Quiet confidence / The Relax, it’s iPhone platform leans into the insight that iPhone users can trust in the quality and durability of the product. As well as being an effective distinguishing feature from other smartphones, the simplicity and clarity of this as an organising principle enables Apple to talk about pretty much any feature, for any model, with ads that vary in tone and theme. The melodrama of the sports day setting of Field Day, for example, contrasts with the slower-paced, quirkier cadence of RIP Leon, but both are unmistakably (and memorably) ads for the iPhone. It helps that each ad is impeccably crafted (director credits include renowned music video director Andreas Nilsson and Somesuch’s Kim Gehrig) and perfectly soundtracked (RIP Leon is set to ‘ALIVE’ by Hanni El Khatib) – it’s easy to see how these ads won the favour of the Film Lions jury at this year’s Cannes Lions.
Levity and wit / As well as the economy of dialogue (there is none – these spots let the product do the talking) and format (both ads are satisfyingly short and sweet), the Relax, it’s iPhone series is another example of how Apple has been deploying humour and levity in its advertising in recent years. From its trilogy of Apple at Work – The Underdogs films, to A Day in the Life of an Average Person’s Data, a film about privacy featuring British comedian Nick Mohammed, Apple is part of a trend of tech companies using comedy to convey product features. ‘Nobody is expecting a tech brand to show up and make them laugh,’ said Thom Dinsdale, global planning director at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, of Samsung’s Join the Flip Side campaign. ‘There is so much human richness that the category leaves on the table. As long as we’re not talking about things that deserve a more serious tone, we should always be turning up and being light, playful and fun. Because at its best, technology is fun.’
But Apple even brings fun to topics that are traditionally represented in tech advertising using medical terms and solemn tones, like disability. The Greatest, directed by Kim Gehrig/Somesuch is strikingly fun, celebratory, and inspiring – a close-up shot of a disabled woman applying eyeliner with flawlessly manicured toes (demo-ing the iPhone’s Assistive Touch feature) is joy-making.
As Dinsdale also pointed out, ‘Generally how the category talks about tech fails to map people’s actual experience of it – which is more intimate, embedded in our lives, in popular culture and our daily experiences.’ Apple’s Relax, it’s iPhone spots put humans at the centre of the action, showing the very real ways in which we interact with its products – regretting sending a text, dropping your phone, filming your kid on sports day – and advertising its product specs in the process.
