Apple: 12 Days of Christmas

Is it just me or is Christmas this year turning out to be very Apple.

Here is Apple making Christmas news again. This time with their new TV ad.

The ad reworks the standard Christmas carol of the same name to feature twelve iPhone applications related in some way to the holiday season.

  • 12 cookies cooking: The Betty Crocker Mobile Cookbook (Free)
  • 11 cards a’ sending: Postman ($2.99)
  • 10 gifts for giving: My Christmas Gift List ($0.99)
  • 9 songs for singing: TabToolkit ($9.99)
  • 8 bells for ringing: Holiday Bells ($0.99)
  • 7 slopes a’ skiing: Snow Reports ($1.99)
  • 6 games for playing: Christmas Fever ($0.99)
  • 5 gold rings: Anna Sheffield Jewelry (Free)
  • 4 hot lattes: myStarbucks (Free)
  • 3 flights home: Flight Search (Free)
  • 2 feet of snow: Weather Pro ($3.99)
  • And an app that can light up the tree: Schlage LiNK (Free but hardware required)

What the spot is really doing

The mechanism is a catalog disguised as a carol. Each lyric is a micro use case, and each use case quietly argues that “apps” are the reason the device feels personal in December, not just powerful on paper.

In consumer technology categories where feature lists blur quickly, showing everyday use cases beats claiming capability.

The real question is how to make an ecosystem feel instantly useful without falling back on a feature list.

Why it lands

It is lightweight, instantly recognisable, and structured for memory. You already know the song, so the ad can spend its time on the parade of utility and novelty instead of on explanation.

Extractable takeaway: If you want to sell a platform, turn your ecosystem into a familiar format people can hum, then make each beat a concrete “I can use that” moment.

What platform marketers can borrow

  • Use a cultural template. Borrow structure from something the audience already carries.
  • Keep each benefit bite-sized. One line per use case is enough when the rhythm does the glue work.
  • Let variety do the persuasion. A spread of small moments can outperform one big claim.

A few fast answers before you act

What is this Apple “12 Days of Christmas” ad?

A holiday TV spot that rewrites the classic carol to showcase twelve iPhone apps tied to seasonal moments.

What is the core mechanism?

A familiar song structure becomes a rapid-fire list of app use cases, turning the App Store into the product story.

Why does the format work so well for apps?

Because apps are easiest to understand as situations, not specs. The carol format delivers situations at speed while staying coherent.

What is Apple really selling here?

The ad sells the iPhone as an entry point to a seasonal ecosystem of useful apps, not just as a piece of hardware.

What should I copy if I am marketing a platform?

Package the ecosystem as a set of quick, concrete jobs-to-be-done, then anchor them in a structure the audience already recognises.

Starbucks love project

At exactly 8:30 a.m. ET on Monday, December 7th, Starbucks joined forces with (RED) and creative agency BBDO to coordinate a global sing-along. Musicians worldwide performed The Beatles classic “All You Need Is Love” at the same moment, positioning the Love Project as a proof point for how connected the world is and how a small decision by one person can make a grand difference elsewhere.

The performance was broadcast live via the internet from far reaches such as Gabon and Fiji, with participation spanning over 100 countries. The initiative raised money and reinforced awareness for Africa’s fight against AIDS, while giving people a clear way to take part in the solution.

The campaign. A global moment that lives online

The performance was streamed live online at starbucksloveproject.com and acted as the anchor moment. Here, “anchor moment” means the single shared live event that gives the campaign a timestamp and a reason to gather.

Homepage of starbucksloveproject.com

After the live sing-along, people continued the campaign by going to the Starbucks website and uploading their own:

  • versions of “All You Need Is Love” videos
  • love drawing sketches

Each uploaded performance generated a donation from Starbucks to the cause, supporting (RED) and the Global Fund’s work.

In global consumer brands, the hardest part of cause marketing is turning a feel-good message into a repeatable participation mechanic.

The real question is how you design participation so it feels personal, public, and causally linked to impact.

Why it lands: participation that feels causal

This works because the mechanism makes the “how do I help?” step obvious and measurable. When contribution is triggered by a specific user action, scale stops being a vague aspiration and becomes a compounding loop that people can explain to each other.

Extractable takeaway: If you want a cause campaign to travel, make the participation act simple, visible, and directly tied to a concrete contribution.

The distribution layer. Partnering with Facebook

Starbucks partnered with Facebook to spread the message through the social network. The campaign was positioned as the largest global campaign ever for both Facebook and Starbucks.

The commercial layer. Turning participation into a product

The song was also commercially sold in stores on Starbucks’ Love CD, extending the fundraising and awareness beyond the live moment and the online uploads.

The scale signal. A record for global participation

A Guinness World Record was set for the “Most Nations in an Online Sing-Along,” reinforcing the Love Project as a massive organizational task that reaped the benefits of integrated marketing. Here, “integrated marketing” means the same idea expressed through a live anchor event, social distribution, and a product extension.

Steal this for your next global cause moment

  • Stage one timestamped anchor moment: Give the world a single time to show up, then let everything else ladder back to that moment.
  • Make participation generate impact: Tie a clear user action (uploads) to a concrete contribution (a donation) so people can explain the loop.
  • Design for sharing as distribution: Pick a network layer (Facebook here) that makes participation visible without extra effort.
  • Extend beyond the moment: Add a second way to participate (the Love CD) so the campaign does not end when the livestream ends.
  • Use proof signals carefully: If you claim scale (records, “largest ever”), ensure the mechanism and operations actually support it.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the Starbucks Love Project?

A global sing-along campaign with (RED), coordinated with BBDO, anchored by a simultaneous performance of “All You Need Is Love.”

How big is it?

The campaign described participation spanning over 100 countries, with performances broadcast live online from locations including Gabon and Fiji.

How does participation continue after the live event?

People upload their own “All You Need Is Love” videos and love drawing sketches on Starbucks’ campaign site.

How does it drive donation impact?

Each uploaded performance generates a donation from Starbucks to the cause, supporting (RED) and the Global Fund.

What role does Facebook play?

Facebook is presented as the distribution partner used to spread the message and participation through the social network.

What else extends the campaign beyond the moment?

The song is also sold commercially on Starbucks’ Love CD in stores.

Jameson: Are You Talking To Me?

“Are you talking to me?” becomes a real question when a wall talks back. This month, people in high foot-traffic areas across New York and Los Angeles react to Jameson Irish Whiskey as if the city itself has started a conversation.

The idea defies the downturn mood by shifting from broadcast to banter. The wall does not just show a message. It performs a social moment with whoever walks past.

How the talking wall works

The mechanism is described as a projected interactive ad. A large-scale wall projection delivers conversational prompts and responses that feel directed at individuals in the crowd, turning a static surface into something closer to a street-level character than an ad unit. That works because the projection frames the encounter as a social exchange people instinctively want to resolve.

In urban brand marketing, interactive out-of-home can behave like a social channel when it turns passersby into participants rather than impressions.

Why it lands

It flips the usual power dynamic of outdoor media. Instead of you watching an ad, the environment appears to notice you. That creates a tiny moment of surprise and self-conscious humor, which is exactly what people share with friends standing next to them.

Extractable takeaway: If you want out-of-home to travel beyond the street, give it a social script, meaning a prompt people naturally know how to answer or perform. When the medium feels conversational, people perform it, and performance becomes distribution.

What Jameson is really buying

The business intent is to make the brand feel present in the city’s social fabric, not just visible on its surfaces. A “talking” installation creates memory through interaction, which can outperform pure reach when budgets are tight and attention is scarce.

The real question is whether the interaction makes Jameson feel socially present enough to be retold after the moment ends. Jameson is right to use interactivity here as a behavior engine, not a decorative layer.

What to steal from conversational out-of-home

  • Write for interruption. A short line that sounds like it belongs in real life earns the first glance.
  • Design for group reactions. Outdoor works best when it creates a moment that strangers can share in real time.
  • Make the medium feel alive. Interactivity is not a feature. It is the reason people stop.
  • Keep the proof simple. A single video that shows the reaction is often the most scalable artifact.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the core idea here?

Turn a wall into a conversational brand moment, using a projected interactive execution that feels like it is speaking directly to people on the street.

Why does “talking” out-of-home get attention?

Because it breaks expectation. Outdoor is usually passive. When it behaves like a person, people pause to resolve the surprise.

What makes this more than a stunt?

The interaction itself is the brand experience. The wall creates a repeatable feeling, and that feeling is what people remember, record, and retell.

What should a brand copy from this?

Start with a line that sounds native to the street, then make the interaction readable from a distance. If the setup triggers a shared reaction, the format can extend beyond the physical site.

What is the main pitfall to avoid?

If the interaction is unclear from a distance, people will not stop. The hook must read instantly, even before someone understands the tech behind it.