Do you remember the first time you saw one of these cool “Silhouette” commercials for iPod and iTunes? Surely you were impressed with the motion, the cool white earbuds on the silhouetted dancers, and the hip soundtrack pulsing out from your TV. It was like nothing we’d ever seen before.
Chiat/Day’s iconic “Silhouette” ads for Apple captured the cool of the iPod brand without trying to make us identify with any specific actor or band (at least at first). The iPod came out in 2001, but it wasn’t until 2004 that the device achieved any kind of mass-market success.
That resulted from two things: iTunes went PC and these ads captured our collective imagination. Now you can now watch all 22 of these iconic ads in one long stretch.
Watch Apple’s ‘Silhouette’ ads
In addition to the iconic silhouetted dancers in front of a brightly colored background, subsequent ads got specific, with U2, Eminem, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Coldplay getting their own iPod and iTunes spotlight as the campaign continued through 2008.
Other artists whose music pumped up the jams for the wildly successful advertisements include Gorillaz, Jet, N.E.R.D, Steriogram, Daft Punk, Black Eyed Peas, Ozomatli, Wolfmother, The Fratellis, The Ting Tings, Mi Swing Es Tropical and Wynton Marsalis.
The evolution of this advertising idea came full circle with 2005’s “Wild Posting” ad featuring “Ride” by The Vines. It shows a young, hip urban dweller walking past a city wall plastered with the silhouette posters, all of which animate with dancing when he walks by with his iPod 3G, a nod to the “classic” nature of the new product.
Apple discontinued the ad campaign in 2008.
Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.
