Why Apple's Ads Don't Suck

How many companies’ adverts do you actually go looking for to watch again after you first see it on TV? I can think of two. Firstly Microsoft’s, because to get any idea what they were actually talking about you had to watch them several times, and secondly – Apple’s.

Why? Because they actually show you what the product can do in less than thirty seconds. They don’t just give you a reason to buy the product, they give you several good reasons. Especially the iPhone ads.

In the UK we’ve got an ad very similar to this one. What does that ad tell you about Blackberry? Pretty much nothing apart from the fact that they make phones and they’ve got a really crappy marketing department.

While, this ad on the other hand, has a rather different story. Apple’s ads give you instances that might actually happen while you’ve got your iPhone on you. The total opposite direction to RIM, who are to afraid that when you start looking at the low-res pixelated screen and hard to use navigation buttons – you’ve going to be turned off the product.

And they’re right to be scared. Every Blackberry I’ve come across has had a sucky interface.

In the case of Apple’s advertising efforts: they’re talking about getting a cab, working out your share of the dinner bill and one of the coolest apps I’ve seen so far – the leveler! Sure, you might not use them everyday, but they’re the sort of apps that one might find handy every so often and make a great demo.

Apple are trying really hard to sell their product, and that shows through very clearly. RIM however, have a harder job. Everyone has heard of the iPhone, but it’s a different story with Blackberry; so they have to introduce the product and show of its features in the same amount of time. In the case of this ad, they manage to do neither.

RIM wants to be seen as innovative and cool. Why does it matter though? Surely, if it looks cool people will want to buy it? After all, there is no doubt that they used some pretty spiffy stuff to make the ad.

Apple manages to get away with not using lots of fancy effects because everyone knows that the iPhone is cool, that everything Apple makes is cool. If you own an iPhone – you’re cool. The Blackberry on the other hand… lets face it, isn’t very cool. At all. RIM are trying to turn around the Blackberry brand. They’ve worked out that if they’re going to survive in the current financial climate – they need to branch out into the consumer market.

The latest advertising effort by RIM is to show the world that they do more than business, after all; I didn’t see one image of corporate life in that ad. The problem is, they haven’t gone about it in the right way. They should be telling me what I can do, as a teenager everyday, with a Blackberry.

Sorry RIM, but you’ve got quite a bit further in your advertising efforts to go if you want me to trade my iPhone in for a Storm.