It’s hard to believe, but there was a time, not so long ago, that Apple was not the tech behemoth that it is today. Though it had successful launch in the 1980s, the 90s were a dark time at the company before its charismatic founder, Steve Jobs, returned to right the proverbial ship. Since then, Apple has dominated the technology conversation with competitors struggling to catch up. At right.video, we wanted to delve into Apple’s mindset, showcasing the best ads that the Cupertino-based company has masterminded over the past thirty-five years. We hope that you’ll find that the brilliance behind some of these ads has been just as much their simplicity as it is their slick production values.
Director: Ridley Scott
Production Company | Agency: Fairbanks Films | Chiat\Day
This is perhaps the one ad that has a habit of popping up whenever we compile these ‘best of’ lists but there is a good reason for it. It’s one of the most influential commercials produced, featuring high-quality production design, Ridley Scott’s impeccable direction, and a loving (hating?) riff on George Orwell’s dystopian epic. This ad helped sell the idea of the Macintosh as the personal computer reinvented and its impact has reverberated across the advertising industry in the thirty-six years since it first aired. Did we mention that this commercial aired only the one time?
Director: Jennifer Golub
Production Company | Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
Despite the success of the original Macintosh, Apple struggled for years to follow-up on a similar computer with the company suffering as a result of both the departure of Steve Jobs and lukewarm financial revenues. It was only by the appearance of Jobs’ return to Apple that the company slowly transformed into the one that consumers know today, kicking off with this ad campaign by the same masterminds behind “1984”. While not advertising a particular product, it showcases the Apple mentality while connecting them to the great minds of history.
Production Company | Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
Though Jobs had returned to Apple in 1997, it was only in 1998 that the company’s revival truly began with this ad campaign. Featuring the voice and visage of actor Jeff Goldblum, the “iMac” campaign focused on the new computer’s focus on design and creativity, emphasizing in its variety of available colors. It represented Apple’s shift away from raw power and more toward simple use with invocative shapes. This particular variation of the campaign focused on the ease with which the new computer can be powered on and connected.
Director: Ken Segall
Production Company | Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
Following the success of the “1984” Super Bowl ad, Apple attempted to recapture the same magic with the “Lemmings” commercial the following year to disastrous results. So negatively received was “Lemmings” that Apple would cease Super Bowl advertising for nearly fifteen years. Yet, in 1999, the company would return to the Super Bowl with a similarly cinematic influenced commercial, this time featuring the villainous AI computer of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Focused solely on HAL 9000’s trademark lenses and playing with the “Y2K” fear, it homed in on the Mac’s computer memory ability to cope with the new millennium fast approaching. It was equal parts chilling and darkly comedic, more Strangelove than 2001 for maximum effect.
Director: Susan Alinsangan, Lee Clow, James Vincent
Production Company | Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
Perhaps the most iconic tech commercials of the early 2000s, Apple’s campaign for its first generation iPod set the tone perfectly for its arrival into the music industry. Using the Australian band Jet’s song “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”, the ad best encapsulates Apple simple yet creative approach to their products. Featuring dancers in stark black silhouette against colorful backgrounds, the campaign showed off the joy of music and how it can carry us away when we get in the mood. Combined with the stark white iPod, it kicked off a new phases for both Apple and music at large all at once.
Director: Phil Morrison
Production Company | Agency: TBWA/Media Arts Lab
Perhaps the most ubiquitous of Apple’s ad campaigns in the mid/late-2000s, ‘Get a Mac’ was masterminded by Manhattan-based TBWA/Media Arts Lab. Combining minimalist aesthetics and showcasing two drastically different personas representing ‘Mac’ and ‘PC’, the ‘Get a Mac’ campaign were an attempt to showcase Macs as the computer for the young and the creative. The simple template allowed for it to be remade in countless countries, with the UK and Japan in particular cultivating unique spins on the campaign. But it was the American ads featuring comedians Justin Long and John Hodgman that set the successful tone. This particular variant pokes fun at the hurdles PC users experienced with the then-new Windows Vista operating system.
Production Company | Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
Much like the device it was selling, the “Hello” commercial was simple in both design and function for a variety of reasons. Using only footage from famous movies and TV shows of various characters answering the phone, Apple wanted to capture the ease with which the first iPhone would grant users. Not only did it show off the technological evolution of the phone, “Hello” set up the iPhone as the final step in personal communications. Over ten years on, everyone owns a phone influenced in part by Apple’s modern minimalistic superstar.
Production Company | Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
Though the original iPhone proved itself a runaway success, it was only with its immediate successor, iPhone 3G, that the device reached maturity. Its key addition, preloaded with Apple ‘App Store’ program, was the focus of this ad, showing off the wide array of software that could be downloaded easily for a multitude of uses. Wondering where to go? There’s a map app. Want to buy stuff off of eBay? There was an app for that too. It was simple and straight-to-the point, just like the apps it was showing off for all.
Production Company | Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
Apple struck further gold with the introduction of the iPad tablet in 2010, popularizing the form factor to the masses in the process and inspiring numerous imitators. This ad from 2013 sought to show off the then-new iPad Air, showcasing not only its super slim form factor but also linking it to the lineage of the writing pencil. It’s another showcase of simple yet invocative ideas that have come to be Apple’s hallmark.
Director: Spike Jonze
Production Company | Agency: MJZ
The most recent commercial on this list, this ad was created to help promote the newest Apple product line, the Apple Homepod. Combining the surrealist merits of acclaimed director Spike Jonze with English dancer FKA twigs, it showcased the new device as being a truly transformative piece of home. It provided a true kaleidoscope of visuals that makes it one of the more ‘music video’ inspired of Apple’s commercials. So enthralling and visually stunning was the commercial that “Welcome Home” won the Advertising Excellence/Single Commercial award from the AICP in 2018.
Apple has always been at the forefront of style and minimalism in their advertising campaigns. Combine that with their signature high-production values, we think that these are the best ads that you can find that encapsulate the company’s mindset. You can find many of these ads here on the right.video search engine, among many others both from Apple and other tech giants. We hope that these choices are the perfect gateway to the world of Apple and that they might help you set the style and tone of your next video!
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