Apple cleverly continues to leverage on its alleged approach to privacy in its new billboard campaign appearing in Germany.
The campaign began in Vegas, with a giant billboard advertising Apple’s smartphone with a play on the city famous slogan: “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone…”
In Canada, the billboards were also customized to be relevant to the specific locations. An ad placed directly outside of an Alphabet building mocked the rival company practices by claiming “We’re in the business of staying out of yours,” implying that the same is not true of Google.
The billboard placed in King Street read simply “Privacy is King.”
Germany too has its own, localized advertising campaign. In Hamburg, for example, Apple’s privacy focussed billboard reads “Das Tor Zur Welt. Nicht zu deinen Informationen,” translating to “the gateway to the world. Not your information.” The city of Hamburg develops around its port, a major international hub where German products are shipped all over the world, and Apple tapped directly into this.
Another billboard inside the city, possibly too “localized” to be appreciated by non-Germans, reads “Verrät so wenig über Hamburger wie Hamburger,” that roughly translates to “betrays as little about Hamburgers as hamburger.”
The last billboard is located in Berlin. From 1961 until 1989 the city was divided into sectors, East Berlin – known as the Soviet sector, and West Berlin – controlled by the allies. Apple plays on the city’s historical background with a slogan reading “Willkommen im sicheren Sektor,” welcome to the safe-sector.
Last year, an article appeared on 9to5mac.com and argued that Apple should start “mainstreaming” its approach to marketing by advertising it as it does with its more traditionally appealing features such as the high definition displays:
“I think Apple’s leadership has the same impression today that I did back in March. The company talks a lot about privacy and assumes that the message is getting through. CEO Tim Cook mentions privacy almost every time he speaks, and Apple has an entire microsite dedicated to explaining just how much importance the company places on protecting our data.
But Apple execs live in the same bubble you and I do. We read the tech press. We have friends who are techies. This stuff is obvious to us. It’s not at all obvious to non-techies. And they’ve never even seen that microsite […]
Apple needs to sell privacy with as much marketing skill as it does its “super-Retina screens” and “precision-machined, surgical-grade stainless steel.”
It appears that Apple is committed to using privacy as a marketing message. However, there have been some criticisms of how it handles privacy behind closed doors.
