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August 29, 2006

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Dylan is knock knock knockin’ on iTunes’s door

Posted Aug. 29, ’06, 9:42 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Apple » Advertising

Bob DylanBleary-eyed and barely able to form coherent sentences, I’m back from Seattle. I considered going straight to sleep for about two days, but our readers will have their news from me, one way or another, so I decided to make it easy on them, and myself. Even though as I stare at these lines, they all seem to be coalescing into one.

Dogging the track of the other day’s release of new Get a Mac commercials comes a brand new iTunes commercial starring Steve Jobs hero Bob Dylan. The spot pimps his new album, Modern Times, available for pre-order on iTunes. Or, at least, it was available for pre-order, up until today, but now it’s actually on sale.

The Dylan ad is a bit of a departure from previous iPod + iTunes spots: instead of a colorful background with dancing silhouettes, it features Dylan, seated on a stool, playing guitar and singing against a stark white background, intercut with footage of a young woman dancing with an iPod. Besides the fact that Dylan’s sequined cowboy shirt is exquisite, there’s something strange about the whole spot. In a way, it’s as if Apple is trying to merge the sensibilities of its iPod + iTunes ads with those of its “Get a Mac” (and through it, its older campaigns, like Switch). The use of famous musicians in iPod + iTunes ads is nothing new: in the past, they’ve had Bono and U2 as well as Wynton Marsalis (and Dylan himself appeared in one of the Think Different ads), but it is the first time, in my recollection, that you’ve been able to distinguish the features on the dancer. I wonder if this was a choice specifically for the Dylan ad, or if we’ll be seeing more ads like this for the music side of Apple’s business.

[via Infinite Loop]


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