In the U.S., iPhone holds a dominant 57.93% market share, with Gen Z and Millennials already heavily skewed towards iPhones, according to Statista. While native messaging like iMessage or Google Messages is the norm, communication between Apple (blue bubbles) and Android (green bubbles) is notoriously problematic. Apple intentionally downgrades messages from Android (originally RCS) to outdated SMS, causing pixelated media, different bubble colors, lack of encryption, and other issues. This leads most Americans to believe it's an Android problem, creating a negative perception of Android and its green bubble users. For years, Apple has resisted upgrading their outdated tech, perpetuating this cultural stigma. To educate users and pressure Apple, the iPager was created: a device exposing the outdated messaging tech Apple still employs.

In September 2023, with all eyes on Apple's latest innovation, we capitalized on the hype with a powerful stunt: the iPager. This mock Apple product highlighted the irony of Apple clinging to 30-year-old pager technology in their modern iPhones. The iPager effectively exposed Apple's outdated SMS use, shifting public perception of both companies. This campaign rallied consumers behind our cause, ultimately pressuring Apple to finally adopt the industry-standard RCS.

To grab people's attention about the SMS issues Apple still forces when texting with Android users, we leveraged a key moment: September. This month is synonymous with Apple's latest product releases and "innovations" among consumers and tech enthusiasts. We used this opportunity to hijack the attention with a powerful stunt – the iPager. This mock Apple product highlighted the irony of Apple still relying on the same 30-year-old technology, originally found in pagers, within their modern iPhones.

Focusing on the U.S. market, the campaign capitalized on the preference for native messaging systems like iMessage over apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. Our influencer strategy initially targeted Apple users to directly raise awareness among their audience. Mimicking Apple's packaging, we sent iPager boxes to influencers who then educated their followers about the campaign.

Inspired by the pagers of the 90s, we created the iPager, a device designed to highlight Apple's continued use of outdated SMS technology in its devices. We used the launch week of the new iPhone 15 to introduce iPager. Several units were created, which we sent to influencers, who were able to explain to everyone who was to blame for the poor messaging experience - changing the perception of Android. Besides targeting iPhone users, our secondary approach involved collaborating with three types of creators to expand our reach to a broader audience. These categories included Technology, Lifestyle, and Comedy. Our approach focused on educating the audience about the differences between RCS and SMS, emphasizing that the issue is not Android’s fault, maintaining our comedic tone of voice to contribute to the campaign’s lightheartedness. No one could resist sharing what became an instant clap back to Apple’s newest iPhone

The campaign delivered undeniable success. Public awareness of the SMS issue surged, leading to a 17.6% increase in positive sentiment towards Android and a 9.6% rise in negative sentiment towards Apple. The launch video became the most viewed in Android's history, the campaign garnered a staggering 1.2 billion impressions, and engagement on the Android channel skyrocketed by over 1000%. Just two months after the iPager launch, Apple finally bowed to pressure and publicly announced their adoption of RCS in 2024. Articles in major publications like the New York Times even credited the campaign as a major factor in this decision. The iPager effectively exposed Apple's outdated technology, shifted public perception, rallied consumers, and ultimately forced Apple to embrace the industry standard: RCS.