Apple has unveiled a new global brand platform for Mac titled “Great Ideas Start on Mac”, narrated by the late Dr. Jane Goodall in what is now one of her final recordings.
The poignant campaign, created by TBWA\Media Arts Lab, is a cinematic tribute to creativity, and to the humble blinking cursor that marks the start of something extraordinary.
The ad opens with a familiar image: a white screen and a blinking cursor. “Every story you love, every invention that moves you, every idea you wished was yours, all began as nothing,” Goodall says. “Just a flicker on a screen, asking a simple question: ‘What do you see?’”
From there, the spot unfolds into a montage of artists, creators, entrepreneurs, musicians, filmmakers and scientists mid-process, each bringing ideas to life using a Mac. Among them are Bruce Strickrott, an ocean engineer capturing deep-sea discoveries; Ruchika Sachdeva, fashion designer and founder of Bodice; Alice Wong, disability rights activist and founder of the Disability Visibility Project; and the team at 1X Technologies, an AI and robotics company.
“Every great idea starts from nothing, a blank canvas,” Tor Myhren, Apple’s vice president of marketing communications, told ADWEEK. “There is something about the blank screen of a Mac that has given birth to so many famous, world-changing ideas across countless fields and disciplines. From business to art to music to film to apps to science and everything in between, great ideas start on Mac”.
Goodall, who passed away earlier this month at age 91, had a long-standing relationship with Apple. She previously appeared in the brand’s iconic “Think Different” campaign in 1998.
Directed by Academy Award nominee Mike Mills, known for 20th Century Women, the film features an original score by Emile Mosseri.
The campaign will run across YouTube, broadcast, out-of-home, and social platforms.
