As every year, Apple just launched its Thanksgiving ad called “Sway to promoting one of the most advanced products the brand has ever released. However, this time the company is not looking to focus entirely on the product itself: it’s more to make people feel related to the AirPods, and to evocate a thrilling feeling of sharing and companion.
The ad was filmed in the streets of Prague. It shows us two dancers – Lauren Yatango-Grant and Christopher Grant, actually married in real life – who are transported into another world when they put the AirPods on.
At first, it begins with Lauren walking down the road, filled with people surrounding her. It continues with her taking her iPhone X out and playing some music.
Perfect and in accordance with the environment, Sam Smith’s Palace starts playing on the smartphone. The day becomes night, and a ray of light from the sky starts highlighting the female dancer.
As snow falls from the sky, Lauren begins to dance among the people – who, of course, keep walking without noticing her. But at one point, she hits a person; a man who turns out to be a stranger for her, but her husband outside the ad: Christopher Grant.
Everything but the snow stops: the music, the dancing, and the feeling. She is just held in Christopher’s arms, staring at him with a surprised look. Then, she takes one of the AirPods from her right ear and puts it on her partner’s. Again, the music starts, the night comes back, and the love story begins.
The partners continue dancing on the streets – just like Singing in the rain, but without the rain and the singing. When they stop and come closer to kiss, the music stops and the fantasy ends. It turns out to be a day-dream from Lauren. She never actually gave an AirPod to Christopher.
Then – followed by the end and Apple’s logo – they get apart and a “move someone this holiday” appears on the screen between both the dancers.
First Apple’s wireless earphones
People, at first, criticized the $159 AirPods because some believed they were going to easily lose the wireless earphones. Also, they considered that normal EarPods were already breakable, so they expected this new pair to be even more fragile.
Apple once said the AirPods were shaped differently than the normal EarPods because they were tested in thousands of ears, thus to make people feel more comfortable and to make them harder to fall while being used. However, some people have complained about this last point.
When talking about the sound, Apple noted the audio component is virtually the same as the EarPods’. However, there are some changes in the lower tones and outputs.
It’s interesting to wonder why Apple decided to use the AirPods to represent the sharing between two people, especially after the product was hardly criticized for killing the intimacy that common earphones create when being shared. Some reviewers believe this is not the best or most moving ad that Apple has ever launched.
Source: Apple