Apple's ads show the way back to the Mac platform

MacWeek, Feb 16, 1998 by Don Crabb

You've probably seen the new Apple television ad, the one being called -- for better or for worse -- The Snail Ad. It shows a snail crawling across the screen with a Pentium II strapped to its back as a voice-over proclaims: "Some people think the Pentium II is the fastest processor in the world. ... Not quite. ... The chip inside every new Power Macintosh G3 is up to twice as fast."

Finally, we've got some in-your-face television advertising from Apple that declares an actual reason to buy a Mac!

The question remains, however, if and how Mac managers can use this new-found advertising muscle to our advantage. Can we, for example, leverage the ad campaign in our own shops, to shore up our operations and get some of the "we should be moving to Windows NT" heat off our backs?

Advertising internally

I think we can, but we're going to have to go after whoever is left at our local or regional Apple office and work with them to get to our sites ASAP. Here at the University of Chicago, we've encouraged our local Apple rep to set up and offer Apple-specific presentations. We then invite the campus decision-makers, making sure to load up the audience with pro-Apple types when possible. Although these presentations don't always pull in the power users we need to prove the Mac's worth, the cumulative effect is positive.

Recently, our rep organized a seminar on "The Mac and Third Party Technology." The presentations reviewed Mac OS 8.1 enhancements, gave an overview of the Power Mac G3's performance and its value to university users, updated us on QuickTime 3.0, and demonstrated Microsoft Office 98 and Connectix Corp.'s Virtual PC.

The key to such presentations is their timeliness, usefulness and availability -- as well as their subtle tie-in to Apple's overall ad campaign. Remember, you are trying to create something of a comfort zone about the future of Power Macs and the Mac OS for your colleagues and bosses. Make the presentations short (90 minutes is good), and make them often enough so that your bosses and colleagues don't forget the messages -- but not so often that they look like a blatant PR effort (which, of course, they are to a certain extent). One presentation a month works well for most sites.

Follow up

But you can't stop with your new Apple Presentation of the Month Club, any more than Apple can stop just with a new ad campaign. Apple and Mac managers have to work more strongly together to deliver Mac OS solutions that are on time, on spec and on the mark. That's going to require Apple to figure out how to provide the services its Mac managers and their institutions need. It's the service side of the business that will ultimately determine Apple's (and Mac managers') futures.

Don Crabb welcomes nice, thoughtful comments at don@doncrabb.com. You can also check out his Web page at www.doncrabb.com. Nasty, mean-spirited comments may be sent to null@bitbucket.com.