Apple enters the AT&T vs. Verizon ad wars
The ad wars among Apple, AT&T, and Verizon continue, with the iPhone at center stage and the latest battle going to Apple, which has occupied the high ground without much sniping.
Forget PC and Mac, with all of the drama of Microsoft vs. Apple slugging it out on national television. The real advertising conflict today is occurring on the iPhone front, with Verizon and AT&T each firing salvos into their enemy’s camp, a portion of the war that has spilled over into courts of law where lawyers argue the fine points of word usage and phrase making. Apple has seemed to be neutral in this clash of titans, sitting out the first part of the war in Cupertino comfort.
But now Apple has come out of that neutral corner, although its tactics are different than those of the other combatants, according to an article on PCWorld. Rather than sling mud in all directions, as the two wireless carriers have taken to doing, Apple is instead taking the high road into the battlefield. Rather than highlighting just the negatives about competitors, Apple has decided to talk about the positives of its own handset and its partner in telephony, AT&T Wireless.
Apple’s new ads tout the advantages to the user of the partnership between the iPhone and AT&T, talking mainly about the ability to access the telephone functions and the data functions at the same time. This is a positive side of the AT&T / Apple partnership, even though it may not be an exclusive that they share. Their point is that there are good things about the relationship between Apple and AT&T and that it is the iPhone user that profits from those positives.
Some of us disparage the negative advertising that has come to characterize political campaigns, and are equally unhappy about wireless ads that emphasize the negative and ignore the positive. The new Apple ads make the rest of the battle between Verizon and AT&T seem tawdry, somehow, and emphasize that there is a code of behavior that does not consist entirely of mudslinging. Even in war, Apple and its iPhone are a class act.
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November 25th, 2009
MediaCurves.com conducted a study among 337 viewers of a new commercial from AT&T. Results found that that a greater number of non-AT&T users indicated that they were extremely likely to switch to an AT&T wireless phone after viewing the commercial. Furthermore, an overwhelming majority of respondents (84%) reported that the AT&T ad was effective, with 34% indicating that is was ‘extremely effective’ and 50% reporting that it was ‘somewhat effective’.
More in depth results can be seen at:
http://www.mediacurves.com/Advertising/AT&T%20Commercial/Index.cfm
Thanks,
Ben
November 25th, 2009
Class act? Whatever. When was last time a Mac vs. PC ad highlighted a positive about Mac instead of a negative about PCs. The early ads touted applications like iLife, iPhoto, etc. I can’t remember the last time I learned something about a Mac from a Mac commercial.