Apple's Decision To Make Its Own Ads Might Be Backfiring
Unfortunately, the in-house agency doesn't seem to be measuring up, Bloomberg reports. According to data gathered by Ace Metrix, Apple's own ads aren't nearly as engaging and entertaining as TBWA's ads, as based on Ace Metrix's proprietary ad-ranking score. The company interviews consumers about TV commercials and asks them to rate the spots based on characteristics like persuasiveness, watchability, and product information.
Looking at campaigns from the last few months, the two Apple ads with the highest Ace Scores come from TBWA. The ad with the highest rating was the iPhone spot "Powerful" featuring a cover of the Pixie's song "Gigantic." Right behind that is the heartwarming holiday ad "Misunderstood." Both show the amazing things you can do with an iPhone, from measuring your heart rate to filming and creating your own movie.
Right behind these two spots is one of the company's most recent in-house ads, "Strength." Set to the song "Chicken Fat," a tune originally used by John F. Kennedy for his Presidential Fitness Program, the ad also shows off some cool things you can do with your iPhone, like track how far you run or how to do the perfect push-up. But apparently it isn't quite as inspiring as the two previous ads.
Here's a look at Apple's own "Strength" ad:Even though one of Apple's ads had a relatively high viewer score from Ace Metrix, Bloomberg shows that most of the company's recent ads (including spots from the Verse campaign) have polled significantly less favorably. Clearly, something isn't working.
Advertising consultant Rob Siltanen, who wrote the copy for Apple's "Here's To The Crazy Ones" ad, told Bloomberg that it's never a good idea for a company to have its own people putting the creative content together.
"There's a truism out there that applies: 'The lawyer who represents himself in court has an idiot for a client.' It's very hard to have the necessary perspective to do the job right," Siltanen told Bloomberg.