Apple's holiday iPhone commercial, "Misunderstood," scored an Emmy award for best commercial. The ad beat out two Super Bowl ads from Budweiser, along with ads from Nike and GE.
Apple wins Emmy for "Misunderstood" holiday iPhone commercial
The commercial was created by TBWA\Media Arts Lab and followed the same general formula seen in other iPhone commercials where features are shown without mentioning product names. In this case, they were strung together as a narrative showing a teenager acting in what seemed to be an anti-social nature, only to later show he was capturing video of his family to make a heart felt family movie.
Apple's "Misunderstood" ad also won a silver award at the Cannes Lions festival this year.
Apple has a long history of relying on TBWA and Chiat/Day -- which eventually became part of TBWA -- for powerful advertising campaigns such as the original "1984" Macintosh commercial, the "Think Different" campaign, and the "Get a Mac" ad series. In 2009, Apple won Adweek's Best of the Decade award for the "Get a Mac" and iPod silhouettes campaigns, plus former CEO Steve Jobs was named marketer of the decade.
The Emmy and Cannes awards come as Apple is bringing its advertising efforts in house and cutting back on working with TBWA and other advertising agencies. While the change could give Apple even more creative control over its advertising message, the company has yet to prove it can create the same high-caliber award winning ads TBWA has been able to bring to the table.
[Some image elements courtesy Shutterstock]