More than 40 Lessons from 40 Years of Apple Ads

 via @ianfiason from @TheMissionHQ 40 Lessons from 40 Years of Apple Ads – The Mission – Medium

1. When you’re introducing something new, keep it simple.
2. Provide social proof from buyers.
3. Ask for feedback and don’t be afraid to launch weird contests.
4. If there is a reputable national or historical figure from history you can tie your product to, do it.
5. Don’t be afraid of tackling hot button issues if your intentions are good, and your product or service can help
6. Promote a diversity of people and ideas.
7. If you were the first mover with a product or service, tell everyone about it.
8. Pack a powerful Call To Action 
9. Be a bit radical with your ads, but don’t insult people.
10. Distill your message into what your product or service helps people do.
11. If you need to make sales, you need to create a campaign (or content) that will help your sales teams sell.
12. Sometimes those who have been ousted from the company have the best ideas about how to improve it.
13. If you want to create a new market, beware of being too early, and you might have to start advertising it decades in advance.
14. Keep it simple.
15. Pick the broadest misconception that’s stopping people from trying your product or service; show your users how easy trying your product or service could be.
16. How early adopters and trendsetters are using your product or service might be the most interesting thing your ads can depict.
17. The ad exemplifies the importance of explaining what you’re selling through using similes and metaphors.
18. Show what life is like before your product, and what it’s like afterward.
19. Influencer marketing works. Find a macro question your early adopters have, and show them how influencers that speak to them attempt to answer it. … Not just about your product, but about life, too.
20. Product placement works, and if you’re upfront about it, you can build and maintain trust with your audience.
21. Choose to celebrate or associate with celebrities that are famous because of their substance. … If you associate with higher qualities (courage, imagination, creations), your ads will be far more evergreen. People will attack you for your audacity, but at least you’re promoting great role models.
22. Pick out the number one alternative to your product or service. Then show why your product is a better alternative.
23. If you help reduce the level of fear someone has, they’ll be grateful for a long time.
24. Remind your customers that with your product, they can take something they already have to the next level. Show them going from the raw material to a finished product in a minute.
25. If your product or service can help people reach their ideal state, don’t be afraid to show it off.
26. Create an image highlighting the differences in your products. … If they see them as being different, they’ll seek to understand those differences and learn more about your offering.
27. By using a silhouette and many different selections of music, Apple increased their chances that people would individually connect with this ad.
28. When you’re out of ideas, or on a tight budget, repurpose an ad from the past. Apple remastered their 1984 campaign and republished it.
29. Show that your product or service is in demand.
30. If your product or service solves a real need, don’t be afraid to tell people to get it.
31. Suggests that there is a new way to do something you do every day (answer the phone).
32. Pick the one attribute of your product that is most remarkable. Then present it with the right context that helps show how remarkable it is.
33. Think of all the different things people use a feature of your product to achieve, and show them being addressed. It brings up the idea that no matter what your question, we have the answer.
34. Wherever possible, show what your thing can do… Show, don’t tell.
35. Remind people of features that makes your offering unique.
36. Don’t exaggerate or oversell. (This ad pushed the bounds of what Siri could do, irritating some people.)
37. Show how your product or service can be a part of reaching higher ideals.
38. There are certain reminders which we need to hear often. This ad focuses on one, “You’re more powerful than you think.”
39. There is something your potential customers know they need to be doing more of. Show how you can help your customers fight that battle.
40. Once you have a backlog of content, show it all off in a remix.
41. Show people what life would be like in the absence of your product or service.
42. Most people might not get everything out of your product or features that they could. That’s okay, but don’t be afraid to show them what an extreme/fully optimized use case might look like.