Apple’s Holiday Ad Paints The iPad As A Device That Bridges Generations

Apple’s marketing team does one thing especially well: Identifying how its products are being used and turning that into a point of emotional resonance via video advertising. The company’s new holiday ad, which is called “The Song,” uses Apple’s entire lineup to help the protagonist get creative with their Christmas gift, but the part that rings most true is the way the iPad erases what could be complex technological barriers across generations.

The iPad is arguably the biggest question mark in Apple’s overall product mix at the moment, since it has shown negative sales growth over the past few quarters while the iPhone and Mac segments continue to climb, but this ad actually manages to get at why it’s probably an area of less concern than many observers are making it out to be. The iPad is still “the computer” for a lot of households and individuals out there, and its simplicity allows it to act as such even for market groups that otherwise might not even be connected.

“The Song” rings true because this year, I’m setting my own grandmother up with an iPad, after she expressed an interest in having one from so much time seeing photos on those me and the rest of my family bring by on visits. My grandmother has never expressed an interest in any other computing platform before now, and she’s well into her nineties. The point is that Apple knows how their devices resonate with buyers, and they can use that effectively in marketing messages in a way their competitors seem largely unable to do.