Bloomberg reports that a survey by ad effectiveness specialist Ace Metrix Inc showed that Apple’s new ‘mission statement‘ ad campaign has been far less effective than its traditional product-focused ads.
Advertising experts have suggested that the ad campaign, which aims to focus on the experience people have when using Apple products, rather than the products themselves, may have been a forced decision for Apple, since it doesn’t currently have much in the way of new products to promote.
Writing in a Forbes opinion piece, branding specialist Will Burns suggests that the campaign is a defensive one, attempting to counter the interest generated by Samsung in a flurry of new product launches until Apple releases the iPhone 5S.
Edward Boches, a professor of advertising at Boston University, says the campaign is a risky one.
Some observers have suggested that the campaign is aimed at Apple’s employees as much as consumers, designed to reassure them that the company still has a vision post-Steve Jobs.
Apple’s senior VP of marketing, Phil Schiller, was recently criticized for a lack of clarity and focus in his approach.
The acid test will be whether Apple returns to the softer, more values-based approach after the inevitable product-focused campaign when the 5S and low-cost iPhone (if that one makes it to the developed world) are launched.
