Samsung to Apple: "How's it feel to be The Man?"

I thought about calling this post “The Ascent of Apple: Textbook Hippie Tech.” But I was afraid only a small percentage of people would get the reference. Then again, if Samsung has done anything right, going obscure might be a good thing.

From an advertising perspective, the Oscars are something of a sequel to the Super Bowl: the next big event-television moment that can make or break an advertising campaign. (Apparently, the Oscars have taken on the moniker of “The Super Bowl for Women.” Which is strange, considering the real Super Bowl for Women is probably still, um, the Super Bowl.)

For me, the starkest Super Bowl/Oscars ad connection seemed to be Samsung’s Tim Burton spot, which is a fitting companion to the Paul Rudd/Seth Rogan spot which ran during the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl ad:

At New Think Creative, we loved it. Definitely a highlight of the ads that night. But on the Ad Meter, it finished near the middle of the pack. What went wrong? Well, possibly nothing.

Much as the GoDaddy gross-out ad may have been engineered to offend, the Samsung ad may have been engineered to exclude. While many of us were giddy over seeing Rudd and Rogan featured in a high-profile ad, those actors have a certain in-crowd vibe which goes under the radar for a lot of viewers. It’s possible that a large portion of the country watched the ad, turned to their friends, and said, “Who the hell were those guys?”

Was this a mistake? Or a concerted effort to cast stars who only the “cool people” would know?

At the Oscars, we got our answer:

Anecdotal reviews were similar to the Super Bowl ad: “I really like it… But are you sure everyone even knows who Tim Burton is?”

First the Rogan/Rudd ad. Now this:

·         Tim Burton.

·         Zombie Unicorns.

·         Unshaven guys with floofy hair wearing ties.

·         LOTS of people wearing glasses.

It can’t be a coincidence that this hipster-centered campaign comes in the aftermath of Steve Jobs’s death and the perceived stagnation of new innovations at Apple.

In this century, Apple has owned the “only the coolest kids have it” image. But although it was recently their greatest strength, the in-crowd chic has become the thing that Apple lacks. Apple is the establishment, now. Your dad owns an iPhone/iPad because it’s the only smartphone/tablet he’s heard of. Not cool, man.

Samsung’s new ads may have missed the mark with mainstream America. But they may not care. Believe it or not, they may be aiming mostly for the people who think different.