"Sadvertising" Apple commercial- "Holiday - The Surprise"


Holiday- The Surprise, Apple

I hope you have some tissues handy if you are about to watch this commercial. Just thinking about this ad and placing it in this blog already has my eyes watering. It's so crazy to think that the same space that shows advertisements of the Charmin bears who happily no longer have bits of toilet paper attached to their butt, or Jake from State Farm who wears his Khakis, Apple has put together a 3 minute mini movie that is absolutely exquisite, down right tearful and I will never forget.

Come Christmas time or Superbowl Sunday it seems like every other commercial on TV is trying to make you cry. Enter the new popular fad in marketing: sadvertising. It's not rocket science, its psychology. Commercials that make you feel heavy emotions impact you more, you are more likely to remember and if they are REALLY good, you will share with your friends. (Sorry Michelle for making you watch this and cry!) 

Forbes says that most consumers do not make buying decisions on practicality, they make them emotionally, so it's no wonder that there is a heavy focus on emotional marketing these days. When you cry or have an emotional response you associate that feeling with the brand. In the case of this apple commercial, I associate Apple with positive feelings and the iPad (as well as the adorable granddaughters) being the tools to create such a memorable moment. It makes so much sense!

With that said, I feel that in this era where we are so desperate to make human connections, sometimes the product or brand can get lost. To be honest, when I was trying to recall this commercial (its been 5 months since Christmas) I could not remember if it was from Google or Apple. Because there was so much focus on the story, the brand was lost. Maybe that was what Apple wanted, for you to get lost in the story. Maybe their strategy is that the viewer does not need to differentiate between whether they want an iPad or a Google Pixelbook, they just want the viewer to want a tablet after watching. Then the consumer can weigh pros and cons for the various types when they have decided to purchase, and THEN they might consider Apple. If so, then GREAT! But Apple needs to realize that when its advertising strategy is the same as Google's they have to do something to differentiate themselves or this could potentially be a problem. 

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