How Effective Are Apple’s ‘Get A Mac’ TV Commercials?

If it seems as though Apple’s Get a Mac television ad campaign has been around forever, you’re close. The campaign first began in 2006, which is ages in internet years, and long in the tooth for a television commercial theme.

Yet, Apple continues to update the ads with new and fresh material which brings out the usual emotions. Mac users love them. PC users either hate them or are intrigued, hence Apple’s continued Mac sales growth. How effective are the commercials?

A lengthy, multi-year campaign is one thing, but proof of success comes from other fields. First, Apple’s Mac sales, despite and worldwide economic recession, are at historic high levels.

Second, the ads, and Apple’s Mac sales, have been so successful that competitor Microsoft responded with a series of Laptop Hunter ads, which don’t even use the words Windows or Microsoft, differentiating only the PC brand.

Another way to measure success (or, failure), is how often an ad campaign shows up in parodies. In this, Apple’s Get a Mac campaign wins in spades, spawning hundreds of similar-themed videos on YouTube.

It doesn’t take much to find parody after parody on YouTube, all based upon John Hodgman as the PC, and Justin Long as the Mac, but representing one product over another.

If it’s not PC vs. Mac, it’s fat vs. thin, or a svelt and attractive Wii vs. a not so much Sony Playstation 3.

Whatever the product or service in the parody, everyone remembers the original Get a Mac campaign. Is that the hallmark of a good ad campaign? Or, is it just an increase in sales? In this case, it’s both. Long live the parody.