Jobs didn't like the iPod silhouettes with Apple
What is striking is that Steve Jobs did not like the commercials with silhouettes at all. When the Chiat/Day advertising agency came up with the idea, Jobs turned it down. “It's just not Apple,” he said. It therefore looked very different from previous Apple commercials, which usually consisted of a white page with a product photo and a witty slogan. It was indeed not typical Apple. But it would become one of the iconic features of the iPod: everyone recognized the white ears and when you see such a colored image, you immediately know: that is the iPod.
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Apple Music playlist: iPod Generation | Spotify playlist: iPod Generation
These are the songs you'll hear:
0:05 Propellerheads – Take California
1:05 N.E.R.D. – Rock Star (Jason Nevin Mix)
1:50 Jet – Are You Gonna be My Girl
2:36 The Black Eyed Peas – Hey Mama
3:21 Feature Cast – Channel Surfing
3:52 Steriogram – Walkie Talkie Man
4:23 U2 – Vertigo (repeats at
6:24 with higher volume)
6:55 The Vines – Ride
7:26 Daft Punk – Technologic
7:57 Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.
8:27 Ozomatli – Saturday Night
8:58 Eminem – Lose Yourself
9:28 U2 – Original of the Species (Live in Chicago)
9:58 The Resource feat. Jimmy Napes – Gimme That
10:28 Caesars/Caesars Palace – Jerk It Out
10:58 Bob Dylan – Someday Baby
11:29 Rhinocerosis – Cubicle
11:59 Cut Chemist – The Audience is Listening Theme Song
12:30 Prototypes – Who's Gonna Sing
13:01 Wynton Marsalis – Sparks
13:32 The Fratellis – Flathead (repeats at 14:02)
14:32 Paul McCartney – Dance Tonight
15:03 Wolfmother – Love Train
15:33 Feist – 1 2 3 4
16:03 Guantic & Nickodemus feat. Pace & The Candela All Stars – Mi Swing es Tropical
16:32 CSS – Music is My Hot, Hot Sex
17:03 Mary J. Blige – Work That
17:33 The Bird and the Bee – La La La
18:03 Brendan Benson – What I'm Looking For
18:33 Coldplay – Viva la Vida
19:03 The Ting Tings – Shut Up and Let Me Go
19:33 The Asteroids Galaxy Tour – Around the Bend
20:03 Chairlift – Bruises
20:33 Franz Ferdinand – No You Girls
21:03 Miss Li – Bourgeois Shangri-La
21:33 Tommy Sparks – She's Got Me Dancin'
22:03 Chappo – Come Home
22:33 Cake – Short Skirt/Long Jacket
23:03 Grouplove – Tongue Tied
23:33 Willy Moon – Yeah Yeah
The anecdote about the iPod commercials can be read in the book ‘Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success’, a book by Ken Segall. Segall was creative director at Chiat/Day and in that capacity worked closely with Steve Jobs at both NeXT and Apple. He worked on the most famous advertising campaigns, but as expected, Jobs was not the easiest person to convince.
The ad agency kept pushing, and Jobs eventually came to appreciate the colored figures. It often happened that Jobs turned down a campaign that eventually became successful. At the Mac vs. PC campaign rejected many storylines, and even the Think Different campaign Jobs initially called “sh*t”. So you see: not all successes can be attributed to Steve Jobs. Sometimes employees had to push really hard to get their ideas through.
Returning to the silhouette commercials again, Jobs was concerned that the product wasn't shown clearly enough and that they weren't explaining what you can do with an iPod. As a solution, copywriter James Vincent came up with the slogan '1,000 songs in your pocket'. Jobs would later claim it was his idea.
Apple announced earlier this week that it would be discontinuing the iPod. The iPod touch is the only iPod in the range, which will be sold until stocks run out. Americans have already gone to the store en masse to buy up the last stock. Europeans appear to be less fanatical: the iPod touch is still available in our and neighboring countries.