keep it remixable, stupid
June 15th, 2009 • posts i've written
Most advertising should work on three chords and twelve bars.
I’ve been a student of the blues for the last decade and change. What I’ve learned is that the simple construction of a blues song allows the artist, the time, and the place to not only imbue meaning and context, but to easily remix the form for whatever purpose serves the artist. That simple formula has given birth to almost every type of popular music downloaded today.
Until recently, Apple understood how to build a simple rhythm and melody with their advertising.
The immediate benefit of such a simple form in our modern world is that these ads create a platform for remixing.
By creating something so simple, they’ve made it easier for culture to dissect it and do with it what it will. Ultimately, the thing itself spreads and the devices within the ad (the voiceover, the music, the product shots) become a common language. A :30 spot that cost you millions of dollars to interrupt people suddenly becomes the means to earn and spread social currency for the entire web. (Hooray!) (Cadburry has also done this quite well)
But then Apple went and gave up the ghost.
I like David Fincher, but this ad makes no sense whatsoever and in one :30 spot, tosses away everything that made Apple’s advertising so successful.
It’s telling that this video has so few views and absolutely no spoofs or parodies.
Someone probably told Fincher that they wanted something new, something to disrupt their current rhythm – probably because they’ve got a new phone, this one has an S at the end, duh. But instead, they’ve created a complete orphan that feels like and looks like an LG or Sprint ad.
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4 Responses (add your comment)
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arghhhh what are apple doing?!? but you know what, they can get away with this. only if they start doing this over and over again (rhythm like you said) will they lose it!
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I agree that the ability to quickly remix the other Apple commercials made it easy to spread and parody. And I agree that is good. I also agree that the new ad looks like any ol’ cellphone commercial.
But without (your words) “disrupting their current rhythm” many general consumers would not recognize it as a new phone.
If you recall, before the initial iPhone launch, Apple debuted the “Hello” ad that is totally different than the current campaign. They did not extend that concept past that one ad. I bet Apple goes right back to the formula after launch when discussing specific features.