One of the most influential Boomers in our lifetime died yesterday. Not only did he change the way we use technology, he also taught us a lot about making great advertising.
The wonderful thing
about Apple is that they didn't waste a lot of time with stupid branding initiatives or awful "lifestyle" advertising. Steve Jobs instinctively knew that the best way to build a brand was to sell a
great product to someone.
His advertising was just features and benefits on a simple white background. His advertising let you decide the product's importance in your life.
Thinking back
to when the iPod hit the scene, at first, I had no intention of ever buying a digital music player.
How useless!
Even the name sounded uber-nerdy.
Yuck!
Then I saw the
first iPod ad. It read, "Put a thousand songs in your pocket."
Simple.
Direct.
Powerful.
I bought one the next day.
I liked the idea of having my whole music
collection wherever I went.
I'll miss Steve's great ad sense as much as I'll miss those great gadgets.
The world of technology will never be that same. And neither will advertising.