Apple Music Classical // Dynamic Multiplatform Ad Campaigns

The launch of a new product, especially for a client as large as Apple, means care and attention has to be put on advertising. Apple Music Classical was no exception. From Apple:

For this launch, they rolled out ads across a whole range of spaces and platforms, from billboards in public to online to opera houses and theatres. Any advertising would have to show off not only the brand, but the style and theme of the product. For the classical space, this meant calm and considered, with slow swooping motions that focused the viewer on central ideas.

I was part of a team that created three sets of adverts - one showing off their Spatial Audio, one showing Album collections, and one finally for theme and style. These had to all be in many different ratios and formats, with allowances for end users to add their logos (Like the London Symphony Orchestra) and album covers easily - and always correctly.

Alongside graphic designers, I created sets of dynamic motion design templates and animations to be rolled out across multiple platforms.

We had to always be aware of Apple's branding, while adding special touches to shadows, colour, and motion to really help the adverts stand out with their minimal movement.

Colour challenges plagued us throughout, where different programs and export settings (even changing the export from 1080p to 720p...) would generate slightly different hues of pink and red, but it was essential that the motion matched the stills so with clever use of filters and effects I managed to line up the two for exports.

I added depth and faux-3D to the single- and multi-album adverts with custom, responsive shadows and lighting. Making the project responsive was essential for feedbacking, where slight changes made a large difference - and slight changes were many and often! This also then helped feed through to the end templates and adverts, where end users could instantly add their images without worry.

In just a few short months we handled these three campaigns and delivered not only the final advert exports, but multiple sets of After Effects templates in the required format and style for Apple's internal use.

We were very happy with the result, and seeing the designs up on Times Square was a particular highlight!