New iPhone commercial features real phone number to Tartine, a San Francisco bakery

We were watching TV last night when we noticed the latest iPhone commercial features the phone number to Tartine Bakery & Cafe in San Francisco. The phone number is pasted into a text message by the Apple hand model, a move meant to show that the iPhone finally has copy and paste.

Since we’re from the era of “555,” we thought it was interesting that Apple flashed a real phone number on the screen. Certainly there are plenty of other people  like us who took the time to call the number.

Here’s the commercial and here’s the recorded message you hear when you call Tartine (appropriately recorded on Ginny’s iPhone 3GS):

It’s not the first time Apple has given real businesses a plug in their commercials. We don’t know if the businesses are paying to appear in the spots or not. One San Francisco food blog reports Tartine’s regularly had lines out the door even before the ads appeared on national TV.

Wacky Pringles banner ad proves you shouldn’t always take company communications too seriously

Banner ads don’t have to be boring and neither does your copy.  Pringles recently proved that when it published an award-winning banner ad that keeps people clicking on the ad.

The ad features a chick with a Pringles can stuck on her left hand (no doubt b/c she was trying to get the last of the stack out … will Pringles make a wider can already?!) and a guy proposing to her. The ad proclaims that “Love can be complicated” and the mustached Pringles man in the corner urges you to “click.” That’s where the fun begins.

Once you start clicking on the ad, you’re pulled into an amusing storyline involving your boss, a joke about facebook and even acknowledgments of how crazy it is that you’re continuing to *click* on this seemingly pointless ad. Click here to see the ad in action.

None of these things have any direct correlation to Pringles, but you clicked through to the last screen, didn’t you? Even if you didn’t, I’m guessing you went at least 15-20 clicks deep, all because of the funny, casual copywriting. Which brings me to my next point: Lighten up!

The next time you’re writing copy for a company newsletter, advertisement, blog, manual, etc., consider whether you need to write for the suits in the conference room or if you can loosen your tie and write like how you talk to the IT guy in the break room.

Sometimes you need the jargon to be taken seriously. Sometimes jargon and formality make you seem stuffy and boring. Know your audience and don’t be afraid to write for them. You never know, it might lead your company to be an Internet buzz instead of Pringles.