Apple’s Critter Carol is a Holiday Triumph

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Apple is one of the world’s most iconic brands, but in recent years its advertising has fallen slightly short of its reputation. Apple ads tend to be beautifully made with exceptional craft, but also a cool sensibility that appeals more to awards juries than ordinary viewers. Indeed, until this month they only had one 5-Star ad on our Test Your Ad platform.

That’s all changed with “A Critter Carol”, Apple’s new holiday ad with TBWA/Media Arts Lab and one of the best they’ve made this decade, a mix of the brand’s signature creativity and edge with a newfound desire to entertain.

The ad has a framing narrative of a hiker in snowy woods dropping his iPhone 17, where it’s found by a bunch of curious woodland wildlife. Everyone from squirrels and raccoons through to a wolf and a bear take an interest in the device, and they take advantage of the phone’s superb camera to put on an impromptu musical show and improvise a song about friendship. At the end, the hiker returns, having used his Apple Watch to recover his device, and discovers the “Critter Carol” the beasts have recorded.

The ad is longer than the usual festive commercial at two-and-a-half minutes, and that can spell trouble for an ad as viewers can easily lose attention. But Apple pack every bit of that running time with charm, whimsy and a whole lot of jokes. Don’t imagine the brand has lost its edge, though! Plenty of the humor is dark for a festive ad – a deer sings about avenging a hunting death and a wolf makes it clear he’s got his eye on some of his fellow ‘musicians’ as Christmas dinner. But the edgy humor is always resolved, with the wolf being made to let go of his prey and all the animals joining in by the end.

In fact the slightly dark humor helps the ad’s unique character. These critters were designed and made especially for Apple’s commercial but they feel like they could be characters in a TV show, with personality and depth. For puppets that kind of character is essential – these aren’t just twee woodland animals for the viewer to coo at, they relate to and communicate with each other too. It’s that “between-ness” which System1’s Orlando Wood has identified as a vital element in exceptional emotional advertising.

Apple also haven’t forgotten that ads exist to market products. Like all recent Apple commercials, “A Critter Carol” is shot entirely on the latest iPhone model, and the ad subtly shows off the new video features the iPhone 17 boasts, like simultaneous front and rear camera recording. And, of course, the story puts the phone front and center.

That combination of entertainment, emotional warmth and finely honed salesmanship means the ad gets Exceptional scores on both our predictive Test Your Ad metrics. On our long-term Star Rating Apple gets a 5.3-Star Score, its second 5-Star ad and one of the best US holiday season commercials this year. And the ad also gets an exceptional short-term Spike Rating, putting it in the Top 5 Apple ads on our database for that measure.

Apple tend not to revisit characters and ideas, but if they were going to break that habit, you couldn’t ask for a better recurring device than these loveable Christmas critters. And if this is a one-off, the animals’ woodland friendship has given Apple one of their most effective ever ads.