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primarycolors

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 17, 2015
327
527
CA

mectojic

macrumors 65816
Dec 27, 2020
1,328
2,519
Sydney, Australia
The more I think about the more intrigued I am by this.
He doesn't know (or says he doesn't know) who the sponsor is, and the billboards don't have a brand name. The music guy didn't tag a brand either.

I wonder if "R" is the brand or if it's made by another (big?) company that'll be revealed the 12th.
Very curious. Probably a new startup, I think, as they're putting all their eggs in this basket of the "R" brand. That's what they want to be known as.

If it's not them, then it's one of those derivative companies, like Samsung or a Chinese Apple copycat. (Isn't everything non-Apple derivative to some extent?)
 

Tony_Soprano

Suspended
Sep 9, 2023
4
3
Portugal
It kinda smells like a PR stunt that will eventually turn out to be just another big fat L.

If you want a good example: Nothing and their idiotic blinking lights mid range phones that they now sell for like 800 dollars lmao.
 
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iStorm

macrumors 68020
Sep 18, 2012
2,028
2,433
Soooo when do they open?!
Wondering the same thing. Maybe it'll be more exciting than Apple's event. The TikToker's letter said it'll open at 5pm, but we don't know which time zone that is. Plus, we'll have to wait until he uploads the video. The post on Instagram says they can't wait for us to see it live, but it doesn't say where we can watch it. I feel like this ad campaign/teaser could have gone a little better... Has anyone else heard any more info?
 
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iStorm

macrumors 68020
Sep 18, 2012
2,028
2,433
So...um...it's a refurbished iPhone from Back Market. 😑 It's not from Apple as most of us had speculated, but it is an iPhone! Does that mean they planted the file in Cupertino? As far as I can tell, Back Market is headquartered in Paris and don't have any locations in California. They do in New York.


 

boss.king

macrumors 603
Apr 8, 2009
6,383
7,632
So, yeah, the folder was left behind on purpose (definitely not real internal documents) and the ads were meant to sound like Apple ads. No way this was ever going to be a legitimate Apple thing. Also, I'm pretty sure half the comments in that video are just copied from this thread and attributed to fake names. Whatever agency did this must be a little gutted that it got such a muted response.
 

hg.wells

macrumors 65816
Apr 1, 2013
1,066
789
YOU GUYS LOSE!!! IT WAS AN iPHONE!!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
So yeah, it was "technically" not Apple, but "technically", it actually is. Brilliant.

Hey, the leaked documents are there too!! Nice job guys!

I love this marketing approach.
Is it though? All that for a site that’s just selling refurbished iPhones?

Other companies have been doing this for a fair amount of time.
 
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JustAnExpat

macrumors 65816
Nov 27, 2019
1,009
1,012
Yeah, can’t help thinking some folks were “in on it”. Why else go over-the-top trying force a narrative that this was an Apple ad with zero evidence of that? The thread was fairly tame until that started around page 4 and it got bizarre.
I was one of those people. I was saying that the add was not Apple like. I'm glad my hunch was correct, that it was a company trying to do some type of guerrilla marketing campaign.
 

decafjava

macrumors 603
Feb 7, 2011
5,503
8,016
Geneva
I'm late to the thread but yeah, this is super fake. The slide content outside of the imagery is written like what a layman or student thinks marketing slides should sound like. Why would they add hieroglyphic icons to extremely basic core values? Why are they critiquing tone on internal documents (especially for mundane terms like "break down"? And why is a Descartes principle being attributed to Einstein in the notes?

The project name simply being the product name is very un-Apple too. What good is a project codename if it's the name of the final product?

If this ends up being real, I'll print off a copy and eat it.
Well your stomach is safe I would say....didn't even watch the thing. Still enjoy Apple stuff and am a fan but we are on a plateau for innovation and that's ok. Glad for USB C and that's it.
 

Analog Kid

macrumors G3
Mar 4, 2003
9,359
12,599
YOU GUYS LOSE!!! IT WAS AN iPHONE!!

Those are not pictures of an iPhone-- no screws on the port, no antenna bands. This was not Apple. And it's not even advertising a service Apple doesn't provide.

It's not even an ad for a product, it's an ad for a marketplace. So you can buy a refurb from rando-mart, or you can buy a refurb from Apple.

You can caps lock and add as many exclamation points as you want, but the excitement about this whole thing was badly misplaced.
 

boss.king

macrumors 603
Apr 8, 2009
6,383
7,632
It was pretty unique, honestly. Don’t know many companies that would have the courage to have a huge ad campaign without even a brand on it.
It’s not that uncommon, but since it’s pretty much only done for the teaser phase of a campaign, you rarely hear about it unless it’s squarely within your interests.
 

Unregistered 4U

macrumors G4
Jul 22, 2002
10,597
8,589
It’s not that uncommon, but since it’s pretty much only done for the teaser phase of a campaign, you rarely hear about it unless it’s squarely within your interests.
And, that was not even remotely a “huge” campaign. :) Though, I CAN say that I’ve learned more about how inexpensive it is to place an ad on a Times Square digital billboard!
 
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