"I'm a Working Mom": How Apple's Most Famous Ad Campaign Inspired Our New Series

"I'm a Working Mom": How Apple's Most Famous Ad Campaign Inspired Our New Series

This week Geoffrey launched its first video series, a weekly story about two working moms named Maya and Jess. They share the same career pressure, the same packed calendar and the same household that never stops needing something, and the one difference between them is that Maya has Geoffrey. Every Wednesday, viewers get to watch the same moment play out in both of their homes.

The format did not come out of nowhere. It is a deliberate tribute to one of the most effective advertising campaigns ever made.

The campaign that inspired us

In September 2005, Steve Jobs gave his agency, TBWA\Chiat\Day, an open-ended assignment to show clearly why the Mac was better than the PC, and he gave them no deadline. The creative team at what became TBWA\Media Arts Lab spent months searching for the right approach before landing on an idea so basic it was almost risky: turn the two computers into people.

The result was "Get a Mac," which debuted in May 2006. Against a plain white background, Justin Long, dressed casually, introduced himself with "Hello, I'm a Mac," and John Hodgman, in a suit and tie, replied, "And I'm a PC." Each spot ran about thirty seconds, and the comparison did all of the work.

The campaign ran from 2006 to 2009 across several countries. It won the Grand Effie in 2007, the top honor at the awards that judge advertising on results rather than style, and the Effies credited it with 42% market share growth, record sales and real cultural influence. At the end of the decade, Adweek named it the Campaign of the Decade, and by 2008 Microsoft had answered it with its own "I'm a PC" campaign, which is about as clear a sign of impact as a competitor can give.

Why that format fits a working household

What made "Get a Mac" work was its restraint. The ads never needed a spec sheet, because watching the two characters handle the same situation told you everything you needed to know. Just as important, the PC was never a villain. Hodgman played him as earnest and a little overwhelmed, which made him likable and made the audience root for him to switch.

We saw the same dynamic in the households we serve. When we started Geoffrey, we offered dozens of individual services, and our customers taught us that the problem was never the plumber or the cleaner on their own. The problem was the coordination: finding someone trustworthy, scheduling them, waiting for the window, following up when something went wrong, and remembering what was due next. That work is invisible until you put two homes next to each other, which is exactly what a side-by-side format does best.

So we kept the bones of the original. Our series uses a single cream backdrop, a locked-off camera, two women standing side by side, and a familiar introduction at the top of every episode.

Meet Maya and Jess

Maya is a working mom who has Geoffrey. Her House Manager, supported by Geoffrey's AI and its network of vetted providers, handles the repairs, the cleaning, the seasonal maintenance and the scheduling, so Maya spends her evenings on the things that actually need her.

Jess is also a working mom, and she is brilliant at her job. She has built spreadsheets, shared calendars and color-coded systems to keep her household running, and she is managing all of it herself. Like Hodgman's PC, Jess is never the punchline. She is the friend most of us already are, and the series is written with a lot of love for her. Along the way, she has one question she keeps asking Maya, and it gets harder to ignore with every episode: who is Geoffrey?

What is coming this season

The season follows the calendar our audience is actually living. Maya and Jess head into a work trip and Thanksgiving in November, followed by visiting in-laws, dealing with holiday decorations, a company holiday party, a very late night of toy assembly on Christmas Eve and a New Year's Eve that ends with a mop. The new year brings fresh resolutions, a move, a birthday party and a Valentine's dinner, and the season builds to a finale in early March. All while taking the audience along for an illustrated journey they are likely living in their own lives.

Follow along every Wednesday

A new episode of Maya and Jess posts every Wednesday on Instagram at @iamestherayorinde OR @thegeoffreyapp. Follow the series, share an episode with someone who is carrying the whole household, and check in each week to see what Jess is dealing with next.

If you see yourself in Jess, request an invitation to get your very own house manager at geoffreyapp.com.

Sources: Get a Mac, Wikipedia; MacTech on the 2007 Grand Effie; Engadget on Adweek's Campaign of the Decade; MacStories on the campaign's origin