Crushing your reputation

Let's talk about the latest Apple Event from May 7th.

I'm not picking on Apple, but what's going on??

I love Apple products and admire Apple as a company; I still think they produce powerful and gorgeous products, but I don't recall seeing an Apple event so off, hokey, and out of touch. However, I could be getting out of touch with today's trends, although I'm not breaking up with Apple; it feels like a case of "it's?not you; it's?me."?

Let's start with the iPad commercial: as many people have mentioned, WTF??

What almost everyone perceived the message was: let's destroy the symbols of creativity, digitize them all, and flatten and obliterate them. Very symbolic, isn't it? But why use such a destructive analogy? Is it because it looks cool? These kinds of videos using an industrial pneumatic press have always been either to see if something stands the pressure and observe its stress limit or to see it being smashed and destroyed, a favourite pastime of many guys, but mostly a way to waste time with mindless destruction, definitely a faux pas.

Now, back to the Apple Event.

I'm bothered by the storytelling for an Apple event. Yes, there should be a story and a way to tell that story, but why add such a level of fanfare?

Why a commuter train? Did you see everyone glued to their devices? Did you see the commuters not commuting? That train is almost empty, so clean, and with such good lighting! Pure perfection!

By the way, John Ternus is train surfing (I know I'm going too far with this one), but is he very good at it, or is that the smoothest train ride in the world?

And what about the script lines about what people can do in that setting? Why not just say what they can do but force a storytelling line on that moment?

Really? Are entrepreneurs doing the accounting on the go, on a train? Are entrepreneurs reckless enough to do accounting on the go, risking exposing numbers to other train passengers??

And what about the line to produce engaging content on the go? I get the point, but engaging as an influencer??I'm?not sure about?this one,?either.

Why a library? No one is telling her to lower her voice, and she seems not to care. I mean, it is all staged, but why try to make it look real when they?are ignoring?reality by disregarding the rules of that specific location??

And yes, last time I checked, video conferences at a public library were prohibited,?with the exception of?the sign language video conference; that's?a smart?situational solution.

One quote that has made me laugh throughout the years is, "The new (insert device here) is more powerful and versatile than ever!" But each time they launch a new product version, they say the same thing, which makes me wonder, is it really? It's weird to put such an emphasis on the fact that the new product is better.

And what is that lame secret passage to unveil the iPad Pro?

Then the cringe-destructive video:

"Today, we are not only going to push the limits of what you can do on an iPad, but we are going to crush?it"?

It was more like, "Today, we?are going to?crush our reputation."

When talking about the viewing experience on the iPad Pro, it's mentioned that "getting drawn into a movie is a truly extraordinary experience, is like holding a cinema right in your hands," but it is not; the aspect ratio that is shown in the video is not a cinema aspect ratio, it is probably a 4:3 like the previous I pad version.?I would love to have the latest iPad, but the way Apple products are advertised has reached a new level of trickery and sappiness.?

The nano-texture glass option is outstanding and might be a fantastic tool for photography and creative work. I'm really impressed with the iPad Pro; what a beast!

Ok, and now the lab looks like an Apple store?

Oh, a climbing gym? That's not bad for context, but then Will Hui mentions, "Record professional videos with precise manual controls," and then they show the person in the frame leaving the frame. They should have hired Jimmy Chin to make it real, not poorly staged and filmed by a non-professional crew.

Again and again, we see?amazing?products being thrown into forced contexts, beautifully staged, but so staged that the context loses any credibility, and the product gets crushed by its own function—pardon the bad pun, I couldn't resist.?

When Leslie Ikemoto comes to show the Apple Pencil Pro in a beautiful studio, it feels like the only time the situational context adds meaning to the presentation and the product being presented. Then, James Cuda from Procreate shows a real seamless demo!

Everything in the Apple Event was visually outstanding but so clean and unnatural, staged and artificial, and full of contradictions.?

Is Apple finally losing its edge? I have been thinking they are not, but maybe they are transitioning into a mass product, and they are hitting normalcy in a?bad?way.?

And a note to the creatives who worked in the campaign and the event: it is not that you did a bad or lame job; it is the client who had a bad brief.

Last but not least, the latest Apple event, with its failed advertising and its awkward event, opens the conversation about companies like Apple making mistakes and why they, as a company, are more heavily judged when they make a mistake than other companies. Also, how companies react and when to activate their PR muscle and back out from a statement or error.

We are living in?interesting?times...