Creative Direction & Talent Strategy

Apple Watch

In 2014, Apple began launch preparations for Watch – the company’s first product developed entirely under Tim Cook’s leadership. As design and engineering teams raced to meet Watch’s drop date, a group of fashion and advertising specialists was assembled in Cupertino to create a campaign around the product.

The objective was to develop a print and TV campaign around Apple Watch with two goals in mind –

1) Position Watch as a luxury accessory and

2) Elevate it beyond the wearables conversation.

Identify and (when possible) establish connections between Apple and launch partners who could immediately solidify Watch’s status as a progressive fashion item.

Solution

As the launch of Watch was a wholly new process for Apple, the team that was assembled to develop its campaign was largely composed of people from outside the company. I was part of that small group working both as a copywriter and strategist.

Our objective was to develop narrative and aesthetic frameworks that could accommodate a diverse range of people Apple might feature in campaigns for Watch (both at launch and beyond). Ultimately, we landed on two formats – spots that showed Watch in real-life application and studio shoots that allowed us to get a bit more figurative with our portrayal of the product.