Apple spent $691 million on ads in 2010

Apple has a rich history of great advertisements.

The company’s first ad for the Mac — titled 1984 — has won several awards and was one of the first mega-production SuperBowl ads. Other great ad campaigns included “Who is Newton,Switcher and, of course, Think Different. The 1985 ad Lemmings was a rare mis-step for the company. More recent ad campaigns include the dancing iPod people and of course the “Get a Mac” series.

The company also has a rich history of print ads, billboards, and more.

According to a new report over at TechCrunch, the company spent more in 2010 on advertising than before. MG Siegler:

For 2010, the company’s advertising costs were $691 million. That’s up from $501 million last year. And it’s the first huge jump for Apple in recent years. In 2008, for example, they spent $486 million. And in 2007, they spent $467 million. In other words, in previous years, the ramp up in ad spending has been about $15 to $20 million. This past year? A $190 million jump.

$691 million is a giant amount of money, but represents around 1% of the company’s total revenue, which for 2010 came in around $65 billion. According to TechCrunch,  Microsoft spent over twice this amount on advertising last year. Needless to say, it seems that Apple is getting a lot more bang for their buck. While the “Windows 7 Was My Idea” and “Laptop Hunter” series of ads were clever, they aren’t particularly memorable. And that’s what counts when talking about advertising.

Article Via AppleInsider

Stephen Hackett, formerly a Lead Mac Genius at Apple, now spends his days running the IT department of a large non-profit in Memphis, TN. He writes about Apple, design and journalism at forkbombr.net. Like all twenty-somethings, you can find him on Twitter. Oh, and he has a dogcow tattoo.