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Comment by bumbledraven | Hacker News Reader

I thought this ad was beautiful. It reminds me of Don's "Carousel" pitch from Mad Men (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus) the way it focuses on experiences and feelings.

  This is it.
  This is what matters.
  The experience of a product.
  How will it make someone feel?
  Will it make life better?
  Does it deserve to exist?
  We spend a lot of time on a few great things. 
  Until every idea we touch enhances each life it touches.
  You may rarely look at it, but you'll always feel it.
  This is our signature, and it means everything.

Apple is clear about their design philosophy and bold enough to state it directly. I think the author just doesn't like that they are proud of being so good at what they do.

(credit to http://curi.us for having some of these thoughts first)

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The big problem I see with the ad is that it tells me what they're signature is.

I'm not going to jump in on the "Apple is over because Steve Jobs is gone train" but I'd argue that up until now, they just had a signature - they didn't tell us about it.

After all, a signature is supposed to be recognized on it's own. If you have to explain the importance of it, it sort of loses some of the significance - right?

"Think different" was their signature. They spent an incredible amount of money in the late 1990's and early 2000's telling us this.

That was their slogan.

A "signature" and what I'd argue they're trying to say here - is something built into their product that you see and say "oh, that's apple." Up till now, they've had that, but never felt the need to say "this is our signature" - because it was obvious.

"Designed by Apple in California" is a slogan. I get what you are saying, but I disagree. The whole "Jobs is dead, so is Apple" idea that has been portrayed in the press warrants a response from post-Jobs Apple. This is it. Its in a very similar vein to the "Think Different" campaign actually.

Exactly. Just with all other good writing, you have to show, not tell. Those ads with people talking on Facetime for example were great - they showed how Apple's products made life nicer without actually saying "see how your life will be nicer". These new ads unfortunately go the other way.

Now that can still be OK. If for example Apple is actually trying to change the discourse about how people judge devices - "don't judge devices by how much they cost, or their spec sheet, judge them about how much they improve your life" then an occassional ad that explicitly makes people think about things in that way can be effective. It's not about selling an iPhone, it's about getting people to think about these issues when they are in the shop buying a phone, rather than simply just opting for the cheapest phone they salesperson shows them.

Still, it grates. I think they could have got that message across without explicitly stating the message.

This is what matters in life .. the 'experience of a product'?

What the..

You're twisting the ad. They didn't say "this is what matters in life", they said "this is what matters". It's an ad for a consumer products company, and the implication is pretty clearly "this is what matters when designing products", not "this is what matters in life".

I think when they show it in every life situation (except on a funeral, maybe), it's safe to assume that the general idea is 'in life'.

Oh - I thought you were criticising the execrable copy.

"The experience of a product."

It's so vague it's meaningless.

Have you been outside in the last half century?

This idea is the foundation of our society, our economy, our entire conception of ourselves. I guess the only difference is that these days the idea is so deep into the water supply, they don't have to be coy about it any more.

There are many things this should make you feel, but surprise isn't one of them.

Maybe not all parts of the world have been so deeply 'californicated by Apple' ;-)

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