Historical archive
Posters, print ads and television spots that told each product's story to the world, ordered by date and connected to its product page. Every piece links to its source; audiovisual material is referenced, not copied.
Product campaign
The July 1976 issue of SCCS Interface magazine carried what auction house RR Auction describes as the first advertisement for the Apple-1: the computer at $666.66, presented as a "fully assembled, tested & burned-in microprocessor board". The same issue carried the article "Comparing Apples and Oranges", which identifies Jobs as director of marketing and Wozniak as director of engineering.
Catalogue page: Apple-1Product campaign
The commercial that introduced the Macintosh first aired in December 1983 on KMVT in Twin Falls, Idaho, so it could qualify for the Clio awards; its first national airing came on January 22, 1984, in the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. Made by Chiat/Day (Hayden, Thomas and Clow) and directed by Ridley Scott, with athlete Anya Major; Apple's board hated it at the preview screening; even so, Advertising Age named it the commercial of the 1980s.
Catalogue page: MacintoshProduct campaign · Macintosh Office
A year later Apple returned to the Super Bowl with "Lemmings", the Chiat/Day commercial that launched the Macintosh Office: blindfolded executives marching in single file off a cliff. The reception was very negative: it was seen as insulting to potential customers, per Wikipedia and Jay Chiat's obituary in The New York Times, and Apple did not advertise on the Super Bowl again until 1999.
Brand campaign
The TBWA\Chiat\Day campaign that relaunched the brand after Jobs' return: slogan by Craig Tanimoto, script by Rob Siltanen, and the one-minute "Crazy Ones" spot featuring 17 twentieth-century figures in black and white, narrated on air by Richard Dreyfuss. The portrait posters were produced in 1997-1998, and the campaign won the 1998 Emmy for best commercial. Video: link pending verification.
Brand campaign
Eight ads featuring real people who had switched from Windows to the Mac - "these are not actors", Jobs said in the announcement - directed by documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, with print ads in Time and Newsweek. It was Apple's biggest campaign since Think Different; one spot turned teenager Ellen Feiss into an internet phenomenon, and the campaign was phased out during 2003.
2003 iPod family; 2001 page as a family reference
Black silhouettes dancing against brightly colored backgrounds, the iPod and its earphones picked out in white: the TBWA\Chiat\Day campaign began in September 2003 on Los Angeles billboards and in print, and moved to television on October 8, 2003 with spots directed by Dave Meyers, the first set to "Hey Mama" by the Black Eyed Peas. It advertised the 2003 iPod family; it won the 2004 Gold Clio. Video: link pending verification.
Catalogue page: iPod (2001)Brand campaign
"Hello, I'm a Mac" / "And I'm a PC": the TBWA\Media Arts Lab campaign starring Justin Long and John Hodgman, directed by Phil Morrison and the direct successor to Switch, had its own versions in the UK (Mitchell and Webb) and Japan (the Rahmens duo). Slate found it smug, a criticism recorded by Wikipedia.
Sources are linked; advertisements and videos are not reproduced. This archive separates advertising from product presentations and keynotes.