PRESS RELEASE
June 10, 2002
Apple Launches “Real People” Ad Campaign
PC to Mac “Switchers” Tell Their Story
CUPERTINO, California—June 10, 2002—Apple® today launched a new advertising campaign featuring real people who have switched from PCs to the Macintosh®. The campaign will debut today on television with eight different ads, each highlighting a different “switcher” telling their story. The “switchers” featured in the Real People campaign come from diverse backgrounds, including a Windows network administrator, a writer, an illustrator, a small business owner, a programmer, an interactive producer and a DJ. This will be Apple’s largest ad campaign since “Think Different” was launched in 1998.
“These are not actors—they’re real people who have switched from PCs to Macs, telling their story in their own words,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “More people are interested in switching from PCs to Macs than ever before, and we hope that hearing these successful switchers tell their story will help others make the jump.”
The TV ads can be seen today on major cable networks like ESPN, CNBC, Comedy Central and Fox News and will appear this week on ABC’s Boston 24/7 and The Drew Carey Show, as well as NBC’s ER and NBA Finals broadcasts. Print ads are in this week’s issues of Time and Newsweek, and will appear this month in a number of other major magazines. As part of the campaign, Apple has also set up a special web site for users interested in learning more about switching at www.apple.com/switch.
The ads were directed by Errol Morris, a widely admired director and producer of documentary films. Morris infused the ads with the same straightforward, compelling style found in his critically acclaimed opening segment for this year’s Academy Awards, which featured celebrities and movie goers sharing their favorite films.
Apple is gaining momentum in its quest to attract the “other 95 percent” since announcing its pioneering Digital Hub strategy in January 2001. Since then, Apple has delivered:
- the world’s best computers, including the all new flat-panel iMac®, the iBook®, the Titanium PowerBook® G4, the Power Mac® G4, the new eMac™ and a line of stunning Cinema Displays;
- Mac® OS X, the world’s most advanced operating system, offering power, stability and elegance. Mac OS X has now “arrived” with better than ever usability and amazing third-party software products like Microsoft Office v.X for Mac and PhotoShop 7;
- the breakthrough iPod™ digital music player, which has set the standard by which all other portable MP3 players are judged;
- award-winning Digital Lifestyle applications like iPhoto™, iTunes™, iMovie™ and iDVD, which enable “mere mortals” to make movies, create and share digital photo albums, manage large music libraries and create and burn their own DVDs, all with the Mac’s legendary ease of use;
- Xserve™, Apple’s powerful 1U rack-mount server that is ideal for business and education customers and a perfect complement to Apple’s UNIX-based Mac OS X Server software; and
- thirty (and growing) Apple Retail Stores throughout the U.S. that offer the best computer buying experience on the planet.
Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iMac, iBook, PowerBook, Power Mac, iPod, iPhoto, iTunes, Xserve and iMovie are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.