Apple’s ads have been winning awards for many years, and they’ve been creative icons for a generation of designers. Now the company is striking out in its first new direction in years, leaving behind the disembodied hand and the tight focus on screens. The new ads don’t have a strong voice-over; instead we see the products in use, and how they can affect people in a variety of ways.
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One of the pieces Apple has released is “Making a Difference One App at a Time,” a 10-minute film by TBWA\Media Arts Lab that shows how third-party iOS apps can transform people’s lives. Obviously a longer form is not going to be a TV spot, but is designed for people to experience through YouTube or in other places. The piece has a documentary style that’s never over-the-top, and it makes you think about the impact apps (and the devices the run on) can have on people’s lives.
Apple also has one minute spots (which will no doubt be edited down for shorter slots) that feature a montage of iPhones in use; snippets of people integrating them into their lives. We don’t exactly know how this new style will resonate, or how it might translate into sales. Apple may roll this style into its other ad venues. You’ll know it’s getting wide usage when you see it hit billboards.
Game marketers would do well to think about this stylistic change. It’s not that games can transform people’s lives in the same way, but perhaps the relentless focus on game graphics and what happens inside the games might shift to a more external treatment. Games are no longer just a solitary release event, for the most part. Publishers seek to transform game brands into 24/7/365 experiences where customers engage (and buy) throughout the year with regular DLC, mobile apps, and communities engaging socially with games.
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https://youtube.com/watch?v=NoVW62mwSQQ
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This enormous shift in the way games generate revenue and engage with the audience has not yet been truly reflected in marketing efforts in many cases. For example, the FIFA experience is something that devoted fans make part of their lives, and they touch the game on many platforms. A game trailer only catches part of this experience; perhaps a different advertising approach might show the appeal of the larger experience that FIFA offers. Similar arguments can be made for games like Call of Duty or Battlefield. Gaming hardware is also a natural for this sort of approach. Will one of the Big Three try something like this
