Ads for iPods offer big music gift in small package
Mon Jan 5, 9:15 AM ET
By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY
One of the biggest holiday gifts for teens and technophiles this year was one of the smallest - Apple's little white iPod, a digital music player that's 0.62 inches thick, weighing 5.6 ounces.
Consumers also snapped up gift certificates for 99-cent music downloads for the players from Apple's (AAPL) iTunes store. The certificates, sold in stores and online, come in increments of $10 to $200.
The first holiday season for iTunes - it opened for Mac users in April and for Windows in October - helped drive sales even more for popular iPods.
Overall, digital music player sales are expected to be up 67% in 2003, but the pace was accelerating. Shipments of iPods were up 140% for Apple's fourth quarter ended Sept. 27. The iPod, rolled out in 2001, has a 50% share of the market for such music players, according to market tracker The NPD Group.
The music industry clampdown on illegal online music downloads also has motivated more consumers to turn to the iPod and iTunes duo for legal satisfaction of their digital music wants. Since its introduction, iTunes has sold 25 million downloads.
"The iTunes Music Store has revolutionized the way people legally buy music online," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs (news - web sites) at the company's introduction of iTunes for Windows. Jobs and other Apple executives were unavailable for this story.
The version for Windows is just one of the many programs Apple has in place to try to make iTunes more mainstream and less "techno-stream."
It has been made available to AOL's 25 million members through a one-click registration program.
And Pepsi (PEP) is on board for a promotion that begins Feb. 1. It will give away 100 million iTunes downloads through winning redeemable codes printed on packaging for its Pepsi-Cola, Sierra Mist and Diet Pepsi soft drinks. Pepsi will introduce the promotion with Super Bowl ads.
But it's not just promotions or ease of use or a selection of 400,000 songs available from the iTunes library that have made the player and music store so popular.
A major factor in stylishly designed iPod's appeal is the "cool" factor.
Apple devoted the major chunk of its $125 million ad budget to try to reinforce that image, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR. And it's worked.
"Apple has been and continues to be one of the best marketed and advertised brands in the world," says Marian Salzman, executive vice president and chief strategy officer, Euro RSCG Worldwide. "Apple ads make people want Apple products now. They create a marketing mood of an inclusive, high-style, high-touch club."
After the Windows rollout, the company unveiled visually charged "Silhouette" outdoor and print ads by TBWA/Chiat/Day. The TV ads that followed show a similar black silhouette dancing energetically against bold pink, green, purple or yellow backgrounds. The iPod product, with its trademark white earphones and white palm-size box, pops out against the black and bright color.
One ad, with a hip-hop theme, is set against The Black Eyed Peas song Hey, Mama. Another, with an edgy rock theme, is set to Are you Gonna Be My Girl by Jet.
"The new ads do a terrific job of seducing and selling, of making the target turn on and want the product, now," Salzman says. "Interestingly, the ads also transcend nationality and age - they are about an Apple state of mind."
That fact was borne out in the results of Ad Track, USA TODAY's weekly consumer survey. While iPod has a somewhat narrower potential audience than many products, 19% of consumers familiar with the ads like them "a lot," about the Ad Track overall average of 21%. And 20% consider the ads "very effective" vs. the average of 21%.
The ads' appeal ranged across age groups. Though they were most popular with 25- to 29-year olds (29% like the ads "a lot"), 19% of consumers ages 50 to 64 gave them the top mark. Just 2% of those over 65 like the ads "a lot," however.
Though Apple's share dominates for now, competitors could close the gap. Among rivals, computer maker Dell (DELL) has entered the player market, in partnership with the Musicmatch store. And Sony (SNE) and Microsoft (MSFT) are expected to enter the digital music download market this year.
