Apple’s New Work From Home Ad Hits Home
It’s a question most everyone can relate to nowadays and one that Apple’s new ad asks right out of the gate: “How’s the whole working-from-home thing going for ya?”
The question comes courtesy of one of Apple’s Underdogs, a product development team that appeared in the first “Apple at Work” video in 2019. That video emphasized how Apple helps employees do their best work. With 6 million+ views on YouTube, it was considered a success — so much so that Apple produced a sequel.
“The whole working-from-home thing” takes the spirited energy of their first outing and dials it up to 11, as the team navigates their new normal with one reliable constant: Apple products helping “unleash their creativity and productivity even when they’re working from home.”
The ad resonates for a few reasons:
1. It shows a realistic picture of how scattered and messy working from home can be.
2. In a time when 10% of U.S. workers are unemployed, it showcases the products in a natural environment without Apple’s usual ‘new product, buy me now’ immediacy.
We found Apple’s all-in-this-together-even-if-it-drives-us-all-mad outlook a relatable and refreshing twist on the more serious brand efforts we’ve seen from other institutions. TD Bank took a similar approach when creating a new version of its popular “Dancer” ad, using the same actor, called “Dance From Home,” which was filmed on an iPhone in the actor’s home during quarantine. It dovetails nicely into the bank’s tagline, “Unexpectedly Human.”
While there is no doubting the severity of COVID-19 from public health, economic and social standpoints, the Apple ad reminds us that pockets of humor remain as many of us find ourselves in this weird, seemingly never-ending work-from-home situation trying to create a semblance of our former professional lives.
