When looking at its meager beginnings Apple’s influence on the media could only be described as unique, I remember this was why I bought my first iPod to customize my music selection the way I wanted to listen to it not the way it was sold on a cd. Their product, style, and overall beliefs make the Apple Corporation a multi-billion dollar company with a general appeal for all ages. It is getting harder and harder to be an individual, so with Apple you can “rise above the norm” and be unique. Recently, this unique corporation has taken the media by storm, with their new line of products. Right alongside these new products are a full line of new commercials to go along with them. These new commercials spawned from years of creative marketing done on Apple’s part. Studying the history of Apple is necessary to understanding their influence upon us today. It all started in the garage of a twenty-something Steve Jobs. He and a friend put what little money they had together ($1300) to make the first computer for Apple, and thus Apple was born. The idea for the first Apple motherboard was made by Jobs while he was on LSD. He was quoted in the New York Times saying, “Taking LSD is one of two or three of the best decisions I have ever made.” Markoff, John. "New York Times." What the Dormouse Said 2005: 3. Steve Jobs talks about his early success when stating, “when I was 23 I had a net worth of over a million dollars, at 24 it was over $10 million, and at 25 it was over $100 million.” Steve Jobs is a true embodiment of what Apple is: unique. Co-founder Steve Wozniak said this about Jobs, “With Steve Jobs you never know exactly where an idea comes from.” This is what Apple is, not conventional and predictable. However, when looking at their marketing scheme, it follows a pretty predictable formula. Apple’s first commercial appeared in 1984 during the Super Bowl. The commercial was a parody of the book “1984.” The commercial showed a young athletic woman wearing bright red jogging shorts running toward a giant screen. The screen portrayed a man dictating to hundreds of skinheads, and the girl ran up to the screen and broke it with a baseball bat. The symbolism in this commercial was the main reason it was a pivotal portrayal of Apple in the media. The symbolism of the giant man on the screen represented IBM, and the thousands of skinheads were mindless consumers. Apple was the young athletic woman who broke the screen and freed the thousands of skinheads from a life of monotony with PCs. This new commercial “broke all the rules, and the reaction has been, in a word, unprecedented,” as stated by Steve Hayden in the San Francisco Chronicle, 1984. This commercial was one of the most significant pieces of advertisement that Apple could show, because it explained their philosophy in one fell swoop. This commercial informed the public about what Apple really stood for—rebellion. The people Apple markets toward are the creative individuals. One of the former presidents for Apple products, Jean Gassee, was quoted April 18, 1996 in Rolling Stone saying, “We must give our user pure sex. It’s like a rendezvous in the back seat of an automobile with a beautiful girl. One’s experience should be better than the greatest orgasm you could have.” Giving the user something that is thought to be out of reach is what Apple stands for. Their new line of commercials depict a young guy who represents a Mac, and an older somewhat chubby guy who represents a PC. The young guy comes out of a white sleek box, while the chubby guy comes out of a trite cardboard box. In this commercial Apple is basically telling the consumer that with Mac you can be youthful, and make your own “music, movies, or DVDs.” While PC on the other hand, can only do boring things like “make spreadsheets, documents, or make graphs.” Most of their commercials have this platform to them, that Macs are more personal than PCs. They also gear their product to a sort of “hip crowd” or people who are stylistic, or unique. Apple is all about letting your hair down, and having a laid-back attitude. Most of their commercials show young people (in their teens), who dance around with their ipod, while everyone else just walks normally around them. It’s almost as if Apple is getting the point across of saying, “Be a rebel, buy Apple.” Most know this is not true, for example who has seen an elderly lady with an Ipod? Furthermore, there is a discrepancy between who the product is aimed at, and who receives it.
Apple has a firm background in making their products personal, which is why they have such great appeal to so called “individuals.” Not only is Apple gaining massive popularity due to its products, but also it is very profitable their success could be directly related to their philosophy, company beliefs, and overall structure of the company. Apple could not be structured any better, they haven’t changed their style over the years, because that is what makes the company unique. The software, product, beliefs, even Jobs all culminate together to make Apple. This structure is part of what they sell. However, Apple has been restructured over the years by having many different CEOs. Some of them cost the company millions of dollars. Moreover, changing the structure or whom the product is geared toward would be detrimental to Apple. Apple could be seen as the underdog in the computer industry. It hasn’t put a dent on the Microsoft operating system, thus far. Which is interesting because Microsoft isn’t in the media nearly as much as Apple is. Using this to their advantage, Apple has fully saturated the market with T.V. ads, billboards, magazine ads, etc. Their arrival in the everyday lives of the public has made Apple a more widely accepted product throughout the world. PCs are seen everywhere, there is almost one in every household in America. Apple represents going against convention, breaking this chain of normality that is seen with PCs, and finally becoming an individual. Some people who purchase Apple products genuinely feel as if they want to support Apple due to their own “underdog-ness.”
Apple has a personalized mp3 program that is called itunes. Itunes comes standard with all of their Ipods, iphones and Ipads in itunes Apple has certain music packages that say “just for you.” These “just for you” music packages are determined by the music in your library, and they recommend artists and specific songs that they think you would like. The “just for you” music packages contribute to the overall user experience, and getting them to obtain that feeling of being unique. They get consumers to think that only they can have the style in music that they have, and Apple will be there to cater to it. Another aspect worth investigating in the Apple lineup is their clever use of “I-” for the name of their products. For example, their home computers are called “iMacs,” their mp3 player is named the ipod, and any other accessory one could think of is attached with an “I.” This “clever” labeling of their products ties in well with Apple’s creative marketing scheme toward the individual. Overall, Apple has a creative way of marketing to the millions of people over the world. Their creative marketing coupled with their unique product meshes together to form a multi-billion dollar company. If Apple keeps using their exclusive style of marketing to a younger “hip” generation then they will be Apple customers for life. Finally, Apple in the media portrays a specific lifestyle that mirrors their own company beliefs. Their recent success with their new line of products will definitely be a nice segue into the future. With newer, more stylish commercials, and newer products geared toward personal needs, Apple will remain successful. Furthermore, Apple does not try to force this sort-of fake synthetic belief system—they actually live it.