Okay, let’s all put on our ad executive hats for a minute.

As I was walking down the street in Parnell, Auckland the other day, I saw this ad for the Air New Zealand Fashion Week in the distance. As I got closer, my first thought was, of course, “Damn, she’s hot!” I then saw what the ad was for and thought “Oh, it’s just a fashion ad… big whoop.” Then as the background became clearer, I was thinking “That’s clever, they tied in a runway for both fashion and airplanes… cute.” So overall, a decent ad, but after I walked about 10 meters past it, EUREKA!!! That’s when I went back to take a photo and started drafting this post in my head.

So do you see what’s really cool about the ad? (Hint: think about it from a typical guy’s persepctive.)

Okay, if you don’t see it, here it is: a large, powerful, and unstoppable smooth shaft thrusting from behind toward a luscious and beautiful woman. Need I say more?

I personally think this is very cool, but you have to ask yourself whether the ad really suits the objectives of the Air NZ Fashion Week. I certainly don’t know for sure, but would the kind of people who find this ad appealing (e.g. me) also be the kind of people likely to attend a fashion event? Seems questionable at least.

But on the other hand, the ad was obviously good enough to get me to write about it and consequently raise awareness of the event (even though it’s over at this point.) So maybe that was the point, and if so, job well done!

I’ll let you decide the verdict – just leave a comment.

(And for extra points, if someone from Air NZ or the Fashion Week staff leaves a comment within 48 hours – a totally reasonable marketing effort – they will have my eternal admiration.)

The main reason why Apple is so great is that besides their technical superiority and advertising campaigns which accurately portray the benefits of their products, they really care more about and do more than any other computer company to serve their customers. The first rule of business is to know that you’re a business and do what your customers want, and while certainly not perfect, Apple does this better than anyone out there.

After “switching” from PC to Mac just about a year ago, I recently had to take my Mac into the shop for a minor problem that was mostly my fault for causing. Even so, it only took them 5 days to take care of everything and get it back to me. That’s just amazing in my book, especially because I’m in New Zealand (where Apple doesn’t have a corporate presence) and it usually takes 5 days just to download an mp3 here. It was extremely obvious that Apple had successfully spread their customer-centric culture all they way through their outsourced supply chain, even down here in remote New Zealand.

As a point of contrast, I own a Nokia 6600 phone and have been trying with no luck to upgrade the phone’s software for some time now. First, they don’t even have a way for Mac users to do this. Not a huge deal. Second, their isn’t even a download option for the Windows version of the upgrade on their official website, and Googling didn’t yield anything either. This is getting pretty annoying. So I go down to the Vodafone shop (which sold me the phone) and asked if they could do it for me – “Yeah, but we have to send it away and it will cost $40.” Give me a break!

Just in case you’re wondering, if you own an iPhone, all you have to do to upgrade your phone is plug it into your PC or Mac and press a button. This is how I think Apple is going to dominate the mobile phone business – not by having the phone with the most technical features, but rather provide what customers really want: simplicity and customer service.

I’m not realistically expecting to change anyone’s mind on this issue, but it’s unfortunate that more Apple lovers aren’t able to better articulate what I think Apple’s real strength is. But for all of the critics out there who say “Apple’s just really good at marketing”, I invite you to look at the photo below of someone about to buy their iPhone. Look at the big cheesy smile on the guy’s face. Then please state in the comments another example of a company which has such faithful and happy customers, but doesn’t have a quality product line to back it up.

As much as I’d like to think it’s possible, I just don’t think any advertising campaign in the world can independently invoke this level of emotion in anyone. There’s got to be something more.