1984
Apple1984
1984 is a 1984 60-second television commercial for Apple, created by Chiat/Day, Los Angeles.
The line
On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like "1984."
Why it works
A product launch staged as dystopian cinema. Chiat/Day cast IBM's dominance as Orwell's Big Brother and the Macintosh as the hammer that shatters it — a 60-second film that mentions no features and shows no product in use. It aired nationally only once, during Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984 (after a quiet late-December 1983 airing in Twin Falls, Idaho to qualify for that year's awards), and the news coverage it generated effectively invented the Super Bowl ad as an annual cultural event. It is studied as the archetype of positioning by enemy: define what you are against, and let scale, craft and a single airing do the rest. It won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1984 and entered the Clio Hall of Fame in 1995; Ad Age ranked the campaign No. 12 among the top 100 campaigns of the 20th century.
Techniques
- Comparison Casts the dominant rival as Orwell's Big Brother and the new computer as the hammer that shatters it, positioning the brand by its enemy.
- Storytelling Stages the launch as a short dystopian film whose climax shatters Big Brother, mentioning no features and showing no product in use.
- Fear appeal Conjures an Orwellian future of conformity under Big Brother and offers the new computer as the reason that future will not arrive.
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