TBWA/Media Arts Lab worked with musicians Elliphant, Riton and The Gaslamp Killer in its latest spot for Apple’s iPad, which debuted during the Grammy’s yesterday.
The 60-second spot, entitled “Make Music with iPad” highlights the tablet’s music-making capabilities by following the musicians as they write, record, perform, and re-mix a song called “All or Nothing.” According to Billboard, Apple and TBWA chose the musicians involved because they already use the iPad in their creative process. “I’ve been using an iPad in every single performance I’ve done since 2009,” said Will Bensussen, the producer and DJ who goes by The Gaslamp Killer. “You can only have so many big giant keyboards in your house, and it’s an extremely dynamic tool for creating music from scratch as well as spicing up music that I’ve already made.”
Apple’s iPad push comes shortly after a quarterly earnings report which saw a decrease in iPad sales compared to last year. The decision to promote the tablet’s musical capabilities recognizes core strengths of both the brand and the device, and (regardless of how you may feel about them musically) utilizing artists who already employ the iPad lends the ad a feeling of authenticity. And of course there couldn’t be a more appropriate place for the spot to debut than during NBC’s Grammy Award broadcast, even with the hefty price tag (reportedly over $2 million).