has a unique talent for smart advertising. Their commercials are chockfull of creativity which does not let customers get bored or tired off. Every time, new apps are offered which are very irresistible. In contrast to previous commercials which were kept rather simple and straightforward, recent ads have more to offer to consumers. There are smarter and more innovative ad titles which help to attract a larger customer base. A comparison between previous and newer commercials shows that Apple has a long way. But, it also shows that Apple has always made use of good advertising techniques and refused to use cheap tactics of belittling rival manufacturers. This strategy has lent credibility to Apple’s advertising campaign. Objectives are determined beforehand and all commercials designed afterwards focus on those objectives to educate consumers on what they would be delivered if they purchase their product. There is no way for consumers to know what they should have if the company does not itself know what it wants first. Apple has advertised its famous product, the iPhone, in a way that is educational or informative. This campaign since the day it started in 2007 has strived to help people in making wiser and better choices. Works cited: 1Ritchie, Rene. “Apple shines a light on ‘Parenthood’ in new iPhone 5s ad.” 29 Jun. 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. 2Ritchie, Rene. “Samsung’s latest ad shows just how irresistible the iPhone truly is.” 03 Jul. 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. Usher, Anthony. “iPhone turns 5 years old - 10 of the best iPhone commercials.” 29 Jun. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. Warren, Tom. “iPhone: A visual history.” THE VERGE. 09 Sep. 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. Read More