Gaines Kergosien filmed this amusing little interlude at Trevecca Nazarene University the other day. A student politely asked Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to sign his Mac – and Ballmer genially played along. Next week, Sergey and Larry will be doing guest slots in a “Get a Mac” ad, with Sergey as Mac and Larry as

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Steve Ballmer Signs A Mac

Section: Apple , Apple News , Commercials If you’re into marketing and advertising or just simply find Apple’s Get a Mac ad campaign interesting, you might want to visit AdWeek’s website. They’ve set up a page that has all 66 (yes, 66) advertisements from the campaign so far. They’re organized chronologically and categorized by the year in which they came out. It’s some pretty awesome stuff, in my opinion. You can visit the page at their website and get caught in hours of advertisements if you’re into that sort of thing. Apple’s Get a Mac campaign has certainly left an impression upon those who view them (after all, it was the “Best Video Ad Campaign” last year according to US News). From attacking Windows 7 to covering Apple’s innovations to touting new features , Apple’s ads are both comical and ingenious. And who knows, maybe soon we’ll be seeing “Get an Apple Tablet ” advertisements on our TVs. Those could certainly provide some interesting ideas about the tablet market up to the point where Apple begins to (hopefully) dominate it and actually make a use for tablet computers for the average person (sort of like the iPhone, ‘ey?). Read [ AdWeek ] Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell . | Comment on this Article »

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Obsessed with Get a Mac ads? There’s a site for that.

Filed under: Steve Jobs , Apple The end of the year brings the inevitable “best/worst of” lists, and 2009 was no different. We reported earlier that Apple nabbed four of Engadget’s “10 Gadgets of the Decade” list, but what may be surprising is just how many other “best of” lists Apple was part of. Philip Elmer-DeWitt over at Apple 2.0 has compiled a list (surprise!) of all the “best of” lists Apple made in 2009. The lists that he found Apple or Steve Jobs on included: S teve Jobs : CEO of the Decade. Fortune magazine. Steve Jobs : Best Performing CEO in the World. Harvard Business Review . Steve Jobs : Person of the Decade. Wall Street Journal. Apple : Brand of the Decade. Adweek ’s Best of the 2000s.

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Apple tops "Best of" 2009 lists

Microsoft has a rather ignoble history when it comes to trying to counter Apple’s hyper-effective and popular “Get a Mac” campaign. Their first efforts were just embarrassing: a series of advertisements featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates awkwardly mumbling non sequiturs at one another. That desperate bid for hipness failed, and so Microsoft launched their

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Behind-the-scenes “Laptop Hunter” ads claims participants never knew it was an ad

You know how Michael Jackson won so many awards in his lifetime that they had to start inventing new ones to justify dragging him onstage? Entertainer of the Universe and Best Selling Artist in the New Galactic Empire spring to mind. Hey, that’s the price of über-success. Apple’s getting a taste of that very same medicine now, as it is named recipient of a boatload of “Best…” titles in AdweekMedia’s “ Best of the 2000s ” Awards. Described by AdweekMedia as “Our picks, and yours, for the decade’s best in the marketing, media and agency world” the awards include yawn-inducing categories such as “Agency executives of the Decade” and “Small Agency of the Decade” but thankfully all the best stuff is hugely more accessible — and interesting — to non-marketing-types (which, thankfully, describes most of us). Here’s the opening paragraph from AdweekMedia’s dedicated awards website: Steve Jobs and the iPod reinvented the music business. Sergey Brin and Larry Page tamed the Web.

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And the Best of the Decade Award for Pretty Much Everything Goes to…

Section: Apple , Apple News , Commercials , Retail & Apple Store AdWeekMedia recently held polls asking users what they believe some of the “Bests of the 2000s” were. According to their data and picks, Apple has come out on top of 2 of the 33 possibilities that stretch across four categories, including media, agency, creative, and brand. These two possibilities include both the “Brand of the Decade” with Steve Jobs—a “brilliant marketer who happens to be the CEO”—at the forefront and “Campaign of the Decade” with Justin Long and John Hodgman getting the spotlight (no pun intended). If you ask me, both of these decisions are very well earned, considering how both how persuasive Apple’s advertising has been in getting switchers to the Mac as well as how well Steve Jobs has moved the company forward in all aspects. Interestingly enough, the readers choice poll for the brand of the decade also has Apple with 50% of the vote followed by Google in second with only 26%. However, in the readers choice poll for the campaign of the decade, both the American Legacy Foundation’s “Truth” campaign and the MasterCard “Priceless” campaigns were chosen over Apple’s. That said, the votes were much closer, with only a 4% difference between first and third place. Either way, it’s certainly cool to see results like this in favor of our favorite company over in Cupertino.

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AdWeekMedia awards Apple the “Brand” and “Campaign of the Decade”

Filed under: iPod Family , Odds and ends , Apple As Apple fans, we’ve loved Apple’s “Get a Mac” ad campaign. With Justin Long as the cool, laid-back Mac and John Hodgman starring as the stodgy, uptight PC, the ads have managed to make us laugh since they first appeared in 2006. The campaign has spawned the “I’m a PC” response ads from Microsoft, which aren’t nearly as fun or effective as the original (if we do say so ourselves). The ads have been incredibly effective at getting Apple’s message across — Macs just work, with no bloatware, few viruses and little malware, and Mac users can do a lot with the provided iLife software. AdweekMedia has paid tribute to the campaign in its Best of the 2000s awards, giving the Campaign of the Decade plaudits to Apple and TBWA / Media Arts Lab for the memorable ads. That’s not the only Apple campaign that received an award — the iPod “Silhouettes” campaign won the Out of Home Ad of the Decade prize. Out of Home ads (AKA outdoor advertising) consist of those advertisements that are shown on billboards, buses, and kiosks rather than on television or in print. The awards were voted upon by the editors of AdweekMedia, and reader’s choice awards were also listed. The “Get a Mac” campaign was third place in reader voting, while “Silhouettes” picked up the number one spot from readers in its category. Adweek Media’s Campaign of the Decade: Apple’s Get a Mac ads originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

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Adweek Media’s Campaign of the Decade: Apple’s Get a Mac ads

AdWeek recently penned Apple’s notorious "Get A Mac" commercials as the Campaign of the Decade in it’s "Best of the Noughties" round-up. 
In its round-up, AdWeek claims that the Apple advertisements did a swell job of exemplifying how people connected with technology in the new decade. "That series of 60-plus ads brought some humanity into the equation by turning the machines into live-action cartoons showing how people identify and connect emotionally with technology," the site raves. "In so doing, the comic spots offer transparent understanding of the aspirations of its audience and how people identify–and connect emotionally–with technology."

 AdWeek went on to add that the casting in the commercials was absolutely "genius". Justin Long resembles a younger Steve Jobs, in his casual clothing and demeanor, while John Hodgeman’s personification of the PC couldn’t be more on par with Bill Gates’ identity as the "well-meaning geek with all kinds of operating problems." Apple managed to sway the public into truly believing that it’s brand was what the stylish, laid-back generation is looking for. However, in a reader’s poll done by the site, Apple came out third, trialing behind the footsteps of the Anti-smoking "Truth" campaign and Mastercard’s "Priceless" commercials. 

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Apple’s "Get A Mac" Penned as Campaign of the Decade

Apple and its partners released hundreds upon hundreds of compelling products this year. We scoured the hardware universe, tested the heck out of the most intriguing gear we found, and now share our exclusive list of the 15 very best. Apple doesn’t make product design easy for its third-party partners and the rest of the hardware-manufacturing universe. Jonathan Ive and his design team craft the most emotionally inspiring gear in all of computing and gadgetdom, which only sets the bar higher for those companies aspiring to make products that work with Apple gear. Add in the fact that Steve Jobs keeps many of Apple’s development plans private, and you have third-party vendors essentially “designing blind,” as they anticipate products that complement the Apple oeuvre. But, oh well, such is the price we pay for gear that moves the soul. Apple’s design process creates the coolest family of products on the market, and the best third-party manufacturers always find a way to create gear and accessories that match Apple’s hallmarks of slick design, simple operation, and clever, cutting-edge features. On the following pages, we present the very best of the hardware we tested this year, as well as the iPhone and iPod touch apps that made profound impacts on the screens of our handhelds.   Notebook: 13" MacBook Pro   Pretend it’s January 1, 2009, and you’re in the market for a 13-inch Mac laptop. Your choices are few: Either a plastic MacBook starting at $999 (for which you’d get 1GB of RAM, a 120GB hard drive, and a 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo “Penryn” chip), or the svelte aluminum MacBook Air starting at $1,799 (2GB of non-upgradeable RAM, the same 120GB hard drive, and a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo “Penryn” chip). The gulf between their prices: significant. The difference in their specs: yawn-inducing. The 13-inch MacBook Pro does a happy dance every time we sing its deserved praises. Thankfully, Apple introduced the 13-inch MacBook Pro in June, giving mobilistas the same features as the 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros in a smaller, more portable package.

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Gear of the Year 2009

Section: Apple , Apple News , Updates , Rumors , Mac + Computers , Laptops If you’re a watcher of Diggnation , then you already know that Alex Albrecht was “shocked” to hear how low the price of the long rumored Apple tablet will be. Diggnation doesn’t have a spotless record as far as Apple rumors go, but they have occasionally been right in the past. Here’s the episode, if you care to watch. Alex Albrecht hasn’t really spilled the beans on anything Apple in the past. Actually, Kevin Rose would probably be a lot more trustworthy for this sort of thing, considering he actually uses an Apple computer on a daily basis. He has successfully leaked Apple info, but has been wrong enough for us to have to question his rumors. Sadly, since Alex doesn’t really even have a record for such leaks like this, it’s hard to say if he’s BSing us. I’d lean towards the latter, considering that Apple products are rarely cheap. Even if Alex is just having fun with all of us, what price point for Apple’s tablet would cause you to be shocked? Under a thousand? I really think this all depends on its capabilities.  If it’s essentially a big iPod touch, I’d be shocked if it ended up starting under $400. If it’s more like a MacBook touch, I’d be shocked at under $1,000.  But that’s just me. Also, this week’s episode of Diggnation has a special guest: John Hodgman of Apple’s “Get a Mac” commercial. So you might want to watch that episode for fun instead of just a tiny little rumor

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Alex Albrect “Shocked” at Apple tablet price point