It was 1983, Computer has left the mammoth-sized
air-conditioned rooms and was becoming a part of households and office desks.
IBM was the major giant that held almost all the Cards in the extensively
growing personal computer market.
At that time Apple came up with an Idea of Macintosh. A
personal computer which took the word “personal” seriously. The company was in
disarray, Apple III was a failure. IBM has gained the position of the market
leader. Steve Jobs has started to lose control of the Company. John Sculley
became the Apple Chief Executive Officer.
Macintosh was an important product for Apple. It not only
has to save Apple from drowning but also gain back the market share.
The management prepared for the Macintosh in Launch in January 1984 and hired Chiat/Day for the advertising campaign.
Chiat /Day wanted to achieve the following
1.
The
advertisement to be futuristic.
2.
The
advertisement should represent the company rather than the product
3.
To create
Brand Awareness for a technical product which caters to the masses.
How they achieved the goal.
They achieved these goals by combining the elements of
literature, sci-fi, consumerism and individualism. Ridley Scott was hired to direct the
advertisement, whose Sci-fi movies Aliens and Blade Runner were on their way to
becoming classics. The advertisement has
a budget of $650,000 and the director used real skinhead to act as extras in
it. He even paid people to shave their head and join the crew of extras.
Here is the advertisement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtvjbmoDx-I
The Advertisement starts with a group of skinheads, marching
into a big hall where the Big Brother is preaching propaganda. While the scene
is interlayered with an athlete in red, running past the marching skinheads
with a sledgehammer in her hand.
She reaches the hall, where the droids are watching the Big
Brother. She swings the sledgehammer at the screen breaking the screen. The
shot cuts and the tagline appear
“1984 won’t be like “1984” ”
The advertisement depicted a scene from the George Orwell’s
famous Dystopian Novel 1984. Which is why the emphasis on 1984. The athlete in the sledgehammer, acts as a
disruptive element in the Order. Thus, act as a revolutionary force.
Over the years, the advt. is scrutinized by experts of
literature and advertising. The imagery depicted in it has been defined in more
ways than one. The common meaning
derived out of it in that IBM is the Big Brother, who do not want to innovate
whereas Macintosh (represented by the athlete with a sledgehammer) is the
breaker of monotony and would help you as an individual and stand out in the
public.
However, the advertisement never show the image of
Macintosh. The message of the launch of Macintosh is only presented at the end.
It was too dark compared to the advertisements at that time. The advertisement didn’t have a clear “call
to action.”
For these reasons the Management of Apple didn’t like the
idea. In-fact it asked the agency to sell all the super bowl slots that has
been bought by the agency.
The Advertisement was
able to create enough buzz to sell $155
million worth of Macintoshes the first few days.
How it changed advertising?
The Apple 1984 advert is a landmark advertisement. The aim for the advertisement was to spread
brand awareness, create interest in the mind of the viewers and tease them with
the product. It didn’t have an action plan.
The advertisement instead promised a revolution, when the
product will be launched. A wave of change.
It used the theme of an individual against the conventional society
norms.
The advertisement changed everything about the conventional
advertising. It represented the idea of the product rather than the product
itself. During the show reel =, it never ask the viewer to buy the new product.
Instead it makes a promise for the future.
It presented commercial as an art form rather than a means
of selling a product. It showed that a commercial can stand for more than the
product and can help personify a brand. The advertisement helped solidify
Apple’s image as a rule breaker, innovator and human.
Apple legacy…
Soon after the launch of Macintosh, the board fired Steve
Jobs in 1985, and the board started playing safe, introducing very few creative
products. Thus, leading to a collapse
until they hired back Steve Jobs. Apple soon launched the slew of innovative
products such as iPod, iPhone, iPad and iwatch.
Apple soon became the differentiator it was meant to be and
face of digital revolution in the 21st century. It is now the
world’s largest tech company and also one of the most valuable companies on
planet earth. This became possible, because some advertising agency thought to
make a creative advertisement that represent the Apple values rather than a
particular Apple product. The company has strived to remain on that path since
then.
