Apple's Holiday Ad Starring Loner Teen Will Bring a Tear to Your Eye

//--> The best holiday ads we've seen this year have come out of the U.K., where Christmas is the nation's Super Bowl when it comes to advertising. But now Apple is entering the fray with what turns out to be one of the season's most heartfelt commercials, "Misunderstood." It tells the story of a teen who joins his family for the Christmas holiday. But from what we see, he's only there in body -- as his family frolics in the snow and decorates the tree, he sits off to the side, apparently checked out of the festivities as he checks into his iPhone. In the end, however, it turns out the boy was there all along -- creating arguably the family's best present of the year. Apple also posted the full-length version of that gift, "A Harris Family Holiday," shot entirely on the iPhone 5s, on YouTube: The ad takes a now familiar approach for digital marketers, slyly showing the product as promoter of community and social interaction, rather than encouraging introversion. It's also the latest sign that Apple is regaining its creative stride. After a few missteps, over the last six months we've seen standout work like the recent "Pencil" spot promoting the iPad air, the bombastic trailer-like teaser for the Mac Pro and the design-minded "Intention" film from the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. For more exciting ideas in brand creativity, tune in to Creativity-Online.com, follow @creativitymag on Twitter or sign up for the Creativity newsletter.

Apple's Holiday Ad Starring Loner Teen Will Bring a Tear to Your Eye

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