Advertising

NYT Magazine design director joining Apple’s marketing team

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

Speaking with media outlet Mediabistro, longtime New York Times Magazine design director Arem Duplessis revealed that he is leaving the publication to take a position at Apple. He'll be joining the company's internal marketing team, though his specific role is unknown.

This is a significant hire for Apple, as Duplessis is a highly-regarded designer who is responsible for some of the most beautiful covers of the NYT Magazine in the last decade. And his department has won the ADC's 'Design Team of The Year' award the past 3 years in a row...

Poll: who has the best holiday ad – Apple, Samsung or Nokia?

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 23, 2013

Apple a week ago begun airing its nicely done iPhone 5s holiday ad. Titled 'Misunderstood', the tear-inducing video tells a tale of an introverted teenage boy who surprises his family with a thoughtful holiday gift, an iMovie clip he created on his iPhone 5s to cherish the time his family spent together.

The 90-second spot bursts with emotion and is now all over the place: it's been prominently featured during yesterday's NFL game, for example. More importantly, it seems to have been well-received due to its powerful emotional aspect.

Samsung and Microsoft-owned Nokia meanwhile have fired their own ad salvo in their national battle for the hearts and minds of consumers this holiday season...

Apple website adorned with moving holiday commercial and teaser graphics

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

I've always liked how Apple each holiday season changes its homepage to feature some nice holiday-themed graphics and ads. This year is no different: after airing an excellent new iPhone 5s 'Misunderstood' ad this past weekend, Apple has now refreshed its homepage with said video, as well as some nice teaser graphics.

The graphics includes links to the commercial itself as well as the home video in its entirety, which Apple says was shot on the iPhone 5s.

Go visit Apple.com now and get your handkerchiefs ready!

Microsoft doubles down on iPad bashing with a pair of new Surface ads

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 26, 2013

In what's now become a recurring theme, Windows maker Microsoft just fired the latest salvo of television commercials that predictably portray Apple's iPad as a lesser tablet. Posted on the official Surface blog, a pair of holiday-themed advertisements highlight one hardware and one software feature of the Microsoft tablet: a built-in kickstand and multi-account support.

The Redmond giant doesn't shy away from mentioning the iPad brand name in the videos. "Free apps on the iPad don’t offer the same hands-free technology," says the voiceover in the first ad that highlights a Food & Drink app which come preloaded with Windows 8.1. The other ad lambasts Apple's device because it "doesn’t allow for multiple accounts and does not have the ability to monitor usage"...

Amazon (again) takes potshots at iPad in Kindle Paperwhite ad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

On the surface, Amazon is seemingly supportive of Apple's iOS platform as the company updates its various iOS applications on a regular basis - even if it's just a courtesy to its iOS-loving users who want to enjoy Amazon services on their iPhone and iPad.

Scratch a little deeper and all hell breaks loose.

For starters, the online retailing giant is waging legal battle against Apple over e-book price fixing. And given the two tech titans increasingly compete on hardware, software and services, it's really no surprise Amazon's marketing department is taking direct jabs at Apple users every now and then.

This February, for example, the company aired a much-flawed screen comparison video pitting its 1080p Kindle tablet against Apple's better-than-1080p iPad with Retina display. This time around, an Amazon ad is challenging the e-reading experience on a tablet such as the iPad, versus that on the Kindle Paperwhite.

Have a look right below...

Apple promoting stock apps in App Store search results at devs’ expense

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 31, 2013

Apple has cunningly devised a novel though controversial way of promoting its own iOS 7 stock apps, features and services right in the App Store search. The application store has seen a whopping 60 billion cumulative downloads thus far and with over a million apps carried it's serving a lot of customers on a daily basis.

If you now go to the App Store and run a search for popular generic terms such as 'browser,' 'movies' and 'SMS', the first entry popping up in your search results should be a banner advertising a related stock iOS 7 apps or feature like Safari, iTunes Store, Messages and more...

Apple highlights 64-bit A7 processor in new iPhone 5s print ad

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Earlier this month, Apple began running a magazine advertisement for its iPhone 5s with a byline reading "your finger is the password." It briefly explained some of the benefits of Apple's new Touch ID security system.

Well new iPhone 5s print ad has surfaced this week, this time highlighting Apple's new 64-bit A7 processor. Similar to the previous spot, the ad features a large photo of the 5s and a byline: "Desktop Power. Pocket Size."

Apple’s new ‘Life on iPad’ video highlights creative iPad uses the world over

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 23, 2013

In addition to the inaugural iPad Air television commercial dubbed 'Pencil' and the promotional video featuring Jony Ive and other executives who talk about solving the design challenges of making the iPad Air 28 percent lighter and 20 percent thinner, another video has just gone live on Apple's YouTube channel.

Appropriately titled 'Life on iPad,' this one celebrates Apple customers' creativity and genius in using their iPads and covers a wide range of uses in business, education, entertainment, health and in many other fields.

It's included right after the jump so give it a quick watch right now...

Apple’s inaugural iPad Air ad – ‘Pencil’ – hits YouTube

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 23, 2013

You've read all there is to know about Apple's iPad Air, watched Jony Ive talk enthusiastically about the crazy attention to detail that had gone into designing the product - perhaps streamed or even downloaded the entire keynote to your computer - and now you can appreciate Apple's inaugural, feel-good, mission-statement iPad Air ad.

This is the same 60-second commercial that was played to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts audience yesterday, and now it's just gone live over at Apple's YouTube channel. It's included for your viewing pleasure right after the fold and I urge you to give it a watch and join the discussion down in the comments...

First iPhone 5s ad: ‘your finger is the password’

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 17, 2013

Since announcing a pair of new iPhones on September 10, Apple has not aired a single television commercial or published a newspaper ad to promote the flagship iPhone 5s.

Instead, all of Apple's advertising activities to date have centered around the colorful iPhone 5c, ostensibly because the company is having lots of issues fulfilling iPhone 5s demand.

But as Tim Cook & Co. expand the new iPhones into new markets - an additional 50+ countries will get the handsets by November 1 in addition to eleven launch countries - the first print ad for the iPhone 5s has just been spotted in The New Yorker magazine. It looks nice and I've included it for your viewing pleasure right after the jump...

Nissan becomes exclusive iTunes Radio ad partner

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

With Apple's Pandora killer now out of the gate, Tim Cook & Co. are looking for monetization opportunities and have reportedly signed up high-profile advertisers. Several big name brands are said to have agreed to paying big bucks in exchange for rich media ad slots on iTunes Radio.

According to a report yesterday by The Wall Street Journal, Nissan has become an exclusive automotive partner on iTunes Radio through 2013. Also, Nissan's Versa Note and Leaf vehicles will gain custom iTunes Radio content, with unique content available across Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and PC devices.

But wait, there's more...

Apple said to double ad and marketing teams

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 9, 2013

A new report Monday by AdAge asserts Apple is doubling headcount across its internal marketing and advertising teams, ostensibly in a bid to tighten the message and produce even more marketing and advertising in-house. Saying the timing of the hiring spree is telling would be an understatement.

Apple's Fall was recently called "blockbuster" and we have every reason to believe 2014 will be a landmark year as the firm readies the rumored iWatch, iTV, iPhablet, 13-inch iPad Pro and other gizmos unbeknown to us yet.

With that in mind, Apple is going to need some of the world's top creatives to get its message across, retain the narrative and talk its non-gullible customers into purchasing new-category products...