Apple: The Underdogs
Apple wanted to expand its footprint in the enterprise sector. TBWA\Media Arts Lab was tasked with shifting the perception of Apple products from consumer gadgets to essential business tools. The goal was to reach small business owners and employees by highlighting how the integrated ecosystem solves real - world workplace challenges during a high - pressure project, moving away from traditional, spec - heavy B2B advertising.
Creative Idea
A cinematic mockumentary following four underdogs using Apple tools to design a circular pizza box.
Apple humanized B2B advertising by creating a fast - paced, character - driven "mini - sitcom" that showed how its ecosystem helps a scrappy team turn a chaotic idea into a reality under extreme pressure.
The Pizza Box Patent and the B2B Revolution
A Real Patent for a Fake Project
The circular pizza box at the heart of the narrative is not a fictional prop. It is based on US Patent 9,630,745, a real design by Francesco Longoni, Apple’s Head of Food Services. These boxes are used daily at Caffè Macs, Apple’s corporate headquarters, to prevent crusts from getting soggy. Director Mark Molloy utilized a handheld, "mockumentary" style to heighten the workplace anxiety, weaving 16 different Apple features - including AirDrop, Siri, and Keynote - into the story without the film ever feeling like a traditional product demo.
Humanizing the Enterprise Sector
Before this campaign, B2B advertising was notoriously dry, focusing on IT managers and technical specs. Apple shifted the focus to the end - user, acknowledging the "chaos" of modern work. Tor Myhren, Apple VP of Marketing Communications, noted that the films proved there is "no such thing as too many product demos as long as they’re natural extensions of the story." The strategy worked; market research indicated a significant shift in perceiving Apple products as essential enterprise tools rather than just consumer electronics, specifically within the Small - to - Medium Business (SMB) segment.
From One - Off to Global Saga
The "Underdogs" have become a multi - year franchise, amassing over 150 million views on YouTube. The 2020 sequel, "The Whole Working - From - Home Thing," was produced entirely during the COVID - 19 lockdown, mirroring the characters' real - world remote struggles. While the series has been a massive success, it hasn't been without friction; the 2024 "OOO" installment was pulled by Apple after two weeks following criticism from the Thai government regarding its depiction of the country.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
A seamless ecosystem of hardware and software designed for collaborative productivity.
Category
B2B marketing typically relies on dry technical specifications and corporate jargon that ignores the end - user.
Customer
Employees feel the frantic, messy reality of modern work and need tools that actually keep up.
Culture
The rise of startup culture made scrappy, high - pressure collaboration a universal experience.
Company
A seamless ecosystem of hardware and software designed for collaborative productivity.
Category
B2B marketing typically relies on dry technical specifications and corporate jargon that ignores the end - user.
Strategy:
Humanize enterprise technology by dramatizing the relatable chaos of collaborative problem - solving through character - led storytelling.
Customer
Employees feel the frantic, messy reality of modern work and need tools that actually keep up.
Culture
The rise of startup culture made scrappy, high - pressure collaboration a universal experience.
Strategy:
Humanize enterprise technology by dramatizing the relatable chaos of collaborative problem - solving through character - led storytelling.
Strategy Technique
Attack a Boring Truth
It rejected the dry, spec - heavy conventions of enterprise marketing, instead using humor and relatable workplace anxiety to prove that business tools can be as exciting as consumer tech.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Story-Driven Campaign
It uses a cinematic, multi - character narrative to demonstrate product features naturally within a high - stakes workplace drama, making technical tools feel like essential plot devices.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
The campaign's impact is driven by its world-class cinematography and seamless integration of digital HUD elements that make the technology feel tactile.
The use of anamorphic lenses and precise drone choreography creates a truly cinematic scale.
The subtle, integrated UI graphics on the windshield feel like a natural part of the environment.
The transition between the aggressive urban lighting and the soft natural landscapes creates a powerful visual metaphor for the product's versatility.
