14 DAY TRIAL // They say parenting is the toughest job in the world, but Apple suggests that owning an iPhone makes it a tad easier on the whole family, including the dog. In a new TV ad dubbed “Parenthood,” the Cupertino company outlines a few key scenarios where iPhone can become vital for every parent.
As part of the new “powerful” campaign, the Parenthood ad (embedded below for your viewing pleasure) is one minute long and shows a few happy families getting parenting done with the help of the iPhone and various specific apps.
One key example is the Withings WithBaby app, which allows parents to monitor their newborns using the Smart Baby Monitor by Withings (which sells for $249.95 / €249.95 on the Apple online store).
The Mac maker further showcases MyTeeth, a fun kids’ app that shows the youngsters how to brush, Drawnival, a drawing app, Pet Manager Pro, which helps you find your pet if it gets lost, Nike + Running, Parrot Flower Power, and others.
Interestingly, the company prefers to promote its own apps and utilities in iOS 7 for things like video chatting (FaceTime), photography (the built-in Camera app), and the flashlight function (from Control Center).
Apple has recently hired new marketing people to reignite interest in its brand, and the “powerful” campaign is just one of these efforts. However, the ads tend to resemble one another quite a lot, in that they use the exact same recipe every time: showcase app usage in different scenarios.
The company’s commercials no longer have any element of surprise, like the now-discontinued Get a Mac ads that poked fun at the rivalry between Macs and Windows PCs.
Today’s ads also seem overly dramatic, highlighting what some would call first-world problems. After all, anyone can find a teddy bear under the bed with a regular flashlight, not just the built-in LED flash of the iPhone 5s.
However, that’s not to say the advertising effort isn’t compelling. Apple’s iOS and the entire line of iDevices hold so many truly “powerful” features that the campaign could go on forever. But that could also pose a problem. People are used to seeing Apple reinvent itself, not reiterate over and over and over again. Or at least they were.
Watch the embedded clip below and do share your own impressions with us in the comments section. You can also visit Apple’s “powerful” campaign page to see the other ads in the series.
