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  Blog \Blôg\, n. [Jrg, fr. Jrg. "Web-log".
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Monday, September 8, 2003
16:54 - Get these people an ad agency

(top) link
I think I might know why Apple has come up with that whole new ad packaging for the iPod (the silhouettes of people holding iPods against multicolored backgrounds).

Up until this past weekend, this billboard, south of San Francisco on 101 southbound, just north of the intersection with 280, was an iTunes Music Store ad, featuring that gorgeous starburst guitar and the AppleMusic.com URL.



Then, about five miles further on, just north of the San Francisco Airport, appeared this:



As parodies go, this one is particularly vicious... and particularly inept. It presumes the viewer has seen the TV ad with Tommy Lee smashing Apple's guitar on the stage and screeching like a banshee. But for those who haven't-- what's the message here? As well as Chris and I can determine, it's "BuyMusic.com-- just like the Apple store, only it's broken!"

But now I notice that the AppleMusic.com domain is just a redirect to the iTunes 4 page (which has a section describing the features of the iTMS, but the iconic guitar is nowhere in sight), and all the billboards about the service have been replaced with the new multicolored iPod campaign.

I wonder what happened. I figured the AppleMusic campaign had a lot of life left in it, and that guitar was poised to be one of the most tasteful, most recognizable, most respectable icons in technology branding history.

If they've retired it already purely because of BuyMusic.com's infantile smear, then the latter isn't just guilty of iconicide. They're guilty of doing what happens so often in the technology world: if you can't copy Apple's innovations successfully, just ridicule them until they quit.

#$%^#$&**^, I say.

UPDATE: Of course, the iPod faces some stiff competition from this guy's head.

UPDATE: Kris notes...

Apple changing the iTMS ads Is a great idea, if only to make BuyMusic.com come up with a new ad campaign. FAST. Otherwise, like you pointed out, what do all those lonely broken guitars say about BuyMusic to the uninformed? And if they parody the new ads... what are they parodying? The iPod, which they don't compete against? Let's see if BuyMusic is fast with their fingers because this is an old fashion music duel!

Awright! Battle of the Bands, only with distributors instead of bands!

If only the two companies had different exclusive artists that they could pit against each other in a week-long battle royale!


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© Brian Tiemann