Quietly rolling out of Apple's YouTube channel at the end of last week was another advert designed to highlight one of the iPhone's real-world uses. Normally these would see a number of hipsters being cool over some jaunty indie music while a playful voice reminds you that nothing has changed, therefore everything has changed.
Well, not this time. Ahead of the iPhone SE launch - a handset that is going to appeal to a much wider base than the geekerati of Silicon Valley - Apple has pulled in another celebrity to remind us all what the iPhone can do. But this is no Kenny Chesney promoting Apple Music or Stevie Wonder showing off the VoiceOver feature. Apple has pulled out the biggest gun it could find.
Cookie Monster.
As always, Apple has taken a single feature and found the perfect match to demonstrate it. Of course a Muppet is going to be the perfect example of hands-free operation of an iOS device. Throw in the comic timing we've come to expect and a well-executed punchline (because you know what's coming), and you have a slice of fun and frivolity ahead of a product launch that is going to require a lot of style over substance to push an 'update to the iPhone 5S' as a brand new device.
Which makes Cookie Monster's trial by timer a nice reminder that Apple can be fun (even when you read the small print).
But much as I love Jim Croce's version of 'Time In A Bottle' that underscores the commercial, much as I can understand why you would pick the most widely known version of the song, The Muppets covered this song back in 1977. I wish everyone had committed to going all-in and used the version that strikes a chord with my childhood.
That really would have made 'Cookie Monster vs Siri' an unbeatable combination.
(Now read how Samsung turned to New York's Katz's Deli to promote Samsung Pay over Apple Pay).
