Apple did it, yet again!

An industry colleague recently posted that she is often asked what the ideal length of an audio-visual is. Her answer has always been - as long as it takes to get the message across and not a second longer.

While I believe that not everything needs to be short-shorter-shortest. Not in any form of communication. It is imperative to ensure the narrative is crisp, clear and does not drag; otherwise, an important story can also be lost, especially in videos.

A case in point is the Data Brokers Are Trading In Your Personal Data | Act now to?ReclaimYourPrivacy?- https://youtu.be/duo8LduBrUs video launched in Nov 2020. The message was relevant. The data provided as actionable was good. But the traction garnered was not as expected.

Cut to the recent, Privacy on iPhone | Data Auction | Apple - https://youtu.be/NOXK4EVFmJY. The same message. But a fundamental difference is in the traction garnered.

For a minute, let's keep the slick execution and fancy CG aside. Let's only concentrate on the message and edit. Where did the Apple video score???

Purpose and audience both were considered very well before executing the storyboard. Apple respected the time audience had at hand and gave an entertaining, informative and revelation-like feeling.

The most replayed part of the ad uploaded on YouTube is at the time stamp 1:06, where we get to see the phone UI up close. No surprises there as it shows the actionable.

Apple was able to cut the message to clear, loud call-outs that stayed with the audience. At the same time, they placed the messaging sequentially without repetition and managed to limit the duration. They kept the character focus only on the audience - a single protagonist. The earlier video, on the other hand, added too many characters and too many styles of communicating the same point, somewhere losing the audience in between.

Long story short, Apple did what it does best. Not rushing to be the first but getting it absolutely right!

In my view, both these videos cater to a near similar audience. Whilst Apple is clearly a product feature ad, the other focuses on customer education.

The masses still do not understand the concept of data privacy and the steps to protect it. And the?ReclaimYourPrivacy?video makes a hardworking attempt at making audiences aware of what happens behind the curtain. But, in my view, the narrative kind of muddled it up.

What are your views? I'd learn to learn more from you.

#licreatoraccelerator

#appleprivacy #videolength #storytelling #privacy