@Nathan, it feels real. I think the “demo” approach really lures people. It eases the “new tech gadget anxiety” for the non-techy customers.

@Erin, I’m beginning to see a trend in presentation slides. I see more of Job’s keynote style: simple messages, big and bold imagery. I haven’t see bullet filled slides in a while.

@David, I can’t think of any. That’s why I said other products’ commercials are very forgettable. Example: while searching for the Youtube links for these commercials, they all seem interchangeable to me. And I don’t remember which ad was for which phone. Obviously they didn’t stress the product enough. Apple’s ads have a consistent format, it’s a well thought out campaign.

@Will, the original iPod campaign definitely was aimed for the “hipness.” When iPod Nano came out, the commercials became a lot more user centric, as seen here. I find Apple products are “easy and intuitive” already, as you said, the commercials make them even easier.

@Stef, the Mac vs. Pc ads are to promote the whole Apple brand. I was a PC user at the time too. I wasn’t offended because I didn’t think it was targeting the PC users, but the PC as a life style. After all, Apple’s trying to sell an experience.

While many Mac users I know were delighted by these commercials, I found them not very appealing (I wasn’t a Mac user at the time they started.) I’ve always asked myself if this was the right advertising strategy: insulting a product owned by your potential customers, even if they hated some aspects of it.

Going back further… well, their ads have always focused on the product making them fun or cute, or on the the company image as “different”. It’s clear from the iPad ads they have taken all that they have learned from these past efforts and perfected their technique. The biggest success here, as you point out, is that those who watch the ads will subconsciously learn the use of the device and when they test one out in a store will find it so “easy and intuitive”.

On what we geeks saw in the ad: Well, in the promo video Apple had they showed a video of a dog surfing in browser. Let me repeat that, it was IN BROWSER. You could then pop it out full screen if you wanted and close it down all with a neat transition zoom effect. This latest commercial did not show that. I am really keen to see if they’ve made it so videos can be played without jumping out of the current app and into the video app. If they do let us do that then there will be so many more apps and UI’s that can be created (and hopefully all this will be put on the iPhone).

Here’s the device. Here’s *you* using it. Here’s the date when you can buy it.

Another ad is Blackberry’s “All you need is love” spot. The worst, it’s all motion graphics, happy images, goodwill of the Beatles, but no concrete demonstration of why the product is good.

What’s amazing about Apple ads is that they can demo the software, and make it look great in a short spot, but unlike say a fake Hollywood OS, Apple’s stuff looks and feels great all the way down and for the long haul.

Phone ads are like real estate listings. Ads with real demos are like listings with tangible specific qualitative claims like “granite kitchen counters.” Ads with celebrities and feel good images are like listings that say “charming!” and “great opportunity!”