US – The latest instalment of Apple’s Underdogs video series – which charts the career journey of a team of under-estimated employees – uses narrative-driven content to explore the opportunities that come with starting afresh.
With the series having previously tapped into the Silicon Valley zeitgeist by showing the Underdogs scrabbling to pull a prototype together and, in 2020, working from home, the latest film shows the team packing in their full-time jobs to launch their own decentralised start-up. This act of risking it all to follow their passions has been dubbed The Great Resignation, as the pandemic spurred people to rethink their purpose in life.
The ad also features several of Apple’s devices, which are used to help the Underdogs achieve their ambitions. By turning one successful ad into a trilogy, Apple is recognising the importance of replacing traditional advertising with narratives that weave product placement naturally into the story. ‘In these films, there’s no such thing as too many product demos as long as they’re natural extensions of the story,’ Tor Myhren, vice-president of marketing communications at Apple, tells Adweek.
Strategic opportunity
Use episodic and character-driven advertising to show how your brand is keeping abreast of – and responding to – constant changes in the market.