DJ iPod on the 1s and 2s!

Here's an example of a great, all-inclusive, universal advertisement-- the Apple iPod + iTunes marketing campaign.  In these television commercials, we watch silhouetted figures of young people dancing energetically to some current pop tune.  The three examples I've posted play songs from the rock and roll, reggae, and R&B musical genres.  Each dancing silhouette has a white iPod plugged into his or her ears and clipped to the hip.  

The concept of these ads is great because it deals directly with the multicultural issue.  How do you market a product that anyone can identify with and see themselves buying, owning, and enjoying?  You make the actors silhouettes, and then viewers of the commercials can imagine themselves rockin' out, jammin', or be-boppin' to their favorite song (that they purchased from iTunes and downloaded to their iPod).  

And the silhouettes resemble real young people--some have long straight hair, short curly hair, afros, and are wearing loose-fitting T-shirts and pants or shorts, skirts, Chucks, Nike dunks, and of course, the iPod.  Because of these characteristics, a viewer knows that there is cultural diversity among the figures, but instead of looking at other people enjoying the iPod and iTunes, you see yourself.

These ads reflect the music, the people, and the style of this time period in American culture.  And the commercials are fun, post-modern (with the fast camera cuts and wild angles), and visually appealing.  Only three colors are used: black, for the silhouettes, white for the product, and some bright neon color (like pink or green or yellow) for the background.  

There's one ad that features the song "Mi Swing Es Tropical," a reggae tune, and you can tell this one is culturally specific because of the song, the outline of the figures, and the soca dance moves.  It's the cultural of the Caribbean islands, but it still has the universal and inclusive effect of the other ads.

Simple, basic, and not a lot of fancy graphics or production, but effective because the ads speak to anyone; even if you're an older silhouette, you might watch these ads and have flashbacks to your youth.  Clearly, people under thirty are not the only ones buying and using iPods, so the ads must be working across age range as well.

The creators of the ads even added celebrity appearances to the ad.  For example, Mary J. Blige, as a silhouette, performs her current single "Work It" while a group of silhouettes do a choreographed dance behind her.  I think it's genius that they even mask the specific physical appearance of this recognizable R&B singer and made her blend in, as one, with the other figures in the commercial.  It unifies the piece and continues the theme of "this could be you."