A minute full of laughter
“Inside Joke” is a minute long ad that features a middle-aged woman sitting and using an iPhone XR. An iMessage tone rings, indicating that she has received a text. As she reads it, she starts laughing. Then she gets another message and starts laughing harder. Just when she gets a grip on herself, she receives a series of messages on her iPhone and starts laughing hysterically. While she is laughing, text on the screen appears accompanied by the iMessage ringtone saying, “iMessage encrypts your conversations.” The camera then zooms out, showing the room she is sitting in. It is a salon, and the people around are looking at the lady. More text (again with the iMessage ringtone) appears on the screen saying, “because not everyone (followed by a slight pause a message tone ring, after which the sentence is completed) needs to be in on the joke.” The camera again zooms in, keeping the iPhone XR and the Apple logo in focus while the bokeh-ed protagonist sits there laughing. Another message tone brings another text in the frame saying, “Privacy. That’s iPhone”. The ad ends with a lock like the Apple logo which clicks close followed by the regular logo.
Everything Apple
Over a period of time, we have seen some really great ads from Apple and Inside Joke is right in that league. The one-minute ad is short and very clever. As the woman starts laughing after the iMessage tone rings and the way that laughter builds, the ad makes you want to know what is so funny that is making her laugh so hard. And that’s the real message of the ad. Pun intended. No matter who wants to get inside your messages and how, Apple with this ad is trying to assure you that your conversations are safe in an iPhone.
In the beginning, you might not understand what the spot is about but as soon as the copy appears on the screens, all the pieces start to fit and the ad hits you. We love how the brand has used minimal copy and how the ad still makes a big impact. It is such a light ad in tone but addresses such an important issue. The fact that the brand highlights how the privacy of the user is their priority regardless of the content inside, is what really brings it all together. Like most ads, where Apple pays attention to detail, we like the little details that the brand has kept in mind- the iMessage tone ringing every time text appeared on the screen; how the ringtone is used to highlight pauses, also adds meaning to the text; how it shows the people around the woman, staring at her as she is laughing at the messages; and the text that simultaneously pops on the screen about how not everyone is supposed to be in on a joke. Clever touches, all.
And while the curiosity to read what the woman is reading is what really involves you in the ad, the fact that the brand did not forget to highlight the product and very smartly had the iPhone XR with the shiny Apple logo always in the frame was commendable, too.
iMessage delivered
Apple is one smartphone manufacturer that takes privacy extremely seriously and we love how the brand has highlighted an issue that can be very heavy, so simply and with a lot of humor. The ad is very simple and does the job of delivering the message with minimal fuss. There is no high-tech information, no complicated spec readout or anything serious here – no talk of special protocols, passwords, servers or anything else. Just a woman laughing at the jokes she is receiving on iMessage. And how you will NEVER know what the jokes are. Which is only fair. After all, the jokes were sent to her. On her iPhone. Tells you something, no? https://youtu.be/T-fXzUsPZtM
