Creativity
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Assignment 2: The 1984 Macintosh TV Commercial
If the 1984 Apple commercial won the very prestigious Grand Prix award of the Cannes Lions, there must be some reasons. First, the ad was, and is still considered today – twenty five years later – as one of the most creative ads that were ever made. The idea was to make a parallel between the birth of the new Macintosh and George Orwell’s novel “1984”. Or may I say a parallel between Orwell’s Big Brother and IBM? Indeed, in 1984 the two giants of the computer science field were Apple and IBM, and if one closely analyses this ad, he or she may feel that both brands were personified in the ad: the athletic blond young woman running towards the screen would be Apple, and the old grayish man talking with a monotonous and monochord voice would be IBM. Which later, as the women breaks the huge screen in some sort of extreme revolutionary act, can be perceived by the viewer as the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one, where freedom and innovation will replace conformity and constriction. In fact, the vigorous and colorful woman will bring the light to a space were one can barely differentiate the individuals in the room. The same way, Macintosh will very certainly bring novelty and liberty to a world that is threatened to be monopolized by IBM. Another specificity of this ad, that is at the same time an extremely risky decision, is to broadcast it only once on television. The ad that at first was never going to be shown, as it was perceived by some of the decision makers at Apple as a very bad commercial that shamefully had cost $900 000, finally was broadcasted during the Super Bowl XVIII, on January, 22nd, 1984, and believed on the power of word-of-mouth. The strategy was extremely dangerous, yet it admirably worked. Finally, there is a very new way to do advertising in this commercial, which is doing to the promotion of something that is not even shown, but only implied, in this case in at the end: “On January 24th, Apple Computers will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like “1984””. This technique has to major positive outcomes: first, it stresses the idea that the Macintosh will definitely change the status quo portrayed as the one in Orwell’s novel; and it also triggers the audience and future consumers’ curiosity and interest.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
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