Steve Jobs changed industries. But he also had an eye for great ad campaigns. As the world looks towards a new era at Apple, we wanted to take a look at the most-watched ads under Jobs' leadership at Apple.
We looked at the ads that audiences actually choose to watch, not interruptive pre-roll or auto-play ads. An actual person needs to press the play button for the view to count. Each ad is measured on a True Reach basis, which combines the brand-driven and audience-driven clips from across the Web.
If you had to guess which Apple ad is the most-watched of all time, you'd probably guess the famous 1984 spot. It's be called one of the best ads of all time, so you'd be in good company. But you'd be wrong.
1984 is Apple's second most-watched ad of all time. The first? The iPhone 4 FaceTime campaign, featuring a six-minute introduction to Apple's video calling feature, FaceTime. With nearly 600 clips associated with the campaign, iPhone 4 FaceTime has over 17.3 million views. The iconic 1984 has 10.3 million views.
Despite coming in second place, 10.3 million views for an ad campaign from over 15 years ago is impressive. Apple no longer puts paid media behind it. It's simply driving views with Earned Media.
Besides 1984, the only other campaign to make the list not from the past couple years is Think Different, which was initially released in 1997. Featuring national icons, or "the crazy ones" like Einstein and Muhammad Ali, the campaign comes in seventh place with nearly 3 million views.
The popular Get a Mac campaign comes in third with over 8 million views. Before Apple canceled this campaign back in May 2010, it drove about 100,000 views per week. Today, it averages over 25,000 views a week.
Five campaigns come courtesy of Apple's latest blockbuster, the iPad. Surprisingly, iPad 2's Introducing iPad 2 has topped the original iPad spot, Meet iPad, which was met with explosive anticipation by the press and the public. iPad Is, iPad Apps, and We Believe, also make the list. The iPad has more ads on this list than any other Apple product.
Perhaps as a sign of the times and the new dominance of the iPhone and iPad, the iPod and its once ubiquitous Silhouettes campaign, didn't make the list.
Which Apple ad is your favorite? Let us know in the comments section!
For more insights into the world of social video advertising, be sure to join our Ad Age webcast The Art & Science of Earned Media, September 8 at 2:00 ET.
The Top 10 Apple Ads of All Time
| Rank | Campaign |
Product
|
True Reach™
|
Watch
|
|---|
|
1
|
iPhone 4 FaceTime
|
iPhone
|
17,369,058
|
|
|
2
|
1984
|
Mac
|
10,268,252
|
|
|
3
|
Get A Mac
|
Mac
|
8,069,049
|
|
|
4
|
Introducing iPad 2
|
iPad
|
6,505,428
|
|
|
5
|
Meet iPad
|
iPad
|
3,598,966
|
|
|
6
|
iPad Apps
|
iPad
|
3,363,178
|
|
|
7
|
Think Different
|
Mac
|
2,957,372
|
|
|
8
|
iPad is
|
iPad
|
2,796,038
|
|
|
9
|
iPhone 4 FaceTime See it
|
iPhone
|
2,385,744
|
|
|
10
|
We Believe
|
iPad
|
2,345,477
|
|
