Even though Apple took off the comment option on their youtube short film "The whole working-from-home thing — Apple", we still really like it. So, why do we like it and how is it related to Mcdonald's?
Do you know this saying that TV shows are just the break between the commercial breaks? Well, we assume back in 1988 the whole McDonald's marketing team knew about it.
That year, McDonald's had produced and released a (quote-on-quote) movie, that goes by the title "Mac and Me". The movie tells the story of a young boy finding a little (creepy) alien, their adventures together, and how they become best friends. Sounds familiar? In that case, it's not exactly "E.T" but more of a twisted, paraphrased rip-off 'Walmart Version' that its main point is making you E.A.T.
The only reason Mcdonald's produced this movie, is what lays beneath the same saying we referenced earlier. It's just a commercial. You know, it's like when all of a sudden you realize 'Bumblebee' in the 'Transformers' movies is a Chevrolet Camero, even though originally he was Volkswagen Beatle. It's like the moment you notice the box of Oreo-o's cereals on top of Chandler and Joey's fridge on 'Friends'. Instead of buying advertising spaces, Mcdonald's tried to create their own space. Why pay for product placement on a few scenes on the big screen when you can have a whole movie surrounding your brand?
The movie features a bunch of obscure scenes, including, of course, a visit to Mcdonald's. And how peculiar is that the Alien's name is Mac, Plastered in red and yellow gradient on the movie poster, triggering every brain who sees this to reminisce Mcdonald's. We don't really recommend watching the film unless you're a fan of very bad movies, and in that case, you're guaranteed to laugh. Needless to say, the movie flopped. it was nominated for worst picture and worst screenplay of 1989 raspberry awards, and actually won two "prizes" for the worst director and the worst new star. The movie made 6.4M$ in the box offices, which may sound decent, but not compared to the fact its budget was 13M$. "Mac and Me" failed and left a big wide stain on the public conscious in the smell of not-subtle markting.
Two years ago, knowingly or unknowingly, Apple stepped in McDonald's' shoes and went on a journey with the same common goal. Unlike McDonald's, Apple nailed it on their first try. More accurate, more content, more subtext, and much better results than McDonald's.
In 2018, the company behind the infamous iPhone, Apple, released a short film on youtube called "Apple at work - the underdogs", a well-written, produced, and executed sketch about the daily life of a small R&D team working at Apple. Due to its quality and Apple being in charge of it, the video made headlines, and today has more than 9M views. That's 9M almost free real views for a 3-minute long ad. We're pretty sure the commercial even cost less to produce than buying 9M fake views ("people buy views, I know it's old news").
The second time, they perfected it. In July of 2020, Apple returned, and they returned bigtime. This time they released a sequel following the same R&D team "The Underdogs", but now under the COVID-19 restrictions, on their working-from-home experience. Apple took a little time, they got a clear view and they hit a precise shot. Well, you see, even though working in one of the world's leading companies is interesting, it's not that relatable. But now, everyone is working from home. Everyone can laugh at the absurdity of this situation and sympathize with it, and that's what made it so great. Funnier, better produced, and longer, "The whole working-from-home thing — Apple" made 31M views, in less time than its predecessor. 31M almost free real views for an almost 7-minute ad surrounding Apple. In this move, Millions of people watched a global company taking itself not-so-serious but in a very professional manner and creating an approachable high-quality piece of content. When content is done badly, people will antagonize it. When content is done right, people will embrace it.
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And don't worry we didn't forget you. In case you didn't watch "The whole working-from-home thing — Apple", here is it: