The thing about Apple marketing
Chris Erenata drops some knowledge and context on you in re that FaceTime video, which was done internally1 at Apple and not, it turns out, by Sam Mendes.
The whole piece is very smart. Especially these bits:
In print and television advertising we’ve seen silhouetted dancers, fingertips, and now the tops of thighs interacting with Apple products, but no actual people with, you know, faces…
Humans appeared only in screenshots—within photographs and video footage inside iPhoto and iMovie libraries or projects, or in iPod/iPhone photo galleries. These people were no longer interacting with (or through) technology, but were living active lives—swimming, boating, camping, apple-picking, snowtubing, walking the streets of the European Old World…
This isn’t intended to be a knock against Apple’s marketing decisions, which seem to have suited them fine thank you much.
It’s more to highlight how unusual the FaceTime video is, in its depiction of human beings employing Apple technology in relevant situations with meaningful emotional stakes.2 It’s perhaps the obvious solution given the feature, but that makes it no less remarkable to be coming out of 1 Infinite Loop.
And my favorite bit, this footnote:
2Typically our only opportunity to relate to an aspirationally imagined Apple customer is through the screen shots depicted on the devices. Have you ever read these emails/text messages/calendar entries? <Seinfeld> Who are these people? </Seinfeld>
Chris makes a brilliant point and observation here: the whole of Apple’s iPhone/iPad marketing strategy has been about putting the device in our hands rather than in the hands of actors, which makes a video like this jarring, if sentimentally satisfying. Smart ad people know how to work around our bullshit detectors. They also know we like babies, old people and the approachably attractive.
“That’s the thing about Apple marketing. They don’t talk about how many gigabytes of memory or how many CPU cycles or how many apps (much). They aim for your heart, and show you how technology can make your life better during its most important moments.”—Gina Trapani, via Daring Fireball
While I also think the new FaceTime video on apple.com is well-done and emotionally affecting, I’m going to call hogwash on the assertion that Apple marketing aims for the heart.
