The One Show
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Category
Casting / Actor
Annual ID
OS25_MI046B
Background
iPhone 16 was launched as the first iPhone built for Apple Intelligence: a new, deeply integrated personal intelligence system, right there in your pocket. The task of the campaign was to introduce Apple Intelligence to the world, in a way that felt genuinely helpful in the everyday moments when iPhone users need it.
Creative Idea
The “Genius” campaign demonstrates the everyday helpfulness of Apple Intelligence, via a series of characters who each have their very own moment of genius, aided by clever tools on the latest iPhone. In “Warren”, we find our titular anti-hero sat at his office desk. It’s immediately obvious that he’s maybe not the “star” employee. He grabs his iPhone and taps out an e-mail, worded in a manner far too casual for the eyes of his boss. However, in a moment of genius, Warren highlights the text and taps the ‘Professional’ button. The e-mail is instantly transformed into something far more polished; “the big enchilada” becomes “the most capable individual,” while “holler back” becomes “please let me know your thoughts.” Upon receiving the e-mail, Warren’s boss reacts in a can’t-quite-believe-this-came-from-Warren way. Warren, meanwhile, basks in his own e-mail glory, as Krizz Kaliko’s “I am Genius” sting kicks in.
Insights & Strategy
In a market already saturated by AI messaging, Apple Intelligence’s differentiating insight is that it is right there, integrated into your iPhone and the apps you use, ready to help in the everyday moments you need it. Rather than do the work for you, it’s there to do things like tweak that bit of writing to make it sound a little more professional or friendly, or get to the point of a large information-heavy document.
Execution
The campaign used humor to cut through the over-saturated AI conversation. Rather than something that does all the work for you, Apple Intelligence is positioned as a helpful sidekick to the user, who becomes the ultimate genius of the accompanying song lyric, from Krizz Kaliko’s track, “Genius,” which was used as each character’s victorious musical sting at the end of each spot in the campaign.
We mined human moments where someone at the office cleverly decided to use Apple technology to tilt the scales in their favor. The main characters, while being clever enough to know when they could use a little help, weren't the sharpest tools in the shed. Which made it crucial to find the right actors. Quirky, unique people you could watch do their jobs poorly all day long like the professional procrastinator (Warren). We used short lenses and a shallow depth of field to try to get into the minds of these characters as they tried to extract themselves from their misguided emails. These were people that should have been called out by their coworkers, but they weren’t. Which was part of the fun, not just watching them get into a situation and click their way out of it, but the small self-satisfied celebrations that followed. These celebrations over the supers were deceptively tricky. We wanted to end with the motion ramping down, so we had to shoot the final shots in slow motion and then ask our actors to speed up their physical actions to create the illusion of normal motion so they could throw a look to camera, all within 60 seconds.
We mined human moments where someone at the office cleverly decided to use Apple technology to tilt the scales in their favor. The main characters, while being clever enough to know when they could use a little help, weren't the sharpest tools in the shed. Which made it crucial to find the right actors. Quirky, unique people you could watch do their jobs poorly all day long like the professional procrastinator (Warren). We used short lenses and a shallow depth of field to try to get into the minds of these characters as they tried to extract themselves from their misguided emails. These were people that should have been called out by their coworkers, but they weren’t. Which was part of the fun, not just watching them get into a situation and click their way out of it, but the small self-satisfied celebrations that followed. These celebrations over the supers were deceptively tricky. We wanted to end with the motion ramping down, so we had to shoot the final shots in slow motion and then ask our actors to speed up their physical actions to create the illusion of normal motion so they could throw a look to camera, all within 60 seconds.
Results
N/A
2025 Awards
Total Points: 9
Bronze Pencil
Credits
Brand-Side / In-House Agency
Apple Marcom
Client / Brand
Apple
Production Company
O Positive / Santa Monica
Director
David Shane
Director of Photography
Polly Morgan
Editor
Geoff Hounsell
Executive Producer
Ken Licata
Marc Grill
Ralph Laucella
Chrissy DeSimone
Enca Kaul
Casting
RMB Casting + Beth Melsky
Costume Designer
Melissa Desrosiers
Head of Production
Devon Clark
Production Designer
Dan Ouellette
VFX Supervisor
Brandon Thomas
Tim Rudgard
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