So, Apple has released its latest advert, Mother Nature, which aims to showcase what the big tech corp is doing “leaving the world better than we found it”. As it says, “Each of us contributes to that effort in our own way, bringing a passion for what we do best and what we believe matters most”, while “exploring our people’s stories…”. For a company that drives its revenue through new product launches and works on the premise that its audience will want the latest, most up-to-date product as soon as it launches, it could have been a hard dichotomy to communicate.
However, in my humble opinion (and the reaction is definitely divided), what a triumph it is. Not only does it highlight exactly what Apple is doing when it comes to sustainability, but it does it in a truly engaging, original and softly, softly promotional way. I would expect nothing less tbh.
And although the advert has caused much discussion already, one the most interesting things for me was the length of the advert – at around 5.25 minutes, it is long. Now where Apple go, many follow. And although I am sure some of this will be cut and carved for use elsewhere, I did wonder – ‘Is this the return of long(ish) form content?’
For us, nothing replaces real thought. Now I know that long form can be interpreted as between 1000-8,000 words, but there has definitely been a shift in modern communication to a line or two or a video upload as an easy alternative to having to think, construct and create. Yes, there is a place for 280-character thoughts - if anyone is still using X? And of course, now we have Threads for those who want to extend that comment to a para or two. And there is certainly a place for video, especially as a quick and impactful way of introducing a point and for those that interpret visually rather than via the written word. But to get into the nitty gritty of things, there needs to be a little more meat on the bones for me. Imagine a Ted Talk that lasted 30 seconds. Or Martin Luther’s ‘I have a Dream’ speech being two minutes instead of 17. Or The Handmaid’s Tale being only 1 series or One Hundred Years of Solitude a novella. You get the idea. That doesn’t mean that you need to stretch out content for the sake of it, although if you take the rule of seven as gospel, repetition is the key to embedding a message.
One of the most asked questions we get asked is how long should a commentary piece be? Sometimes this is dictated by a magazine - normally around 800 words. But if it isn’t, it should really be how long it takes to tell your story, without losing the plot (and the audience) along the way. For some this might be 400 words, for others 4,000, dependent on the subject, the argument, and the point of view. For one, I miss the written word, the sense of being able to lose myself in copy, in being taken on a trip into someone else’s mind, to be guided into their opinion. And if the Apple advert does one thing to influence marketing, I hope it is a sign that long form is coming back to a platform near you.