Our creative ideas was to put the iPhone camera in the hands of a renowned French storyteller. We asked what might the effect be if we empowered one of France’s most popular, and innovative, film directors to produce his first film shot entirely on a smartphone?

Taking this approach reflected one of the central tenets of Apple’s view on technology, best expressed by Steve Jobs when he said you have to believe if you give people tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them. Based on this, Apple’s role in the process was to be the facilitator and distributor of the film, our advertising promoting a film shot entirely on the iPhone’s camera.

We teased Detour with 5” clips on social media. We created a cultural launch moment by inviting the press to a premiere in Paris to enjoy the film alongside Michel himself and experience his passion for the work in a Q&A (quote from Michel talking).

Then, in the way the industry drives as much noise for an opening weekend as possible, we used the same techniques for the launch of the film itself. The film and a suite of 15”, 30” and 60” trailers, and OOH ads were promoted from 30 June to 31 July:

- 2.8M people saw our trailers in arthouse cinemas,

- trailers were broadcast across major TV channels,

- over 1,900 printed out-of-home units showcased film posters in Paris, Lyon and Marseille,

- all videos were promoted digitally on social media, major video-on-demand and digital video platforms,

- a partnership with Allociné who created unique content.

Détour was Apple’s most successful campaign in France:

- 2.5 million minutes of content were viewed,

- YouTube subscribers increase by 15% as a result of the campaign

- more importantly, the country’s perception of the iPhone grew by 23% during the campaign period.

And what started as a French campaign quickly crossed borders, achieving 135M completed views globally.