APPLE | Escape from the Office | 2022
Who makes a 9-minute ad in 2022? / Apple "Escape from the Office"
A 9-minute ad. Apple made one in 2022, and it even won the Film Grand Prix at Cannes. It's now in MoMA's permanent collection, too. I watched the whole 9 minutes, start to finish.
The problem
Between 2020 and 2021, huge numbers of people in the US quit their jobs, and a wave of people started small businesses. The next thing new founders have to deal with is setting up their IT, and that's where Apple products and Apple Business Essentials come in.
The insight
Apple has had a recurring set of characters called the "Underdogs" since 2019. The team decided to show where they are now. They asked themselves what it even means to make a 9-minute ad in 2022, and the answer they landed on was simple: if you want to capture how complicated and fast-moving work is today, you need that much time.
The idea
It's the story of four unremarkable office workers who leave their terrible boss, Vivienne, to start their own startup, BetterBag. Inspired by seeing a donut box double-bagged, they come up with a reusable bag and build the business using Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. There's a garage office, a 14-year-old genius developer, and at the end, Vivienne tries to buy them out — but they turn her down.
What happened
It racked up more than 35 million views, with an average watch time of over 3 minutes. In the first month, website traffic rose 353% and sales leads rose 212%. At Cannes Lions, it won Apple's first-ever Film Grand Prix.
Afterthought
What really gets me is that something on this scale was made by Apple's in-house team, not an outside ad agency. The Cannes jury president talked about "selling in a compelling way" — and this 9-minute film did exactly that. I'll admit it: they got me to watch the whole thing.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2022
