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Hannah Reikofski
Jacquie Lamer
Advertising Case Studies
15 May 2017
Paper 1: Apple
Introduction
“Steve Jobs doesn’t tolerate duds” is a phrase used to describe not only Apple’s
advertising techniques, but the company’s overall marketing strategy and company outlook
(Lashinsky, 2011). This is a phrase that accurately depicts Apple as a company, even post-
Jobs. According to Forbes, Apple really counteracts their competition across a variety of
market segments by keeping ads focused around simplicity. From billboards, to television,
to e-commerce and internet ads, Apple surpasses their competitors by merely keeping it
simple. Their advertising techniques mirror their product image by being not only simple,
but also intuitive making products as well as advertisements with ease of access and
readability (DeMers, 2014).
In regards to Apple’s online advertising, they have been associated with the ad agency
TBWA since 1977 and the “Steve Jobs Era”. Recently they have indicated the supplement of
other ad agencies in addition to TBWA including Huge and AKQA (Taube, 2014). They
made this move in the early months of 2014 in order to enhance their users’ experience by
creating an opt-in digital experience rather than the interruption in their browsing to show
advertisements.
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The stakes in advertising are high and the risk is even higher. “Goals, strategies, and
timetables” must be utilized to create a solid plan, and this paper will outline how Apple
has created a sound strategy to push them to their immense success (Scenario: “Polishing
the Apple”).
Compare/Contrast
In 1984, Apple’s famous Super Bowl commercial made its debut. Directed by Ridley
Scott, ‘1984’ was a huge hit and contrary to what the company’s board of directors at the
time thought, it resulted in double the anticipated sales post-Super Bowl with 72,000
computers sold in 100 days (Business Insider, 2017). An image of the original Macintosh
computer can be seen below:
