Apple's iPleaser

I've never been a gadget freak nor part of the Cult of Apple (you people know who you are), but I've always admired Apple's advertising. Seems to me Apple has created a distinctive image with some very basic elements: An understated sales pitch, the promise of something smart and new, and clean, spare art direction (think of the now iconic, monochromatic silhouettes that introduced the iPod). Apple and Nike do this kind of advertising better than anyone, and have done it for a generation.

Apple's advertising elan is on display in this winning and ubiquitous commercial for the next-generation iPod video nano. As the name implies, the nano is a little bitty thing, with a surprising sharp picture (I mean, it looks sharp in the ad; I hope you're not lying about this, Apple). How small is the nano? Well, the commercial provides a nifty demonstration of the nano's incredibly shrunken size: a series of hands nudging and grabbing a series of colorful nanos that seem magically stacked on top of one another. Nice.

An extra sheen of cool comes from the music and music video playing on the little gizmo. That's the Canadian pop singer Feist singing "1234," a tune sure to become a hit thanks to this ad. The song is lovely and catchy, and she's a charmingly awkward dancer. The choreography isn't too precise or fussy; the backup crew, dressed in colorful primary colors (which echo the multicolored nano), looks like it's having fun, as if it's doing some kind of line dance at a bar mitzvah. (See the full-length video of the song here. "A little video for everyone," says the commercial's closing graphic. Also nice.

-- Paul Farhi

By Maura McCarthy |  September 25, 2007; 7:42 AM ET Commercial Break
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Posted by: SeaTac | November 4, 2007 11:42 AM

Posted by: BC | November 28, 2007 04:34 PM

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