Just in time for launch day, Apple has debuted three new commercials — “Us,” “Up,” and “Rise” — for Apple Watch on U.S. broadcast and cable TV networks.
Apple’s descriptions for each spot:
• Us: For all the ways you connect, the Watch is here.
• Up: For all the ways you move, the Watch is here.
• Rise: For all the ways you spend your time, the Watch is here.
MacDailyNews Take: Get ready. Apple begins changing the world – yet again – today!
The Apple Original Film ‘Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie’ is honored among the first batch of Peabody Award nominees…
Apple is reportedly developing its own artificial intelligence server processor using TSMC’s 3nm process, with mass production to begin by…
Apple has cut its 2024 Vision Pro shipments as demand in the U.S. market has fallen sharply beyond expectations…
Apple is widely expected to introduce a new 12.9-inch iPad Air model at its just-announced “Let Loose” special event on May 7th. That…
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7th at 7am PDT / 10am EDT. Apple is widely expected to announce…
The commercials convey the idea this watch is intended for people, about 30 years old, who live in the upper West Side of Manhattan or some wealthy San Francisco neighborhood, or in China. It does not appear to be a product intended for flyover country. The ads convey a very distinct political class using these.
What!?? The ads are commenting on the busy lifestyle of the 21st century! You see what you want to see! Read in what you want to read in. Or, maybe, your life style isn’t busy, hectic, active, maybe you don’t have need of reminders, or buy things, or have friends who text you scores of times during the day, maybe you wouldn’t welcome something, anything, to help filter some of the background noise… I do.
Your sense of victimhood is palpable.
That is what the ads convey. Ad agencies, which are made up of people who work to convey exactly the sort of audience they intend to attract, did exactly what I said. I am just stating the nature of the ads. They are very metropolitan, very young, very Madison Avenue. This is not me. This is what Apple wants to convey, which is fine. They just don’t have much time in three ads to show people who don’t live in the big city, where the really important people are.
Ok, yes, I see your well taken point.
Right. They are very good ads for appealing to the metrosexual market. Not so good if they want to reach the non-metrosexuals. But they clearly have an intense focus on the one demographic. That’s cool.
Apple ads, whether they be for Macs, iPods, iPhones, or iPads have always featured young, thin, attractive people… for reasons that I think are obvious and which have nothing to do with politics.
Gee, if they want attractive people they should sign up Sarah Palin.
What an asinine comment. Sarah Palin is 51 years old, and she doesn’t do product endorsements. And why would Apple sign up politicians of either party to be in their ads? That just doesn’t make any sense. You must need a refill on your oxycontin prescription.
But why do you refer to the 30-something characters depicted in this ad as a “political class” instead of just a demographic? You don’t know anything about these fictional characters’ politics. You’re just making assumptions based on your own sense of victimhood and reading wayyy more into these ads than what is actually there.
@kent So the ‘really important people’ are people who don’t live in big cities.
Your comment shows your obvious bias. Maybe Apple just isn’t trying to attract ‘your kind’ of people.
i agree. I also don’t think they’ve very good. they’re just not that compelling
Cool, but they gotta let go of this idea that people want to draw on their watches. The first one left me thinking I don’t need any of those features. But overall nicely done. Watch will fill a niche market, in my opinion, tops out @ 25% of iPhone users.
Well let’s see, as of Oct 2, 2014, they sold 120 million+, and this data does not include the iphone 6 or 6+ sales, and is already 6 months old, and also not counting the millions sold since then. Still 25% of 120 million comes out to 30 million watches, and compared to the total number of 2 million for all other smart watches combined, over the past 2-4 years, I’d say they have another grand slam on their hands.
Loved the “How do they make it” video. But it is a product I will never own.
“The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a ‘mouse’. There is no evidence that people want to use these things. I don’t want one of these new-fangled devices.” – John C. Dvorak
Dvorak: Always good for a snarky laugh.
even his name evokes a small one…
Speaking of which: I grew up on classical music. I know how to properly pronounce ‘Dvorak.’ Then I hear goon tech writer Dvorak pronounce his own name and laugh.
TOM isn’t excluding any other wrist wearable.. So it is entirely possible the Apple Watch has one or more conditions that do not meet his current needs or is too expensive for what he needs it to do.
So many people will put a watch on today for the first time in a long time.
Classic “Jobs-ian” we make before you figure out how much you will like it, need it, use it.!
Life changing tech on your wrist. The pedi-oxymeter inside is a GAME CHANGING technology sitting unused inside the Watch until software updates activate it after FDA approvals are granted…..!!
Is it me or we don’t clearly see the size difference of the Watch?
Some of the wrist shown were too small for the size of the Watch they choose or again, is it me?
Anyway, I am gonna try one before buying it!
Given the initial sizes (read: thickness), it’ll take some iterations until we see the razor-thin Watch Air.
Is it just me or do these commercials seem a bit “gloomy” in their lighting and presentation. In watching them, I felt a bit like I was watching the Apple Big Brother commercial mixed with a bit of Blade Runner-ishness lifestyling. Maybe Ridley Scott directed these..?
Appreciate your comment and can see where you are coming from. Thinking about it, and the commercials, I do make the connection with the “most personal” device narrative. It’s you, your immediate world, and sometimes, the person close to you sharing the Apple Watch experience. Kind of like, ‘make the best of your ‘alone’ time and your life with your Apple watch.’ Yeah, dorky response, I know.
I sort-a got the sense they were attempting to highlight the utility of the watch starting in the wee hours of the day, and at varying times throughout the day, then ending into the late evening. Plus, I think the low light helps accentuate the lighted face of the device.
Rogue,
You’re right. And, I get why they did it, but again there’s sort of a “feeling” you get watching these commercials that I don’t seem to get with other Apple product ads. It’s not a huge thing either, but I don’t think the folks are all that super stoked appearing in the ads.
Ah, it’s probably just me and my perspective I guess…
Kent, I’ll buy you a “farmers only” watch when it comes out.
The ads target modern civilization in a modern world with a modern watch
Actually, it targets urban metrosexuals with no kids. A farmer here and there would be good, but I know how Tim Cook feels about people who live in the country.
Hmm do tell how Tim Cook feels about country folk. I’m dying to hear this one.
I can answer that for you. Kent lives in the country, votes Republican and he hates gay marriage, and he thinks everyone else who lives in the country is exactly like him. He has seen the recent national polling which shows that his own political views on gay rights are now in the minority and falling fast, and he feels marginalized and victimized by that, so he’s lashing out at Tim Cook because Cook is gay and lives in a city, and therefore Cook must be an “other”, not a “real American” like him.
Modern farming in the U.S. is highly automated these days. Perhaps Kent is talking about small farms or sharecropping?
To market a product you must first define your target audience. In this case Apple is targeting people who lead busy lifestyles, are concerned about their health and have already bought into the Apple ecosystem. Thats all… reading in any other ‘demographic’ is just silly.
I got tired watching them. I felt like I was being rushed. Though pleasantly rushed. 😛
I’m impressed. I dare to say there is a bit of European influence in the ads. They have a continuity. There are subtle intelligent progressions within the ads, such as drama progressions, colors, shapes, lighting. Clearly, these three are early morning, ‘dawn’ (get it?) sequences. We see predominantly the demographic Kent noted above. But there ARE country scenes intermixed. The ages of the models are fairly similar, the ‘yuppy’ crowd (as they were once called). Young Urban Professionals living contemporary lives.
Why I bring up the European influence is that the density of the images, faces, activities and drama beg repeated watching, which in turn provide further detail and interest.
These are some of the most intelligent advertisements I have EVER seen. My father would hate the rapid cut editing. But I think it works. These are ads I can not only stand to watch again, I want to watch again to see what new things I notice the next time around. And despite the wonderful people in the ads, the Watch remains the center of continuity and interest.
Now go watch some Samsung ads. *shiver*
I love the last scene in ‘us’. Any device can pull your attention away from what you are doing (email chime, alarm clock, etc.) But how many can so eloquently and simply remind you that you are loved and that someone cares about you?
Agree. Hip. But in an everyday sort of way. And just a tad melancholy, though in a sort of sweet, romantic sort of way.
In a way, they sort of recall the old AT&T “phone home” type ads, in the sense they are about people connecting with other people, or just getting on with their lives.
The majority of people on the planet live in cities, that’s all the commercials are conveying. To read anything else into that is a reach.
Looks like we southpaws have to wear the watch upside down.
saw an unboxing video that shows setup
one of the steps is to ask which hand you wear the watch on
You think Apple would ignore the left demographic ?!-)
What about the ambidextrous demographic?
These new ads are AWESOME💥👀🚀🎉⌚️👍 my 42mm SG WATCH SPORT arrives via expedited UPS Tuesday morning!😀