At a time when over 27 million people around the world were watching Apple’s global keynote event to launch its newest products— we did something completely unexpected. We aired a film about people. Real people who almost died. People whose gratitude for life brought them to tears. It was an impactful and emotional reminder that, for Apple, the technology only exists to enrich people’s lives. And for the people in our film, that meant another birthday with the ones they love.

Over the years, tens of thousands of people have sent Apple (and personally sent Tim Cook) intimate and inspiring messages, letters and e-mails detailing how Apple's products have saved their lives.

So this year to kickoff Apple’s annual September global event, we wanted to do something radically different - launch with a film that had no script. No actors. No product announcement. Just real people telling their real stories of the moment their life almost ended. Celebrating a birthday they should have never had if not for the life-saving features of their Apple Watch and iPhone.

The film not only portrays how Apple creates amazing technology but how its products can have a lasting, real, positive impact on people’s lives.

Apple has already developed and introduced a number of life-saving features across both iPhone and Apple WATCH, many of which are seen in the film:

• Heart Rate Monitoring (Apple Watch)

• ECG App (Apple Watch)

• Blood Oxygen Monitoring (Apple Watch)

• Fall Detection (Apple Watch)

• Emergency SOS via Satellite (iPhone)

• Car Crash Detection (iPhone + Apple Watch)

• Critical Alerts (iPhone)

• Medical ID (iPhone + Watch)

Additional life-saving features Apple has introduced or improved since the film aired include Mental Health Assessment (iPhone + Apple WATCH), Roadside Assistance via Satellite (iPhone), expanding Emergency SOS via Satellite into Spain + Switzerland and launching the Check In feature. (iPhone)

This year's Apple September keynote was viewed live by 27 million people around the world. The event is designed to launch Apple’s newest products.

The brief was to open up the keynote event with a captivating film that showcases Apple's innovation and gets people excited for the product updates. The film needed to inspire the world while demonstrating Apple's philosophy, emphasizing not just what the products are but why they matter to people's lives.

The insight this film was built on is that Apple's products are not just about enhancing convenience or entertainment but about offering true service and utility. We knew that countless individuals have sent Tim Cook intimate and inspiring messages detailing how Apple's health products have come to their rescue, so we used real-life stories to illustrate the profound effects Apple's innovation can have on people's lives.

This film wasn’t about recreating near death experiences, it was about celebrating all the moments after. So we landed on the idea of “Another Birthday” - showing real people who had been saved from a near-death experience celebrating a birthday they never would’ve had if not for their Apple Watch or iPhone.

The idea took a moment of near-death and turned it into a beautiful reflection of life from people with a whole new perspective on gratitude. Ultimately, reminding us that nothing is more powerful than a true story.

We scoured through hundreds of stories from all over the world to find our cast. News articles, social media posts, even emails to Tim Cook himself. We interviewed over 100 people to unveil a range of stories that hit on the different life saving features Apple has developed and their true sense of gratitude for life. We learned the real birthday traditions of our cast (all non-actors) and recreated them - everything from the flavor of their cakes to surrounding them with real friends and family who we flew out from all over the world. From here, it was time to celebrate. No scripted moments. No repeating lines. Allowing their gratitude to play out in real life, resulting in powerful moments of vulnerability.

When some people hear news about new tech that’s designed to never leave our side, they can question the intent and sometimes reject it altogether. So we wanted to change that perception by demonstrating how Apple’s products can enrich people's lives.

The result was a film that was restrained in message, but rich with emotion and watched by over 27 million people live around the world. Those expecting an immediate announcement of product praised the humanity that came instead. “As someone who has battles heart complications since age 8, today’s film with fellow survivors both caught me off-guard and made me feel seen in a way I’d not experienced before. 40 and grateful." - Sigmund Judge, Twitter.


"Apple, maybe more than any other company, has mastered the art of telling stories about how its products affect people's lives." - Inc.com