As an industry, we are not merely in competition with other ads or even with other advertisers. We are in competition with culture and everything else vying for our audience’s attention. The challenge isn’t only to put new things in the world that people can’t classify, but to make sure they last and more importantly, work. Billie Eilish created an original song for the film that soon took on a life of its own. Not only did it catapult to number one in 13 countries but the film now plays behind her when she performs the song live.

Over the last 3 years, a third of all top-grossing movies have been sequels or remakes. Creativity scores have been in decline since the 90’s. And with researchers finding that 7/10 people aren’t acting on their creative potential, one thing is clear: creativity is under threat. However, Apple believes that creativity moves the world forward. Which is why, during the holiday season, the brand wanted to send an inspiring message aimed at creators everywhere.

Apple has always believed in the power of true creativity and that people with passion can change the world for the better. So, during the holiday season we sent an inspiring message aimed towards creators everywhere. We created an animated short film, crafted using a combination of practical miniatures and digital animation, called “Share Your Gifts” - a modern day fairytale that tells the story of a young woman named Sofia and her journey towards finding the courage to put herself out there. Billie Eillish, a 16-year old music artist, created an original track for the film that catapulted to the number one song in 13 countries.

Since the film tells the story of a young creative woman and her journey towards finding the courage to put herself out there, we wanted to find a music partner that shared her story. That’s what led us to Billie Eilish, a then relatively unknown 16-year old female music artist who had faced many of the same obstacles while breaking into the music industry. Billie was the perfect fit to talk about breaking through creative barriers and inspiring everyone to put themselves out there. After watching a rough cut of the film, Billie was inspired to put together the track in a single recording session, capturing every emotion of the main character and writing a soulful and inspiring song that touched everyone who watched the film and listened to the track.

Billie was involved so early in the creative process that she wrote and recorded her song based only on watching a rough version of the film where everything was grey and the characters weren’t even proper animated. But that was never a problem for this talented 16-year old artist. Billie wrote and recorded something that captured all the struggles and emotions the main character was feeling, translating our idea into music. And once we heard the song playing as a soundtrack to the animatic, we knew this was a winner. Fortunately, the audience felt the same way and the song catapulted to the top of music charts in the first week of its launch.

In just a few days, both the film and Billie Eilish song became a part of culture, mentioned in dozens of publications around the world while organically trending top #1 globally on YouTube. By the end of the year, it got over 150 million completed views counting platforms such as Hulu, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, WeChat and apple.com. “Come out and play” became the number one song in 13 countries and got over 119 million streams on Apple Music and Spotify. Billie now uses the film as part of the set during her concerts, playing it on big screens behind her every time she performs the song live. And, most importantly, the campaign inspired creatives around the world to post their own creations, with over 1300 cover videos and thousands of pieces of art inspired by the characters posted online.