As I mentioned before, I'm presently in LA and will be driving back up to San Francisco this weekend before going home on Monday.  (sorry family)  It made me think of the 5 hour drive and how many billboards I've seen so far in California of iPod ads.

Apple's marketing for iPods has been remarkably consistent.  A single figure, in silhouette against a vibrant background with those iconic white headphones easily recognizable (more so, than say the model of iPod the figure is using.)  In the talks I've given around the world, I've shared Flickr and other photographs taken by fans of Apple's outdoor advertising.  I'm amazed how many photographs people take of the ads used in Shanghai to London to Berlin to Boston and how they are identical.

For more than 3 years now, Apple has stuck with this campaign and has - in effect - created an emotional response in the viewer on par with say the Coke or Starbucks logo.  You see those iPod ads, and if you are a customer, you take some small sense of ownership knowing you are one of those hip, energetic individuals in that billboard.  That shadow is you.