11/16, 9:40am
Deepening competition between Apple and Google?
Apple took tentative steps towards buying AdMob ahead of the recent Google acquisition, say sources contacted by Bloomberg. Google agreed to pay $750 million in the deal; the combined company will own between 30 and 40 percent of the mobile advertising market. Apple is said to have approached AdMob a few weeks before the Google bid, entering into private negotiations. Both companies have refused to comment publicly on the matter.
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11/13, 11:40am
Carrier continues attempts to deflect criticism
AT&T has turned to direct communication in order to discourage customers from believing recent Verizon TV ads. The carrier has issued a new memo, claiming the ads are "so blatantly false and misleading" that it has to "set the record straight" about data coverage. It notes for instance that roughly 233 million Americans should have access to AT&T 3G, while 301 million can fall back to EDGE (2.5G) service, and 303 million have at least GPRS.
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11/12, 10:40am
Furthers campaign against Windows 7
Apple has deployed a new Get a Mac ad, this time directed not at TV audiences but at YouTube viewers. Mac (Justin Long) and PC (John Hodgman) stand at one side of the front page, watching security camera footage at the top showing former PC users entering Apple Stores. The people are switching instead of upgrading to Windows 7, Hodgman complains, because Apple is highest in customer satisfaction, and since they would have to migrate files anyway, they might as well switch to a Mac.
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11/10, 10:55am
Banner replaced without warning
The latest incarnation of a controversial Boston iPod ad has been pulled from the building on which it hung, says the Boston Herald. Measuring some 13,750 square feet, a 2007 banner was larger than normally allowed, and deemed illegal by the state's Outdoor Advertising Board. One or more versions have nevertheless remained in place well through 2009; in June the responsible companies secured a permit after paying a $110,000 penalty.
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11/02, 12:50pm
Company attempts to defuse Win 7 publicity
Apple has turned to Google advertising in order to undermine Windows 7, observers note. When entering terms such as "download windows 7" into a Google web search, one of the sponsored links shown may direct users to Apple's Get a Mac website, which attempts to persuade PC owners to switch platforms. The link is displayed under the header "Upgrading to Windows 7," clearly indicating the target audience.
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10/30, 3:40pm
Could influence look, tone of future ads
Lee Clow is resigning from his position as the chief creative officer for ad firm TBWA/Media Arts Lab, reports say. A veteran of the advertising industry for more than 40 years, Clow is best known for orchestrating Apple's most famous marketing campaigns, such as the 1984 Superbowl ad. The executive is also responsible for the dancing silhouettes in iPod ads, and the Get a Mac campaign attacking Windows PCs.
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10/23, 10:15am
Allegations of corruption by business
Giant banner ads for iPods have created political controversy in Boston, writes the Boston Globe. The ads are said to have first arrived in the fall of 2007, a few months before the opening of the city's flagship Apple Store. Covering a wall measuring 13,750 square feet, the banners immediately drew fire from the Outdoor Advertising Board, which called them illegal. They have nevertheless remained in place, though in June of this year the companies behind the ads were required to pay the state $110,000 and request a new permit from the city's government. The permit was approved within the same week by the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
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10/22, 10:15am
Ad-supported Mac OS a possibility?
Apple has been exploring the possibility of embedding advertising within Mac OS X, or other platforms, a newly-published patent application reveals. Originally submitted in April of last year, the application credits CEO Steve Jobs and several other people with the invention. If implemented OS users would be presented with one or more ads, which would temporarily disable some aspect of the software before allowing people to continue on.
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10/15, 11:20am
Schiller claims upgrade may be too much hassle
Near-term Apple marketing plans will revolve around countering Windows 7, says the company's senior marketing VP, Phil Schiller. "It presents a very good opportunity for us," he explains, noting that many PCs are still equipped with Windows XP, and will thus require a more elaborate upgrade to carry over files to 7. This can include backing up essential files, reformatting, and/or reinstalling old applications. "Any user that reads all those steps is probably going to freak out," claims Schiller. "If you have to go through all that, why not just buy a Mac?"
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10/06, 4:35pm
Pokes fun at Apple iPhone slogans
Verizon is exploiting complaints about AT&T's network coverage in a new TV ad (see below), which also indirectly targets Apple and the iPhone. "Browse the web and download music and apps, at 3G speed, in five times more places than the nation's number two wireless carrier," the ad says. The centerpiece of the ad is the slogan "Want five times more 3G coverage? There’s a map for that," a reference to Apple's marketing for the iPhone and the App Store, which frequently uses the tagline "There's an app for that."
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09/22, 12:50pm
Number of apps per ad climbing
Apple has begun airing three new iPhone TV ads, once again highlighting apps available at the App Store. The first, Dine, targets eating and travel, and references apps such as TripCase, Zagat to Go and Quickoffice. Nature despite its name is actually based around learning, and hence shows off titles such as DailyFinance, GuitarToolkit and iBird Explorer Plus.
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09/14, 9:45pm
iPhone users account for 66% of ad click-throughs
Chitika, an online advertising network, has released a study indicating that iPhone users are least likely of all mobile users to click through mobile ads. The study of mobile Internet usage vs. non-mobile usage covered 92 million samples, with roughly 1.3 million click-throughs from mobile users. It showed that non-mobile users clicked through at a .83-percent rate, while mobile users were generally 50 percent less likely to click on an ad as opposed to non-mobile Internet users.
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08/31, 10:55am
'Trainer' Get a Mac ad
Apple has begun airing its third new "Get a Mac" TV spot in under a week. Called "Trainer," the ad sees PC (John Hodgman) doing sit-ups as a personal trainer (Robert Loggia) and Mac (Justin Long) watch on. The trainer berates PC, pointing out that PC Magazine has rated Mac number one in customer support, and that PC World readers have called Mac the highest in reliability.
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08/25, 9:40am
New 'Get a Mac' TV ads
Apple has produced two more TV ads as part of its long-running "Get a Mac" campaign, touting the advantages of Macs over Windows PCs. The new commercials are primarily negative, accusing PCs of being subject to many more virus attacks than Macs. The first spot, "Surprise," has PC (John Hodgman) disguise himself as Mac (Justin Long), and insist to a computer buyer that PCs are very reliable.
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08/12, 1:05pm
Apple's secret ad shoot
Apple has recorded a new TV ad for an unknown product, reports out of California say. The ad was filmed on Tuesday, at a restaurant called Jax on the Tracks, situated in the small town of Truckee. Restaurant owner Bud Haley claims the location was chosen by scouts in order to portray a "a hip and cool spot for the 20-something crowd."
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07/30, 4:00pm
UK's ASA backs Apple
The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has ruled in favor of Apple in a third case involving iPhone ads, reports say. Some 10 complaints were filed with the ASA in relation to a recent TV spot, which emphasizes the wide variety of iPhone apps available and insists they are "only on the iPhone." That last statement is inaccurate, the complaints allege, because the T-Mobile G1 also has access to a variety of apps at a separate store.
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06/30, 11:40am
New iPhone 3G S TV ads
Apple is now broadcasting two new TV ads for the iPhone 3G S, promoting basic features of the device. The first highlights copy and paste support, through examples such as pasting a phone number into an SMS message, or copying a map out of Google Maps. The ad does not mention that copy/paste will work on any iPhone or iPod touch updated with the v3.0 firmware, including the original 2G iPhone from 2007.
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06/24, 3:30pm
AdSense on iPhone, Android
Google has begun a public beta test of AdSense advertising embedded into mobile applications. The program currently supports contextual ads within Android and iPhone software, which can target users according to application, location, category or keyword. Apps must be free, however, and generate a minimum of 100,000 daily pageviews.
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05/11, 6:40pm
MS targets iPod in Zune ad
In airing a new video, Microsoft has expanded its ad competition with Apple to encompass music support. The ad specifically targets the iTunes Store, and relies on a financial speaker named Wes Moss to criticize the value of buying tracks outright instead of subscribing to a service like the Zune Pass. At 120GB, claims Moss, the full-sized version of the iPod classic would cost roughly $30,000 to fill when using the iTunes Store.
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04/20, 9:10am
Four new Get a Mac ads
After a period of relative quiet in the area, Apple has debuted four new Get a Mac ads, claiming the superiority of Macs over PCs. In the first, "Biohazard Suit," PC is dressed in protective garb because of a "major new PC virus" circulating the Internet. As many as 20,000 new viruses or pieces of malware appear for PCs each day, the ad alleges. The first Mac botnet recently became active.
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03/25, 11:25am
Appl. in BC2009 awards
Apple has placed high in Brandchannel's 2009 brandjunkie awards. Voters chose Apple as the top brand in several categories, such as best retail environment, in which it faced off against companies including IKEA, Starbucks and Walmart. The ability to not only try out products at a store but attend lectures and talk to technicians is cited as a plus, as is a minimalist but visually appealing interior design.
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02/20, 12:30pm
App Store market tactics
Analysis of trends reveals the dynamics of how and why iPhone applications sell, claims Pinch Media. The advertising firm notes for instance that popularity feeds popularity, as appearing in a top 100 list increases new users by 2.3 times, on average. The jump is said to be even more dramatic once in the top 10 or 25 apps of a particular category, though Pinch warns that the App Store is structured for rapid turnover.
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02/18, 12:15pm
New iPod touch ad
Apple has posted an online version of its newest TV commercial for the second-generation iPod touch. The spot carries over motifs used in several previous ads for the Touch, such as overlapping hands and iPods, and a focus on accelerometer controls. The greatest emphasis remains on the games available from the App Store, here advertised with the slogans "More Games" and "More Fun."
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01/07, 10:55am
iTunes app tracking
AdMob has devised a way to perform outside tracking of download numbers at the App Store, according to announcement. The mobile advertiser says it has launched a new Download Tracking initiative, whose primary goal is to monitor the conversion of clicks on ads to app downloads. As a result of early testing for apps like TapDefense and Urbanspoon, however, AdMob says it has already managed to discern general trends in the app industry.
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12/08, 5:05pm
Jobs picking ad songs
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is himself involved in picking the songs used in company advertising, a musician claims. Lars Iversen, a member of The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, notes that when "Around the Bend" was chosen for an iPod touch TV ad, a company representing the band -- Synch -- first got in touch with Apple, and then participated in a direct meeting with Jobs. The executive is said to have picked the song to use at this meeting, expressing particular enthusiasm for the music.
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12/08, 3:20pm
Google AdWords on iPhone
Google is adopting a more concentrated approach to marketing on cellphones, an announcement reveals. The company says it has revised its AdWords advertising system, and will now allow advertisers to push desktop-like web ads to the iPhone, the T-Mobile G1 and other phones with full HTML support. While AdWords material has appeared on devices such as the iPhone in the past, Google says it is now allowing people to target iPhone- and G1-like platforms explicitly, without having to use mobile formats or landing pages.
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11/26, 9:35am
UK iPhone ad no. 2 banned
A second TV ad for the iPhone has been banned from British TV, the region's Advertising Standards Authority has announced. The ASA says it received 17 complaints about the ad, which depicts a person switching from the Times Online website to Google Maps, and finally the phone's Mail client. The problem with the ad is said to be the speed depicted for the phone's 3G connection, which the ad claims is "really fast," but which the ASA says is shown as completing actions in "a fraction of a second."
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11/04, 11:45am
'Dilemmas' iPhone ad
Apple has posted a new TV ad online, simply referred to as "Dilemmas." The ad promotes use of the iPhone in "solving life's dilemmas," mainly through the help of the various apps sold on the App Store. The commercial specifically highlights Wanderspot's Urbanspoon app, which uses GPS tracking to locate nearby restaurants, and the iPhone's motion sensor to allow random selection through shaking. The app is a free download, but outside of the United States has a limited database of major cities.
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10/20, 4:45pm
iPhone boosting devs, ads
The iPhone appears to be providing a significant boost to related mobile industries, involved parties claim. Andrew Fisher -- CEO of the company behind Shazam, an app which lets users identify songs through an iPhone's microphone -- notes that although his outfit is over four years old, prior to the iPhone 3G, people would only use earlier versions of Shazam three to five times per phone. The iPhone version of Shazam has been downloaded over 1.5 million times in 10 weeks, and has made over 20 million requests from Shazam's servers, equivalent to two or three song look-ups per person, per week.
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10/20, 9:25am
Apple targets Vista ads
Apple has released new "Get a Mac" TV ads in an attempt to counter recent Microsoft efforts at boosting the public image of Windows. In the first of the ads, which are now available online, PC (John Hodgman) is shown setting aside a large portion of money for advertising, and a tiny portion on fixing Windows Vista. When Mac (Justin Long) points out that the Vista money is not enough, PC admits this and shifts it all over to the advertising pile.
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09/23, 11:45pm
Apple iPhone lawsuit 4
Another lawsuit against Apple and AT&T is hitting the courts, with New York resident Jai Sen crying foul over both companies' advertising of the iPhone 3G, software problems, and cracks in the device's chassis. The lawsuit comes through the US District Court for the Eastern district of New York, and encompasses a class-action perspective, with other plaintiffs simply referred to as "others similarly situated."
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09/17, 10:40pm
Microsoft takes back PC
Microsoft has unveiled the next phase of its mysterious multi-stage $300 million advertising campaign, opting to embrace the PC character, played by John Hodges in Apple's ads. The New York Times reports that advertising giant Crispin Porter & Bogusky is soon rolling out the new ads, which Microsoft hopes will allow them to redefine the PC's 'personality'. Microsoft cries foul on Apple's presumptuousness, claiming the ads speak on behalf of the Redmond-based Windows maker, misconstruing what its intentions are with its products.
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09/10, 3:25pm
Second-gen iPod touch ad
Apple has posted an online copy of the first TV ad for the second-generation iPod touch. The ad concentrates primarily on the gaming capabilities of the Touch, and highlights titles currently sold through the App Store, such as Super Monkey Ball and a variety of racing and puzzle titles. The spot concludes with a user going back to music, and Apple's new marketing slogan for the device, "The funnest iPod ever."
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09/09, 10:40am
Web-based Get a Mac ad
A new web-based "Get a Mac" ad from Apple is being circulated online, through sites such as TIME.com. The ad relies on two separate banners, each with video; the focus is on the right one, where "PC" (John Hodgman) drags in an op-ed article, entitled "Stop Switching to Mac." PC claims that people are switching to Macs at an "alarming rate," and that the public needs to know about the crisis.
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09/05, 4:30pm
Mac SE ad artwork for sale
A buyer is being sought for the complete collection of artwork from the Swedish Mac SE ad campaign, according to myoldmac.net. The art was originally part of a poster campaign from 1987, painted by Swedish artist Erik Saxen, mostly in oil and some mixed media. The paintings reflect different artistic themes, all containing a Mac SE within the scene. The aim is to sell as much of the collection together as possible, but the site claims that if no buyer is found, the paintings will simply be auctioned off through houses like Christie's or Sotheby's.
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07/22, 3:50pm
TiVo teams with Amazon.com
TiVo on Tuesday announced it has teamed up with Amazon to offer buyers the opportunity to buy items associated with the shows they're watching via their TiVo remote. The new Product Purchase feature gives television advertisers to promote products sold on Amazon.com via in-show pop-ups that are related to mainstream TV shows. The feature would not only allow the possibility of viewers purchasing products featured on shows, such as a new album or book of a guest on a talk show such as Oprah.
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