ADdicted: Focus on the Benefit

I'm not going to give you any context about the ad I'm featuring here before you watch it.

Instead, I'm going to issue you a challenge:

Before you reach the 28-second mark of the spot, try to figure out what's being advertised in this commercial.

At the 28-second mark of Apple's "Quiet The Noise" ad, the stark white of the AirPods Pro against the streetscape makes it obvious what's being advertised.
 
 But why are all those people and objects floating in the sky overhead?

The reason for that becomes clear just a few seconds later, at the 35-second mark when the woman touches her AirPods and you hear that distinctive Apple sound.

The woman has decided to permit the sounds around her to be heard, and so all those people and objects making those sounds fall into place. Literally.

Ads that focus on a product's features are usually pretty dull.

Usually.

Clearly, Apple doesn't do "dull" very well.

This is one of those really confusing ads that makes absolutely zero sense until the exact moment where it brilliantly all comes together... and then you see how genius it is.

So how do you make an interesting product-feature ad?

You focus on the benefit.