Apple has kicked off iPad Pro marketing with ads airing tonight during Monday Night Football. Pun intended. The spots use a galactic theme similar to the one we saw during the iPad Pro event back in September and focus on two marquee features: the ability to run two full iPad apps side-by-side and the new Pencil stylus.
There are doubtless other gears in the iPad Pro marketing cog works to come, but the focus on creative work right off the top spells out how Apple is embarking on selling the device. These spots, coupled with small group testing at companies like Pixar and various trade show outings, displays a differing rollout procedure than is typical for a new Apple device. The gap between announcement and availability has allowed for this, of course, but there is also a feeling that Apple is doing its best to position the iPad pre-launch with creatives.
Another video dropped today over on the Adobe channel shows impressions of artists using the Creative Cloud apps on iPad Pro and follows a similar pattern.
I don’t doubt that we’ll see spots aimed at the keyboard more specifically and at enterprise applications (spreadsheets next to photo apps!), but this initial wave is all about the creators. Telling, given the iPad’s historic battle to be considered anything but a consumption platform.
The iPad Pro is a bigger iPad, but it’s also shaping up to be a category of its own. It will be interesting to see how the rollout — which starts this week with orders on Wednesday — proceeds.
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