For the launch of the new MacBook Neo, Apple has released a YouTube short that is probably more effective than the advert.
The behind-the-scenes mini film offers an insight into the range of practical effects the filmmakers used to create the final ad. A range of classic cinematic practical in-camera physical effects featuring building mini props with tape and paper, then overlaid with a bit of good old-fashioned VFX and CGI.
What is a proper rare look into the Apple production process? The description that comes with it is “peek at some handmade magic,” which is totally out of step with the usual, shrouded-in-secrecy approach to the creative process that dates back to Steve Jobs.
A tactile and tactile touchy-feely approach that brings people in and very definitely pushes the suggestion of Ai out. Even if that behind-the-scenes footage is clearly meticulously colour graded and retouched.
This feels very much like the in-vogue trend in the ad space at the moment, as the existential crises of AI loom large.
Porsche’s recent Christmas film used hand-drawn animation and released behind-the-scenes footage of the painstaking process. Hugo Boss and Fendi have dropped rough-and-ready TikTok BtS films alongside the glossy finished articles, and, like Apple, have seen them outperform eyeballs and clicks as the human effort strikes a chord. And Coinbase’s pretty expensive Super Bowl spot stripped everything back in a meta ad featuring actors dressed like PS2-style GTA characters.
When the output is cheap and infinite, and the means of production become invisible, the only real way to show quality and value is by showing human endeavour and effort.
And although it remains to be seen if this is a temporary blip in luxury branding or a proper long-term trend, in Apple’s case, it reads like a redemptive arc following an ill-judged iPad Pro ad (where they crushed physical tools of creativity to celebrate the digital), the subtext is that Apple isn’t selling a MacBook Neo. They are proving that humans still work there.
