Apple opted to take a humorous approach with its latest Apple Music ad, calling on the services of The Late Late Show host James Corden and a trio of executives at the Cupertino company.
Broadcast during the Emmy Awards show on ABC on Sunday night, the two-minute slot sought to highlight various features of Apple’s music streaming service while raising a few smiles at the same time.
The ad features an enthusiastic Corden pitching an array of increasingly absurd ideas for Apple Music ads, each one quickly dismissed by an incredulous Eddy Cue, Jimmy Iovine, and Bozoma Saint John.
“What if I’m giving birth to Justin Bieber who’s giving birth to Anthony Kiedis who’s giving birth to a phone,” Corden suggests at the start.
Rejected outright, he then comes up with a surefire winner loser of an idea: him dressed “as every iconic music star in history.” Cut to various shots of the chat show host appearing as Bowie, Slash, the Spice Girls, and Pharrell, who shows up briefly to put Corden firmly in his place.
In between Corden’s skits, the executives manage to squeeze in mentions of Apple Music features they’re keen to get across to viewers. These include the availability of 40 million songs with “thousands of hand-picked playlists based on the music you love,” offline-listening functionality, and three months free service for new members.
Becoming increasingly desperate to impress, Corden’s final idea involves millions of apples appearing around him as he swims underwater, a ludicrous suggestion that prompts Iovine to bring proceedings to a close with a terse, “I don’t think this is going to work.”
The ad comes just days after Apple launched iOS 10 along with a revamped version of Apple Music featuring an improved design and new features first shown off back in June.
Apple’s top team clearly has a thing for Corden. Besides the Apple Music ad, the tech giant has also signed a deal for 16 exclusive episodes of the British comedian’s Carpool Karaoke creation where various singers and celebs hop in a car with Corden to belt out some tunes.
And just the other day the Apple CEO himself, Tim Cook, showed up for a Carpool Karaoke session with Corden in a skit that also happened to feature Pharrell.
