Apple’s “I’m Not Remarkable” is in Fact Remarkable

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An Apple ad is always something special. They’ve made both highly effective and highly controversial ads, but behind all of them is a commitment to creativity, storytelling and a consistent willingness to push the advertising envelope. That’s one reason they return from Cannes every year with an entire wildlife park full of Lions.

This year they picked up a Silver Lion in Film Craft for the 5-Star “A Critter Carol” which we featured as an Ad Of The Week back in December. That month they also released this week’s ad “I’m Not Remarkable”, which walked away from Cannes with multiple Lions including another Film Craft prize. (Check out our blog rundown of the most effective Film Lion winners)

Like “A Critter Carol”, “I’m Not Remarkable” takes technical product specs and turns them into a joyful musical extravaganza. This time it’s Apple’s accessibility features, which help overcome barriers to inclusion for users with disabilities and accessibility needs. With a specially written song, “I’m Not Remarkable” stars college students who use those features to take opportunities in their educational life.

We’ve seen ads about inclusion and accessibility before, but not with this kind of narrative. Many ads starring disabled people aim to make them an object of inspiration – framing disability as a “superpower” or telling a story of achievement “against the odds”. This sort of story has often left people with disabilities unmoved or even angry. They’re just people who want the same opportunities and activities as anyone else. And that’s what technology can give them. If you wouldn’t call someone with glasses a superhuman, don’t use that kind of othering language on someone who uses text-to-speech or mobility aids.

Apple’s ad shouts out this idea loud and proud, with the lyrics to “I’m Not Remarkable” spelling out that these people are only as remarkable as anyone else, and that’s how they want to be treated. It’s a big, bold and brilliant ad and it’s easy to see why the Cannes jury awarded it a Lion. But what about the public?

Turns out they do think it’s remarkable. We put the ad through Test Your Ad and it proved to be a very good and effective piece of work. “I’m Not Remarkable” scored 3.9-Stars, enough to put it in the top 4% of all US smartphone ads for long-term effectiveness. And its strong short-term Spike Rating puts it in the top quartile for short-term effectiveness too.

A look at the diagnostics shows why people are responding so positively. “Happy”, “Memorable”, “Unique” and “Inclusion” are all strong associations, showing how the film’s craft is resonating and sticking in people’s minds. Of course the top, strongly positive association is “Inspiring”, so people aren’t taking the song’s ‘we don’t want to inspire’ message entirely literally. But because of the craft, the joy and the performances the ad can’t help inspire its viewers. This is one ad where the public and juries are seeing the same thing – a great, original and delightful piece of work.