Apple’s iPhone TV Ads: The Complete Campaign

Airdate: 3/2/07. The first iPhone teaser spot, on the Oscars in 2007, stitches together movie and TV scenes with famous actors and actresses on the phone—Apple's first all-star cast since the "Think different" brand campaign of the mid-1990s. It's a stylish crowd-pleaser, yet different from everything that is to come.

Airdate: 6/4/07. "This is how you turn it on." The iPhone offers an experience so new, it needs the oldest marketing trick in the book to promote it—the product demonstration. Apple begins at the beginning, with four spots showing you just what an iPhone is—including how it's different from an iPod—and the basics of how to use it.

Airdate: 6/4/07

Airdate: 6/4/07

Airdate: 7/2/07

Airdate: 8/9/07. The next four spots show off the variety of features that the built-in apps plus Internet provide—weather, traffic, travel, finance, all in a phone that's also an iPod. You lived "all these years" without this stuff, one spot admits. The question is: How?

Airdate: 8/9/07

Airdate: 8/9/07

Airdate: 8/9/07

Airdate: 10/7/07. Up next are six testimonials in which people—notably from all walks of life—explain how their iPhone has come through in a time of need. The spots invert Apple's traditional minimal color scheme, using a jet-black background instead of stark white.

Airdate: 10/9/07

Airdate: 10/9/07

Airdate: 11/1/07

Airdate: 11/1/07

Airdate: 11/1/07

Airdate: 11/1/07. Apple closes out its first year of iPhone advertising with a tribute to the skateboarding dog—and a reminder that YouTube is available on the iPhone, too.

Airdate: 2/1/08. Six new spots in March 2008 revert to the original structure of a hand swiping through features of the device. The new ads suggest the iPhone can help you win bets against friends, get GPS-enabled directions, comparison shop for cars, change flights, and so on. One spot shows you how to use iTunes on the phone. And one focuses on Facebook—accessed at the time through Safari, as the Facebook for iPhone app is still several months away.

Airdate: 2/1/08

Airdate: 2/5/08

Airdate: 3/6/08

Airdate: 3/6/08

Airdate: 3/26/08

Airdate: 6/10/08. Next up is a rare story-driven spot, which plays out like something from a spy movie, introducing the iPhone 3G.

Airdate: 7/21/08. The marketing of the iPhone 3G begins in earnest, emphasizing the better speed and reduced cost of the next-generation gadget. One spot also stresses that the iPhone integrates well with your professional work flow.

Airdate: 7/21/08

Airdate: 7/21/08

Airdate: 8/20/08. The rest of 2008 is given over to promoting the newly opened App Store, and the various early apps available in it. The first three spots begin by showing you how to download an app. Four more assume you've mastered that, and focus deeply on four apps in particular, from MLB, Loopt, Shazam and Urbanspoon.

Airdate: 8/29/08

Airdate: 8/29/08

Airdate: 10/8/08

Airdate: 10/8/08

Airdate: 11/4/08

Airdate: 11/6/08

Airdate: 1/26/09. "There's an app for that." As the App Store continues to fill up with goodies, TBWA comes up with one of the great Apple marketing lines ever—which it uses through the whole first half of 2009.

Airdate: 1/26/09

Airdate: 3/11/09

Airdate: 4/2/09

Airdate: 4/2/09

Airdate: 4/2/09

Airdate: 6/12/09. The spy-caper theme is back in the launch spot for the iPhone 3G S, the first model that's able to shoot video.

Airdate: 6/22/09. Three more spots focus on features newly available in the iPhone 3G S—the video functionality, copy and paste, and voice control (a forerunner of Siri).

Airdate: 7/16/09

Airdate: 7/16/09

Airdate: 7/31/09. "There's an app for that" returns in three new spots focused on travel, data sharing, and sports.

Airdate: 8/17/09

Airdate: 8/18/09

Airdate: 9/17/09. Another three spots ditch the "There's an app for that" line in favor of some parallel wordplay, in which iPhone apps—now numbering 75,000—are said to appeal to nature lovers, pizza lovers, and everyone in between.

Airdate: 9/18/09

Airdate: 9/18/09

Airdate: 11/17/09. Two more spots continue the same approach, except now the App Store is up to 100,000 apps.

Airdate: 11/17/09

Airdate: 11/20/09. Another quick pair of spots show you everything you can do on the iPhone—while having someone on the line.

Airdate: 11/20/09

Airdate: 12/4/09. Apple wraps its 2009 iPhone marketing with a holiday spot.

Airdate: 2/19/10. iPhone advertising gets democratic. Instead of the same single male voiceover speaking on behalf of the company, Apple turns the ads over to iPhone users, male and female, who tell stories of how the device is indispensable—in nine spots through the first half of the year.

Airdate: 2/19/10

Airdate: 2/19/10

Airdate: 4/2/10

Airdate: 4/2/10

Airdate: 4/12/10

Airdate: 4/15/10

Airdate: 4/15/10

Airdate: 4/15/10

Airdate: 7/12/10. The iPhone 4 makes its debut. But instead of a traditional introductory launch spot, Apple crafts four narrative spots focused on FaceTime, the face-to-face video-calling feature.

Airdate: 7/12/10

Airdate: 7/12/10

Airdate: 7/12/10

Airdate: 11/18/10. Four months after the FaceTime spots, this ad touts the extended life of the iPhone 4's lithium polymer battery.

Airdate: 12/13/10. Apple closes out 2010 with another holiday spot. This time, a boy connects with a very familiar Santa Claus through FaceTime.

Airdate: 1/21/11. The new year begins on an artful note, with two iPhones waltzing together.

Airdate: 3/15/11. "If you don't have an iPhone…" TBWA comes up with another strong line, this time to distinguish the Apple product from the new generation of would-be iPhone killers. In seven spots through the first half of 2011, the campaign uses the line to emphasize software and hardware available only on the iPhone.

Airdate: 3/15/11

Airdate: 4/8/11

Airdate: 4/8/11

Airdate: 4/8/11

Airdate: 6/30/11

Airdate: 6/30/11

Airdate: 10/20/11. The iPhone 4 S launches, and with it, the age of Siri. Two new narrative spots talk up the iPhone's new personal assistant. Two more focus on the device's new camera and iCloud capability.

Airdate: 10/30/11

Airdate: 10/30/11

Airdate: 10/30/11

Airdate: 12/18/11. A third year with an iPhone holiday spot. This time, Santa Claus uses Siri to find his way on Christmas Eve.

Airdate: 2/8/12. Siri remains the star as iPhone advertising enters its sixth year, beginning with two winter spots focused on music and travel.

Airdate: 2/8/12

Airdate: 4/16/12. Siri is joined by two other celebrities, Zooey Deschanel and Samuel L. Jackson, as the campaign suddenly gets some star power.

Airdate: 4/16/12

Airdate: 5/23/12. Siri moves on from Sam and Zooey and takes up with John Malkovich, who shares her sense of humor and general outlook on life.

Airdate: 5/23/12

Airdate: 7/23/12. Another celebrity spot, this time with Martin Scorsese, whose demanding schedule puts Siri to the test.