iPod Shuffle and Zune Ads Compared

All technology issues aside, I like the contrast between the Zune ads and the brand new iPod Shuffle ads. On the surface, you have some similar elements: young people in designers clothes against indie-ish music. A bit deeper down, differences are striking.



The format for most of the Zune ads is to create an environment of people just hanging out, in way that's designed to look candid and casual. The camera moves around as in a reality show. Once that's setup, they insert a Zune into the shot. Until that point, the commercial could be for anything from Gap to Coke.

I'm also fascinated — fascinated — by the fact that the spots pointedly highlight what Steve Jobs said about the Zune file sharing feature:





Here's what Steve said in Newsweek:

"I've seen the demonstrations on the Internet about how you can find another person using a Zune and give them a song they can play three times. It takes forever. By the time you've gone through all that, the girl's got up and left!

You're much better off to take one of your earbuds out and put it in her ear. Then you're connected with about two feet of headphone cable."

And there it is, right in the ad for the thing.

The iPod Ads



The conventional iPod ads with the deep black sillouttes against pastel grounds are instantly recognizable, to the point that even the spoofs are recognizable. What's interesting? No faces, and the clothing all blends together. The iPod itself stands out in front of everything else.

The camera is always fixed on the one character and the iPod. The racial makeup of the characters is generally left to the viewer to decide.



The iPod Nano ads flip the equation around a bit by making the iPod itself the pastel, but the result is the same: the focus is on the iPod, not the people.



(Is the Tiger thing just an accident? Unlikely.)

The new iPod Shuffle ads are something else entirely. You can see the people in designer clothes. No pastel backgrounds, no silhouettes. Still, the anonymity of the characters is preserved because the faces are cut off. The camera is static. I love transitions between the characters. Subtle yet suprising.

I love the eerie lighting.

Throughout all of the iPod ads, two elements remain: there's only one person on the screen at any time and the iPod itself is always in the shot. It might be that the Zune approach is effective, but it's interesting that the tactic is to set the stage first, then introduce the Zune near the end.

Okay, now that I'm done over-analyzing, I'd like to say I love the Zune ad with the basset.

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