Friday, June 11, 2010

Apple introduces iAd: a whole, new world of appvertising

Marketing always wins.

It's something we discuss in advertising class early and often. It doesn't matter where technology is headed or where we ultimately train our eyeballs: somewhere, somebody is making plans to sell advertising on it.

"Hey, is that my bald head you're staring at? Slap a Nike logo on it!"

It's with that reminder that Apple brings you...iAd! This is Apple's first, real attempt to get interactive advertising into iPhone and iPad apps.

If you haven't heard about it yet, it's because the announcement kinda got buried in the iPhone 4 launch.

I'll let Steve Jobs do the talking (see the videos below), but here are the highlights:
  • The secret to the ads: interactivity and emotion.
  • Apps provide one billion ad opportunities per day and "an incredible demographic."
  • The ads keep you in the apps - you don't get yanked out of your app or get redirected to the Safari browser.
  • Developers get 60 per cent of ad revenue. I wonder where the other 40 per cent goes? Hmmm...
  • The ads will NOT be designed using Adobe (another in a recent spate of "f- yous" from Apple to Adobe).
  • Advertisers can embed games, posters, video, wallpapers, and other "free stuff' to users.
Great way for advertisers and developers to get audience attention and generate revenue, or great way for Apple to charge us twice for the same app by making us watch compulsory ads for something we already paid for?

To be continued...





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

4 comments:

  1. If Apple is really going to make the most of the iAd idea, they need to consider their internet strategy and make a version of their MobileMe services free to all apple product users.

    Compelling argument for this at:

    http://m.gizmodo.com/5552953/why-arent-i-the-center-of-the-apple-universe

    But apple isn't in the habit of offering free things.

    A different precedent, however, was set in the early 2000's with its iTools set of offerings.

    James T

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  2. By "not be designed using Adobe" do you mean that it won't accept ads designed with InDesign, a program that 90% of designers and Agencies use? I think this is taking the eff you to Adobe a little too far and may affect the amount of advertising that is actually produced for this. We're not going to buy new programs just so our client can advertise on this. (Unless the client wants to pay for it, which they won't!)

    C'mon Apple and Adobe, can't we all get get along?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Apple thinks it can strong-arm Adobe into creating more efficient programs - the big Steve Jobs beef is that Adobe programs are a battery hog on the iPad.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ah, now that I've actually watched the videos, I understand. It's a Flash vs. HTML5 thing. This is not an issue, as our web guys can use both. In fact we are shying away from using Flash as much as we used to, because of things like this. Steve may have a point there!

    ReplyDelete

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