News

Bob Dylan Stars in New iTunes/iPod Ad [UPDATED]

Monday, August 28th, 2006 at 4:40 PM - by

Apple on Monday introduced a new iTunes/iPod ad starring Bob Dylan, who plays a song from his new album, Modern Times, which has been available for pre-order exclusively on the iTMS. It will come out on Tuesday, Aug. 29.

The ad features shots of Mr. Dylan playing his guitar, interspersed with shots of a woman dancing and holding an iPod, along with a single image of what appears to be a man's torso as he dances. While many iPod+iTunes ads have been in the silhouette style that features dancers' outlines amid bright colors, this commercial has a muted color palette, although it's not in black-and-white, as iProng originally described it. The dancer's features are also clearly visible.


Bob Dylan

1:46 PM EST, 8/29/06: Updated article with link to ad, more information about it, and a screenshot.

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Tiger said:

member since 17 Jun 2003 with 950 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 28, 2006 5:53 pm

Yet, as a singer, Bob Dylan is about as outdated as you can get.

Baffles the mind.

Not a fan. Not an anti-fan. Just don't see the point in picking someone as an advertising icon who is musically lost to the iPod generation, most of who were born after 1980.

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NeverFade said:

member since 17 Mar 2002 with 74 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 28, 2006 6:05 pm

While not a youth inspired artist, Bob Dylan really inspired Jobs... Jobs absolutely loves Dylan.

Dylan, IMO, is a very good song writer.

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Mikuro said:

member since 15 Jun 2002 with 450 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 28, 2006 6:21 pm

Well, I was born in 84, and I still consider Bob Dylan one of the greats. I don't think he's lost on Apple's audience at all. Teenagers, maybe, but 20- and 30-something are the real target, I think.

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gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2051 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 28, 2006 6:35 pm

Tiger wrote:
Yet, as a singer, Bob Dylan is about as outdated as you can get.

Baffles the mind.

Not a fan. Not an anti-fan. Just don't see the point in picking someone as an advertising icon who is musically lost to the iPod generation, most of who were born after 1980.

Outdated as you can get? Hardly. For one thing, he's still alive. I have lots of songs by singers who are NOT alive, including Edith Piaf, Marlene Dietrich, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia and Elvis Presley.

Speak only for yourself, unless you have done exhaustive market surveys or have access to such information. (Those sort of reports usually cost several thousand dollars a copy.) You're making an unwarranted generalization based upon a very small sample--yourself and your friends. Anyone who would market any product based upon such generalizations would go broke very quickly.

You might also recall that previous iPod ads have featured musicians who are irrelevant to a lot of people, say those born before about 1970, who probably have a helluva lot more money that those born later, for the most part. The music featured on most iPod ads until now has been in a few narrow categories. Whining about an ad that's not directed at yourself is childish. How many songs, videos, etc. have you bought on iTMS? 10? 20? Maybe 100? I've bought nearly 1400, but no iPod ads have been directed toward me nor others of my generation. Fortunately, those who run iTMS have much broader ideas of the market than Tiger does.

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Engine Joe said:

member since 29 Jun 2004 with 412 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 28, 2006 8:10 pm

Tiger, I think you're off on this one. People who hear Dylan, regardless of age, consider him. I've seen it happen. And considering him is more than you can say many folks do with most "artists".

(note that consider does not include conclusion)

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trex67 said:

member since 22 Jan 2005 with 11 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 28, 2006 10:43 pm

"U2 is the only other musical act to be featured in an iPod/iTunes ad."

Didn't Eminem do an iPod/iTunes ad (or maybe you don't consider him "musical")? Anyway, I don't recall seeing it broadcast, but Jobs did show it at some event. And some shoe company (?) claimed it ripped-off *their* ad.

Anyway, Jobs is a HUGE Dylan fan, and even if he's no longer as relevant as he used to be, he is iconic. Maybe Apple's trying to sell to an older demographic?

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fo said:

member since 23 Aug 2005 with 38 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Aug 28, 2006 11:02 pm

My kids are fully involved in a discovery of past (60s-70s era) rock, and love singers like Johnny Cash. Of course, this is largely due to the marketing that they all fall prey to, but Dylan is a logical extension. I love the Dylan ad (I'm not exactly a Dylan fan), and think they'll reach the old guys like me as well as the young crowd searching for some sort of meaning in their world. Think about it... there's not much there unless you break free from the labels. And even this is only breaking free from the radio mainstream... it's not exactly indy.

This will have more impact than the latest "Buy a Mac" ads with the personification of PC vs. Mac... those are a losing proposition. Too bad Apple's agencies can't see the true reason for their resurgence.

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LaurieF said:

member since 15 Jun 2001 with 3510 posts, TMO Forum Mod, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Aug 29, 2006 1:12 am

He still can't sing for toffee, but the song's funky and I almost like it enough to buy it. Not quite, but he's still got it.

Musically lost to the iPod generation? Nah.

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bwhite said:

member since 29 Aug 2006 with 1 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Aug 29, 2006 2:28 am

Dylan is like Jean-Luc Godard or Thomas Pynchon - he manages to win over a good chunk of every new generation. I think the ad is awesome.

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Tiger said:

member since 17 Jun 2003 with 950 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Aug 29, 2006 9:33 am

Hey y'all, that was a bait post. I was playing Devil's Advocate and was glad to see responses, but hoped for a LOT more.

Of course Dylan is still relevant.

Just wanted to see if anybody else thought so to make a point to a friend.

We can all hope he continues to write for a very long time.

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gslusher said:

member since 13 Nov 2002 with 2051 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Sep 08, 2006 3:29 pm

For Tiger: apparently, Bob Dylan is so "musically lost to the iPod generation" that his album, Modern Times, has hit the top of the US Billboard chart. It's also the #3-selling album on iTMS. Not bad for a 65-year old who's "outdated." See this article here on iPodObserver.

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