Apple has created yet another emotional holiday-themed commercial that tugs on all of our heartstrings and gets us in the mood to spread holiday cheer. Announced as ninth best commercial of 2018, “Share Your Gifts,” not only reflects on Apple as an emotional brand but sends a strong personal brand message to be creative.
According to a study done on creativity, 80% of businesses who foster creativity are more likely to have more satisfied customers. Therefore, creativity is not only important when working on personal projects but for business ventures as well.
It is a dark snowy evening when a young woman is depicted anxiously typing away in her cozy, dimly lit apartment. It can be inferred that whatever she is working on, it consumes her everyday life. This ominous project is yet to be seen by anyone other than her loving pet dog who watches her work on this project day in and day out.
She can often be found staring at the ceiling for long periods of time, coming up with new ideas, and contemplating whether or not to release her work. In the next few clips, she is shown working and conducting monotonous parts of her everyday life in contrast to when she is found creating and lit up by whatever lives in her mind, heart and MacBook.
When she is working in public spaces, she becomes overwhelmed with discomfort by the feeling of having onlookers glancing over her shoulder at her work – so much so that she slams her laptop shut at the thought of it being seen. She seems to have printed versions of her work stored in a keepsake that she routinely locks shut and stores by her apartment window.
One particularly snowy and windy night, her dog “nudges” her window open and all of the pages of her unseen work blow out of her keepsake. She scrambles trying to catch them swirling about in her room before they blow out of her window and into the neighborhood streets below. She runs down her apartment building’s stairwell in attempts to catch her hidden work but it is too late.
People have the copies in their hands already. They are looking at her beloved work. To her surprise, they are visibly in awe of what she has created. They glance at her work and then up at her repetitiously, surprised by what she has made.
Here, you see her slowly take a deep breath and look at the world around her. There are people rejoicing in the beauty of her work and suddenly a wave of confidence overcomes her.
This confidence would have otherwise not been possible had she not taken the risk to step back and trust the intangible. You can’t quite put your finger on what is so enlightening about this commercial. Be it the Pixar-like animated characters or the subtle portrayal of showcasing Apple products without being overbearing, there is something creatively profound about selling a product with a powerful message.
In other words, forcing yourself to be seen and heard is an important step in sharing your unique gifts with the world, as Apple suggests. Once you do, you might fail and you might not. But what is ultimately important is overcoming that fear of failure. However, there is no way to fail at being authentically and uniquely you.
Being uniquely you, is your gift to the world. This is brand message of Apple and should be one of yours too. This brand message is to be authentic and to overcome the fear of sharing that authenticity.
There is nothing more exciting than finding your voice in your brand, overcoming the fear of failure when sharing that voice, and having it take off. Your brand should be authentic and covey your voice in a creative way. This authenticity will help separate you and make your brand stand out in new and unprecedented ways just as the commercial suggests.
So don’t be afraid to try. Be authentically you and always remember to push past the fear of the unknown. When you do, magical things may happen.
Your brand should be authentically creative and unique.
