[Tech Ad-Ons] Apple AirPods: Eye Candy for Ear Candy!

It has been around 41 years since the Cupertino mammoth has been advertising and it has been a roller coaster so far. From early Macintosh ads to ‘Shot on iPhone’ ads, Apple has tried to provide something new on the table each time it has advertised any of its product in the simplest possible way. Yes, the release of the iPhone 7 teaser made us miss the simple, straight and direct approach that Apple generally uses in advertising and wonder if things were changing, but with its recent AirPods ad campaign, the company is back where it belongs in the ad land – right near the top.

For those from another planet, Apple introduced its first ever wireless earphones– the AirPods along with iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Although they arrived in the market only a few weeks back, ever since Apple took the wraps off the device, AirPods have become the ear (if not eye) candy which everyone clearly does not like but cannot stop talking about. AirPods have been repeatedly criticized and made fun of because of their conventional or as some might call it ‘boring’ design. Apple has countered with a series of ads in which the spotlight remains on the AirPods throughout, showing why they are special even if they look “normal.”

Apple on its YouTube channel recently released four ads showcasing the AirPods on iPhone 7. As all the four ads are part of the same campaign that highlights the AirPods, we could definitely see the connect and the continuity between the ads. Titled very mathematically; “iPhone 7 + AirPods – Stroll – Apple,” “iPhone 7 + AirPods – Notes – Apple,” “iPhone 7+ AirPods – Siri- Apple” and lastly “iPhone 7 + AirPods – Pairing – Apple,” the four ads try to answer some of the questions that have been revolving around the device ever since it was unveiled.

Out of the four ads which were released, the “iPhone 7 + AirPods – Stroll – Apple” is the lengthiest. The ad lasts for 1.01 minute and features dancer Lil Buck dancing to the song ‘Down’ by Marian Hill. The star dancer features in two other ads of the same campaign while the song is featured in all the four ads. All four ads stick to a black and white theme, keeping things simple and uncluttered.

The ad begins with Buck sitting in a city that looks straight out of the nineties. Then the dancer opens up his AirPods case and the pairing icon appears on his iPhone 7 screen. Although the ad series is based on a black and white theme, but Apple very cleverly has just kept the battery signals for the iPhone and the AirPods in green color along with the AirPods case light. The ad impressively builds a story in just a minute keeping the product in the limelight. It establishes the fact that the impressive sound quality of the wireless earphones takes the dancer to another hypothetical world where he can be seen dancing on unusual surfaces like on a wall, on the sides of the car, upside down on the rooftop of a theater!

The ad also puts it out there that Apple has paid a lot of attention to little details. For instance, the music stops when Buck takes the AirPods out of his ears and again the ambient sound of the city comes up – they have portrayed that the dancer being in an imaginary world and then suddenly shown him back in the real world.

The idea is very out of the box and Apple surely bags points on that and the fact that it also answers perhaps the biggest query about the AirPods -whether the AirPods are stable enough to stay in the user’s ears. With minimal copy and hardly any colors and in one minute, the company shows the sound experience, the stability and the ease of use without actually “talking” about it. The ad in a very simple, direct and rational way showed how there was much more to the AirPods beyond their boring design.

We think Lil Buck’s move did not let us take our eyes off the screen even for a second and the song just added to the feel of the ad but the best part of the ad was the fact that although there were a ton of things that were happening in the ad which could have distracted us very easily but the attention was never really taken away from the product. The ad ends with the copy which says, “AirPods on iPhone 7” followed by “practically magic” and then ends with Apple’s logo.

Two out of the other three ads also feature Lil Buck. The two ads which last for about 16 seconds each highlight different features of the device. One titled “iPhone 7 + AirPods – Siri – Apple”(https://youtu.be/QvPHny-bRQU) shows how one can use Apple’s virtual assistant Siri by just tapping twice on the AirPods. In the ad, Lil Buck double taps on the AirPods and asks Siri to Play the song ‘Down’ by Marian Hill. The song immediately begins and the Bucks starts dancing. The ad begins differently but ends with Buck dancing on the wall from the first ad with similar copy followed by the company’s logo.

The “iPhone 7 + AirPods – Pairing – Apple” highlights how easy it is to pair the wireless earphones with the iPhones. This ad also features Buck. Buck in the ad just opens the AirPods case and the pairing option pops up on his phone screen. Even in this ad, the battery signal for the two devices and the case light is green colored, while everything else follows the black and white theme.