Aleksey Narko

Student’s id: 57830

Creativity in Advertising

Project 1: Comparison of 2 ads.

“Here’s to the Crazy ones” VS “Everyone is doing it”

“The Crazy ones” ad of Apple1

“Everyone is doing it” ad of Call of Duty game

2

These advertisements were chosen by me due to their complete difference. Both of them are videos,

however showing totally different approaches to advertising.

The first one is the ad by Apple Company, which has a very powerful message and shows the

revolutionary thinkers: Albert Einstein, Muhammad Ali, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Martin Luther

King, Maria Callas, Richard Branson, Bob Dylan, Thomas Edison, Pablo Picasso, Mahatma Gandhi,

Alfred Hitchcock, Amelia Earhart - all of them were "involved" in the TV spot, which became the

legend of advertising.

Another one, called “Everyone is doing it”, which was banned and never shown on TV, shows an old

man, which looks like discussing sex, however uses double meanings of the words talking about an

online game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2”. The Transcript of the ad is as follows: “Everyone is

doing it. Guys are doing it with girls. Girls are doing it with other girls. Some get together in groups

and do it. Some even do it with complete strangers. Some people like to do it hardcore. Some people

like to watch others doing it. Over 20 million people are doing it. Safe to say, everyone’s doing it.”

1 Image taken from: http://www.catspawdynamics.com/heres-to-the-crazy-ones/

2 Shortcut from advertisement “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Everyone Is Doing It (Banned)”

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7NgLArJidY

Both of the ads are using the concept of storytelling. The first advertisement presents a story based on

the examples of the famous people, who were crazy enough to “change things” and “push the human

race forward”. The short videos of the great thinkers are shown, while Steve Jobs, at the background,

tells us a story about them, connecting it to Apple Company, which is also “Thinking Different” and

changes the lives of the millions with the help of their revolutionary products.

The second one shows an old man. He is describing the gaming process in the way that most of the

viewers think that he is talking about sex in a dirty way. Despite the sex negative image he is

explaining how most of the gamers see “Call of duty” when they play it: “In groups”, “hardcore”, full

of blood, scary. He describes the whole process of gaming, environment while playing and emotions of

the participants.

Apple ad of 1997 uses the concept of brand icons a lot. Despite the fact, that the 1 minute footage

shows 17 most influential people of the 20th

century, which were also shown at “Think different”

campaign posters, the story of “the crazy ones” is told by the voice of Steve Jobs, the CEO and the

greatest visionary of Apple. Steve was playing the role of Apple brand icon from the very start of the

company till its death and even after it. “Everyone is doing it” ad is not using the concept of icons. It

shows the unknown old man, which appears only in one ad of the brand.

Both of the advertisements use the Unique Selling Proposition technique. In the case of Apple it is

used by showing Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Muhammad Ali and others, the “crazy ones” who are

changing the world. The ad inspires the viewers to be crazy, different and break the rules and buy

Apple, that will help the owner to become genius. The ad enforces the viewer to stand out of the crowd

and buy Apple product instead of the one from the competitors. The advertisement of the Call of Duty

game is emphasizing the fact that over 20 million of people all over the world is playing the game,

which means “everyone”. The technique is being used in order to show that millions are playing this

game encourage even more people to join and have fun.

The advertisement of the new Call of Duty game is a perfect example of AIDA model. First of all the

advertisement, according to the information from the internet, was banned (explicit 1 minute version)

which brings extra attention of the audience and attracts people even more than the normal ad. “As

long as you get yourself plenty of press, any banned ad can be extremely successful online” says Chloe

Della Costa from Imediaconnection3. In this case it attracted more than 750 000 unique users to watch

the ad.4 Later on the ad makes the customer interested what “everyone is doing”. At the same time the

speech is based in order to convince the customer to desire the product, by saying how fun it is and

emphasizing the number of people active in the game. Later on the advertisement is finished with the

logo of the game, showing the stimulus package for Xbox Live users which makes the viewers act in

3 Source: http://www.imediaconnection.com/printpage/printpage.aspx?id=30890

4 The number is taken from the amount of users, who watched the ad on youtube. Source:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7NgLArJidY

order to buy the game. Apple ad, instead, is using Aida model only partially. It brings audience’s

attention and interest by showing famous people, but is not showing the actual product (MAC in this

case), to be desired, and doesn’t enforce any action from the customer’s side. It only shows the

company’s logo and slogan “Think Different” at the end. However, even partially unfinished, many

viewers, I guess, went to the shops to check the new revolutionary machines.

Both of the companies use psychology in their advertising spots. In the case of Apple, it is a clear

message to be different from others and change the world by using company products, while in the

case of Call of Duty ad there is a completely different point- “enjoy having fun in a big community!”

To Sum up, I would say that those two ads are at the top of my favorite. They were created at a

different time (1997 and 2009), for different products (computers and games) and use different

techniques (“be unique” and “be like everybody”), but have something in common-they make the

viewer watch them till the end and keep them in mind willing to buy the products in the future.

Literature:

Apple-Think Different. 1997. Video.

Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmwXdGm89Tk

Belch M., Belch G., (2003) Advertising and Promotion, Irwin McGraw-Hill, Boston

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Everyone Is Doing It (Banned).Video

Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7NgLArJidY

Costa,D.C.,2012.” How to cash in on banned ads”

Available from: http://www.imediaconnection.com/printpage/printpage.aspx?id=30890

Guntheral, 2010. “Everyone is doing it. Stimulus Package advertisement”

Available from: http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=2537

Hormby,T., 2007. 'Think Different': The Ad Campaign that Restored Apple's Reputation.

Available from: http://lowendmac.com/orchard/07/apple-think-different.html