Apple on Inside That Ad

Apple 'Great Ideas Start on Mac': Jane Goodall's Last Campaign

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Dr. Jane Goodall died on October 1, 2025. Three weeks later, Apple released “Great Ideas Start on Mac” — a campaign she had recorded voiceover for before her death, narrating a quiet film about the moment before anything exists: the blank page, the blinking cursor, the instant of not-yet.

The timing was not planned. The resonance, consequently, was impossible to manufacture and impossible to ignore.

The Campaign’s Central Idea

TBWA\Media Arts Lab built the “Great Ideas Start on Mac” platform around a deceptively simple observation: every significant creative act — every scientific discovery, every film, every design — begins with nothing. The blank page is not a metaphor. It is the literal starting condition of all creative work, and it is also the moment of maximum anxiety for anyone who makes things.

Apple 1984: The Commercial That Only Aired Once and Changed Everything

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 19:15:00 +0000

January 22, 1984. Super Bowl XVIII. The Los Angeles Raiders were leading the Washington Redskins in the third quarter when a 60-second commercial aired that would be analyzed, debated, and referenced for the next four decades. It was called “1984.” It aired nationally exactly once. And it changed what advertising could be.

Apple’s “1984” commercial, conceived by Steve Hayden and Brent Thomas at Chiat/Day and directed by Ridley Scott — fresh off Blade Runner — is universally regarded as the greatest Super Bowl advertisement ever made and one of the most important commercial films in history. It didn’t show a product. It barely mentioned a product name. What it showed was a vision of the future, a declaration of war, and an artistic achievement that most feature films can’t match.

Google CODA Commercial

Sat, 09 Apr 2022 04:04:12 +0000

Google’s CODA TV spot tells the story of a man named Tony. Tony is what’s known as a “CODA”, a child of deaf adults. Tony’s parents were both born deaf, so he grew up speaking sign language and translating for his parents. During the pandemic, Tony hasn’t been able to see his parents in person, but he can still communicate with them through the use of technology, including letting his parents spend time with their new grand-baby. You should note that all the technology in the commercial is a Google related product so no this is not an ode to a certain Apple TV show which I’ll talk about next.

Apple Event March 8

Fri, 04 Mar 2022 09:00:39 +0000

Yesterday Apple announced its first event of 2022, set to take place next Tuesday, March 8th, 2022. Featuring the tagline “Peek Performance.” Along with a newly designed image for the event, a set of nested Apple icons in yellow, orange, red, pink, and purple shades. And no, that’s not a typo: instead of “peak performance,” which would mean something along the lines of “max performance,” Apple is opting for “peek performance.” This seemingly means that we’ll get a “quick or furtive” look at some sort of performance technology. The video below will be an active YouTube link once the event starts streaming on Monday.

Macintosh: The Computer for the Rest of Us

Sat, 23 Nov 2019 16:33:53 +0000

Here is another advertising treasure I recently discovered, a 1984 Macintosh commercial that featured former Microsoft CEO, Bill Gates. It’s actually not a commercial but a promotional video that featured the billionaire. I believe it is the Apple II being featured, its biggest selling points according to the promo video? The GUI interface and the pointer mouse. Can you believe how time just flies? Now we have 10 times that power in Android and iOS phones.