Apple Watches started arriving with customers today, and to mark the occasion Apple has launched three new ads, showing how its long-awaited wearable device can improve your life.
Titled “Us,” “Up,” and “Rise,” the ads stress the Apple Watch’s various functions in a way that doesn’t just appeal to those people who already own a smartwatch, but also makes a strong case for why everyone should have one.
The first ad shows couples using the Watch to send messages, heartbeats, and taking pictures together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4TbOiaEHpM
The second focuses on the Apple Watch’s functionality as a fitness-tracker, with users depicted in the gym, riding bikes, and being prompted to stand up at regular intervals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8GtyB3cees
The third and final ad shows the Watch doing, well, one of the things a timepiece has always done: helping people to get places on time — although with the added functionality of features like Apple Pay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQcFvamzdno
Each ad is linked by the same instrumental theme, and finishes with the line “The Watch Is Here.”
Although they don’t greatly differ from the current ads Apple runs for devices like the iPhone in terms of style, they do what a lot of people have so far complained Apple’s literature around the Apple Watch hasn’t: namely, to provide compelling reasons why your average consumer would want to run out and buy a so-far unproven product category.
Now we just have to wait and see in what volume they do.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
4 responses to “Three new ads remind us that Apple Watch is here”
Rise is my favorite by far.
The ads are so dark they’re unwatchable.
Turn up the brightness on your phone
I feel like the messaging on the Watch is finally getting somewhere with these ads. If I’m not mistaken the only other time it’s been filmed in the real world was the September event for the exercise video. Everything else marketing-wise has been Tim Cook talking about it, Kevin Lynch demoing on stage, or Jony Ive doing voice over as the Watch floats in space.
to get people to understand the product, they’re going to have to show real people using it in real life! They’re on the right track IMO.