Epi #33: Apple's Advertising Alchemy: Behind the Scenes of the New iPhone 15

'Relax, it's iPhone'. Yes, and it's also a s***load of behavioural science, consumer psychology and activation of mental heuristics..

Right, let's get into it.

The Science of Seduction

In Apple's latest incarnation of this spot by TBWA\Media Arts Lab , Scoundrel and OMD Australia , it's hitting no less than 7 pervasive and powerful cognitive biases. That's 1 every 5.4s! Let's dive straight into Apple's ad strategy!

Including:

• What biases 苹果 are focussing on
• How they're using BeSci in this ad
• Why it's so effective

Unpacking iPhone 15's Subtle Signals

1. Affect Heuristic (Slovic et al.): The ad's Hollywood-esq emotional rollercoaster, from anxiety to relief, leverages emotions to influence judgments and decisions about the product's quality and necessity.
2. Familiarity Heuristic (Tversky & Kahneman): The setting with magpies swooping is immediately familiar to Aussies. Tapping into this alone, makes the iPhone 15 more appealing and relatable.
3. Loss Aversion (Kahneman & Tversky): The focus on the iPhone's durability against breakage taps into the fear of loss, a powerful motivator. We're all more motivated to avoid losses (a broken phone) than to obtain equivalent gains—somewhere between 2-7 x dependant on the individual. That is to say, the pain of smashing your new A$1,849 titanium iPhone, is psychologically the same, as losing $3,698 - $12,943!
4. Endowment Effect (Thaler): By showing the phone in everyday use and using text overlay with such messaging as "the commuter" will make viewers start to visualise owning the phone, increasing its perceived value.
5. Salience Bias (Ariely): The dramatic scene of the phone surviving a fall makes the durability feature more salient and memorable. This is the closing of the ad, cleverly connecting the key new feature with the benefit and helping our ease-loving-brains remember it.
6. Priming (Kahneman): Apple primes the audience with specific attributes (durability, reliability) which then become top-of-mind when thinking about smartphones. As above in 5, its connecting the mental dots for you.
7. Social Proof (Cialdini): Apple implies the phone's popularity and acceptance by showing it in a common, relatable scenario, suggesting it's a choice made by many. Which regardless of just 1 ad spot, we know this is entirely true.

Summary, Takeaway & Conclusion

Apple's the 9th largest company, perennially profitable and dominating smartphone markets—there's a reasonable argument they even need to advertise, a la Tesla. Yet, we see them continually investing in localised advertising, focussing on utilising consumer psychology and making it easy for our brains to remember the message.

While I'm not part of the team that created this ad, I'll bet they start with a clear understanding of the 'why we buy' behavioural triggers before getting close to a creative brief.

If it's good enough for Apple...

About the Author: Nicholas R. Mason | B.Soc.Sc., BBehSc

15+ eventful years working in strategy, advertising, branding, media, consulting and sales in ad land—I'm endlessly curious as to why some campaigns fly, and others bomb—often counterintuitively.

I believe BeSci provides us the best and most scaleable shortcut, to ensuring your next marketing campaigns drives a positive ROI.

If you're a purpose-driven company doing good for the world, and would like help planning and strategising your next campaign... DM me here on LinkedIn.

Talk soon,

Nicholas R. Mason

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