Peter Kafka, in his Media Memo post for All Things Digital, had a funny story about the new Apple “I’m a Mac” ad that throws Patrick Warburton, best known as “Puddy” on “Seinfeld” into the mix as the “Top of the line PC.”
View ad below.
Handing the customer his card, he says: When you are ready to compromise, call me.
Funny and fresh. As Kafka noted, some that know the Seinfeld connection will get a kick out of seeing Puddy.
Of course when I saw the post and ad, what came to my mind was Warburton’s role as The Tick.
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When I mentioned The Tick ad to a friend of mine, I was reminded of another clever execution by Apple where the Mac and PC guys are doing battle on the New York Times website.
According to a story I read in DM News (“Apple’s on-page battle between Mac, PC outshines both its target and host“), what Apple did was buy multiple inventory slots on the same Web page and then had the Mac and PC characters talk to a faux hair advertisement on the other side of the page (I kid you not!).
Roell remarked:
“The top ad space that highlights a recent Forrester study is also genius because it looks unassuming enough – until Apple’s iconic characters start debating about it. Adding to the innovative nature of the advertisements is that three ad properties are controlled by the ‘main’ ad with Mac and PC. By syncing up the ads, consumers do not expect the others to come to life.”
Very clever. I concur with Roell’s take on the ad:
“All in all, this advertisement does everything I could ask of an ad: it grabs my attention, hits home a brand relevant message, and drives a solid call to action.”
Example from NY Times (May 2009)
A clever concept executed brilliantly is inspiring. I’m sure in the brainstorm sessions, someone too a shot and courageously pitched it. And someone else, took the risk and said, “Go for it!”
Let’s hope others follow this trend…
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