Apple Switch ad campaign

Switch was an advertising campaign launched by Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) on June 10, 2002. It featured what the company referred to as "real people" who had "switched" from the Microsoft Windows platform to the Mac. An international television and print ad campaign directed users to a website where various myths about the Mac platform were dispelled. The television commercials were directed by Errol Morris.

witchers

One of the people who appeared in the commercials, Ellen Feiss, gained immense notoriety overnight in a kind of Internet phenomenon. (Feiss was a friend of Morris's son Hamilton Morris, who also appeared in a commercial. [http://www.macobserver.com/article/2002/11/22.10.shtml] )

Localized versions of the commercials, with local "switchers", aired in Iceland and Japan.

Certain ads featured celebrities, such as Tony Hawk, DJ Q-Bert, Yo-Yo Ma, Kelly Slater, Will Ferrell, and the members of De La Soul.

The American Switchers featured are:
*Mark Gurman
*Damon Wright
*Dave Haxton
*David Carey
*De La Soul
*Dianne Druyff
*DJ Q-bert
*Ellen Feiss
*Fabiola Torres
*Gautam Godse
*Gianni Jacklone
*Hamilton Morris
*Janie Porche
*Jentry Poss
*Jeremiah Cohick
*Juan Proaño [http://youtube.com/watch?v=lS2p31okRi8]
*Kelly Slater
*Liza Richardson
*Mark Frauenfelder
*Mark Gibson
*Patrick Gant
*Richard Ziskin
*Sarah Whistler
*Tess Bethune
*Theresa McPherson
*Tony Hawk
*Will Ferrell
*Yo-Yo Ma

The Japanese Switchers featured are:
*Hiroatsu Takekura
*Keiko Tamura
*Keisuke Hanafusa
*Kiminori Hirose
*Momoko Kikuchi
*Nobuyuki Shiba
*Satoru Yokouchi
*Seiji Hongo
*Erikaa Kiyama

American Switchers (not officially released):
*Andrea Keller
*Aaron Oswald
*Bill West
*Chris Kasick
*Christopher Guest
*Dan Goodis
*Daniel Clowes
*Douglas Rushkoff
*Laura Lindgren
*Jeremy Schwed
*Marleny Gotrim
*Mary Ellen Taylor
*Mo Liebowitz
*Perry Farrell
*Rick Rosner
*Simone Austin
*Wanda Sykes

Campaign

The Switch campaign, while distinctive, was not very effective, and was gradually phased out in 2003. The advertising concept of the Mac's advantages over the PC was later revived for the Get a Mac campaign in 2006.

Due to the simplicity of the ad, many parodies surfaced on the net shortly after the campaign started. Most of the parodies lamented features they had lost due to the switch, such as the ability to play popular games and use of the right mouse button. In what seemed like a parody, but wasn't, Microsoft's marketing team created a Web page titled "Confessions of a Mac to PC Convert", but Microsoft removed the Web page because it was misleading, even to the point of having a stock photograph used. [http://news.com.com/2100-1001-961994.html]

The background music of the Switch Ads is "Spit" by John Murphy. The music was produced for TBWA Chiat Day by Kendall Marsh of Mental Music Productions, Sherman Oaks, CA.

ee also

*Get a Mac
*Think Different

External links

* [http://www.appletvads.com/category/switch-ads/ Mirror 1 of Apple Switch adverts]
* [http://www.esm.psu.edu/Faculty/Gray/switch-ads.html Mirror 2 of Apple Switch adverts]
* [http://plex.us/videos/switch.html Mirror 3 of Apple Switch adverts]
* [http://www.ellenfeiss.net/commercials.php Mirror 4 of Apple Switch adverts]
* [http://plex.us/videos/switch_parody.html Spoofs of Apple Switch adverts]
* [http://www.happynowhere.net/mac_parody.php Hunter Cressall's Mac Switch spoof]
* [http://phonelosers.org/switch/ Spoof switch ads] by the Phone Losers of America
* [http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2002/jun/10switch.html Press release from the launch]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20041117041724/http://errolmorris.com/commercials/apple.html Errol Morris had some of the unreleased spots on his site] via the Internet Archive
* [http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://apple.com/switch/ads Apple's Switch ads page] via WayBack Machine