There's a certain kind of advertising that you know is vying for a Cannes Lion, the kind of prestige work that will really make you think about the state of humanity—and if you're lucky, the brand behind the spot.
Apple Music's new spot, which broke on Sunday night's Emmy Award telecast and pointed to the extended online version version below (brilliant timing, A+ media team), has James Corden pitching ad ideas for Apple Music—goofy and, later, overly ambitious ideas—much to the chagrin of Apple's execs, who'd rather just tell people about the app's functionality.
First, let's admit this idea is hardly new. In fact, Samsung did it for the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, with Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen pitching ad ideas to Bob Odenkirk (who played a Samsing exec).
But Apple goes beyond the talking heads to have Corden act out some of his pitches (though thankfully, not the one where he's giving birth to Justin Bieber, who's giving birth to Anthony Kiedis, who's giving birth to an iPhone). You're on board with Corden's kooky ideas and curious to see what they'd look like—and then bang, there you have it and it's beautiful. You're also just as skeptical as the Apple Music execs, wondering how he could possibly advertise the product, but it's so pretty and weird that you're willing to go with it.
That the spot—made by Translation in collaboration with Corden's production company, Fulwell73—is somehow able to skewer and pay homage to a certain kind of advertising with a light, fun touch makes it all the more endearing.