No stuff just fluff: Comparing Blackberry and Apple ads

It is amazing how some companies just refuse to listen and learn from others and are hell bent on being obstinate and pig-headed. At least this was the thought that ran in my head when I watched the promo ad for the upcoming Blackberry 6 OS.

It's kind of a given at this point that Apple is the unsung hero for all 'visual' thinkers. Every Apple show or unveiling is accompanied with oohs and aahs from bloggers on visual presentation, and rightly so. Apple (and some say, Steve Jobs) has refined the art of presentation and is constantly crediting for removing presentations from the shackles of bullets.

Much as I disagree with the tactics used by Apple in their iProducts, I can't help but appreciate their inventive ads - the ads embody the general rules that are identified in Heaths' Made to Stick book. In the book, the authors suggest that in order for an idea to stick in the viewer's mind, it should have the following qualities.

1. Simple
2. Unexpected
3. Concrete
4. Credible
5. Emotional
6. Story

Most of Apple's presentations and advertisements follow this format. They are simple, have an unexpected message (mostly related to the new product), have concrete information, comes from a credible source (in this case, authoritative, at least), has a cute little - most times youthful - song  that appeals to the target audience, and has a nice flow from start to finish (sometimes with a story).



This simple (well, simple in thought, but not simplistic) format has made superstars out of most Apple products. You would think that the competitors to Apple will take to heart what worked for the company and try to improve on it. But nooooooo, that's apparently not how the world works.

Case in point is the new promo bit from Research in Motion for their Blackberry 6 OS in their trade show. I like Blackberry. It's a great product - does what it's supposed to do and is fairly open to developers (better than Apple at least) and does not nickel and dime you for everything.

It is no secret that the iPhone, with all its billion apps, still has significant drawbacks as a decent technology product - lack of multitasking, lack of Flash, relatively low quality camera, etc. While the current OS (5.0) shares some of the problems, the new OS apparently does multitasking and a lot more.

The aim of the ad, at least as RIM intends, is to tell the consumers that the new OS will make the Blackberry a lot more seamless, user-friendly, powerful, and most of all, fun to work with. This is great, but look at the ad.



What's up with the dancing people? The background completely overshadows the foreground. During the whole ad, I was distracted by the dancing in the back, making it really difficult for me to focus on what's new with the OS - definitely not what I believe the intention is. How can a company still not learn - both from itself and from others? It boggles my mind.

The ad is not simple (especially not with all the background dancing and old-school music), it is not emotional (at least not the right kind - I believe they wanted to show that the OS is fun to work with via the dancing, but it annoyed me more than engage me), and it did not have a story (well, the screens flowed decently, but it was too difficult to focus on it with the artificial dancing in the background). The ad missed out on 3 of the 6 points mentioned above, effectively making it a failure.

It also goes to show the power of visual presentation - how fluff can in effect make it look like there is a lot more stuff - something that's important not just for people without stuff, but also for those that do. It is more tragic to see someone make the stuff look less important due to bad fluff than one who makes the stuff look better with fluff.