Almost a decade in the past, after taking the helm of Apple’s devoted company, TBWAMedia Arts Lab, world chief govt Katrien De Bauw and world chief artistic officer Brent Anderson went to lunch with the company’s founder and legendary artistic chief, Lee Clow.
Clow, who established TBWAMedia Arts Lab (MAL) in 2006, is most well-known for serving to to redefine Apple’s promoting with campaigns resembling “1984,” which launched Macintosh computer systems, and “Suppose Totally different” in 1997.
After listening to Clow’s tales of collaborating with the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, De Bauw left that assembly with a way of trepidation, telling Anderson, “‘We higher not f-ck this up.’”
“I may actually really feel the load,” she advised ADWEEK. “You stroll in standing on the shoulders of giants. It comes with an enormous duty.”
De Bauw and Anderson have led MAL for nearly half of its existence, having began on the company inside a day of one another in 2016. Over that interval, they’ve helped MAL broaden each its world presence and the kind of work it does for Apple, whereas aiming to boost its artistic recreation. Earlier this yr, as proof of their achievements, Cannes Lions named Apple its Artistic Marketer of the Yr.
Nonetheless, the strain stays excessive to maintain tempo with Apple’s fixed evolution.
“The MAL group has modified to have the ability to ship what Apple wants as we speak, but in addition what we predict it could want tomorrow,” De Bauw stated. “In case you solely ship what the consumer’s asking, then you definitely’re all the time a bit behind. You’ve received to take some possibilities and dangers.”
A basis of belief
MAL’s origins could be traced again to the storied friendship and artistic partnership between Jobs and Clow, who was beforehand artistic director at Chiat/Day, the place he oversaw the “1984” advert.
Jobs, who was “unrelenting in his imaginative and prescient for Apple and his expectation for [its] promoting and advertising,” got here to rely on “Clow’s pure artistic expression and talent to simplify and scale back,” Anderson stated.
Clow proposed the concept of organising a bespoke company for Apple because the model was making ready for a giant milestone: the launch of the primary iPhone in 2007.
“There was a necessity for a coordinated launch throughout a number of markets for the iPhone, the likes of which had by no means been seen earlier than,” Anderson stated. “It needed to be flawless.”
Jobs was receptive to the concept, with one stipulation: that he proceed to work with Clow and expertise from Chiat/Day. And so, MAL was born.
Although Jobs died in 2011 and Clow retired in 2019, MAL remains to be primarily based on the same “relationship of belief and dedication to [Apple’s] mission,” Anderson stated. Most of the practices that Clow and his workforce established almost 20 years in the past, resembling common conferences with senior Apple executives to debate the model’s challenges and future, persist as we speak.
Except for MAL, the tech big additionally has an inner artistic studio referred to as Apple Marcom, behind campaigns resembling Apple TV+’s stunt in Grand Central Station earlier this yr for its hit present Severance. MAL and Marcom get separate briefs from Apple advertising chief Tor Myhren, fostering a “wholesome competitors” between the 2 entities, in line with Anderson.
Even with an in-house studio, Apple sees the worth in sustaining a partnership with an exterior company, De Bauw defined. With an workplace in Los Angeles, MAL is bodily separate from Apple, which is predicated in Cupertino. Apple turns to MAL for an impartial perspective.
“We’re the outsiders on the within,” De Bauw stated. “[Myhren] desires us to push again, query, and produce shoppers’ standpoint into Apple to make the precise choices about no matter we’re engaged on. He’ll sit us down and say, ‘This must be fastened.’ And we do the identical with them.”
That open dynamic extends to the partnership between De Bauw and Anderson, they stated, describing it as “yin and yang.”
“Belief must exist between company and consumer, and it must exist between management in any group,” Anderson stated. “I’m completely comfy with [De Bauw] doing the issues that she is uniquely able to to make us the most effective model of ourselves, and I really feel that very same method from her.”
Experimenting the world over
An everlasting and trusting relationship with Apple has inspired larger experimentation inside MAL, Anderson stated.
“One of many advantages of being a devoted company is you’ve got time to construct issues and the chance to fail within the course of. If we make a mistake, it’s not like, now we’re going to lose the enterprise,” he stated. “We’ve received to make adjustments and be taught from these errors.”
Altering this mannequin isn’t on the desk, a MAL spokesperson advised ADWEEK: “Apple will all the time want a bespoke company. It’s a part of their artistic philosophy, to have an ‘insider on the surface.’”
That spirit of experimentation goes again to the identify, Media Arts Lab, that Clow hung above the company’s door 20 years in the past. It’s a relentless reminder of the kind of work the company ought to attempt for, Anderson stated.
“Are we performing artistically in all forms of media, and are we truly a laboratory the place you be taught issues and experiment?” Anderson stated.
Since becoming a member of, MAL’s leaders have made a concerted effort to foster creativity and enhance the output and expertise of its groups far past its dwelling base. As Apple has grown into the enormous it’s as we speak, so, too has MAL’s footprint: The company now has places of work in Los Angeles, London, Miami, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, and Seoul. Worldwide groups have created lauded work, resembling a music video for Okay-pop group Aespa, a manga adaptation, Lucha Libre movies in Mexico, and a darkish comedy directed by Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook.
“We now have places of work world wide with unbelievable expertise that delivers high quality work irrespective of the place you might be. That didn’t exist 10 years in the past,” De Bauw stated.
De Bauw and Anderson have additionally helped broaden the kind of work the company delivers for Apple. Whereas MAL initially created largely movies, now “we do the whole lot from influencer to efficiency advertising to built-in campaigns to social to long-form and branded leisure,” De Bauw stated. Its content material spans “6 seconds to six minutes to 27 minutes,” Anderson added.
The “Shot on iPhone” marketing campaign, which marked its tenth anniversary this yr, is an instance of that evolution. Initially, it comprised out-of-home advertisements, however MAL progressed the platform into video, social media, and long-form movies, resembling Danny Boyle’s film 28 Days Later. In June, “Shot on iPhone” received a Artistic Effectiveness Grand Prix at Cannes Lions.
Pioneering storytelling
Currently, MAL has been busy pioneering a brand new type of storytelling for Apple. Collaborating with Marcom, the company has created movies and collection that exhibit Apple Immersive Video, a expertise designed for digital actuality viewing that makes use of 3D video and spatial audio to position viewers within the middle of the scene.
Final yr, Apple launched six immersive experiences, together with Submerged, a 17-minute movie from Academy Award-winning director Edward Berger that took viewers inside a World Warfare II-era submarine. It additionally created a music video for The Weeknd and a live performance expertise with Metallica. Subsequent up is an immersive horror movie.
“These experiences grew to become an illustration of a foundationally new method of telling tales,” Anderson stated. “All the foundations have modified.”
Apple’s technological evolution could also be altering some guidelines, however for MAL, just a few ideas will all the time stay the identical. The workforce realized these from Apple: the significance of experimentation, craft, emotional storytelling—and, above all, simplicity.
“Clear and easy wins each time. No person is healthier at that than Apple. We attempt to match the excellence and expertise of their communication in the identical method folks have that have with their merchandise,” Anderson stated. “As an trade, we have to be higher and quicker at stripping away artifice and simply making an attempt to get to the guts of the matter.”
