Apple Profiles Apps Used To Create Its ‘Powerful’ New Ad

Apple has a new ad out that you may have seen, featuring a track by The Pixies and a whole lot of iPhone users employing mobile software to cover the song. The ad harkens back to earlier Apple ads where people used a variety of software from the App Store to have fun with their devices, and as such represents a pretty strong return to form.

I’ll forgive them the obligatory dusk-on-the-desert-young-people-shooting-off-bottle-rockets shot that seems to make its way into most ads aimed at Millennials or younger these days, because the rest of the spot presents people doing stuff with their iPhones that I actually wouldn’t mind emulating. Apple anticipated that, of course, and created a micro-site to go along with the ad that offers a look at and links to each of six apps featured prominently in the video (which Apple officially refers to as a ‘film,’ by the by).

The apps in question are Star Walk, Instant Heart Rate, Word Lens, AmpliTube, Luminair, and Pacific Rim. They cover a wide range of features and functions, including one that you may have thought was exclusive to Samsung’s Galaxy S5 (Instant Heart Rate). Apple’s promotional pushes almost always seem to come with microsites these days, but that’s smart – giving ads an endpoint for further engagement makes a lot of sense when you’re generating buzz and want to do more than just fritter that away.