Apple Boundless Love

Project: Boundless Love

Company: Apple Inc. Apple Music

Role: Music Editor Candidate

Medium: Online and Offline channels, unspecified

Type: Brand Campaign

Audience: Explained in details below

Project Summary

Campaign:

Apple Boundless Love - 2023 Valentine’s Day #AppleBoundlessLove

Valentine’s Day is one of the festivals that have rapidly gained recognition across the globe in the recent decades. It is a day to confess, to celebrate, and to be grateful for our loved ones. Apple Music users are no exception. Presented in this concept paper is a campaign for the 2023 International Valentine’s Day in Taiwan.

Despite being loved, the lack of interactive and client-focused campaigns puts Apple at a position where it is not an engaging and friendly brand to the locals. This Campaign hopes to change that while retaining a sense of exclusivity and premium of the brand. Aiming to bring about a sweet, romantic vibe and message delivery, all visual presentations of this Campaign will be in soft, pastel colors, using red as the accent color for emphasis. Pre-made Apple Music Valentine’s Day playlists will be the center to this Campaign.

Rationale The festival specifically chosen for this Campaign is the International Valentine’s Day, in order to break the boundaries of love, whether it be race, nationality, gender, age or any of sort. Furthermore, this allows the campaign to be more internationalized, and eligible even for foreigners in Taiwan.

When we think of this occasion, many things come to mind. It is when couples take time to recall their memories and relationship milestones, for the singles to confess their love, or simply for any of us to express our feelings. The rationale behind this Campaign is to help Apple Music users send their lover an adorable, meaning message that is accompanied by the convenience of technology, and of course, some romantic tunes. Our approach to this Campaign will be both online and offline, increasing both the reach and the flexibility for our target audience.

Target Audience The Campaign is targeted at Apple Music users across Taiwan of any race, nationality, gender. However, the age groups that it is aimed at are from 18 to 30. This wide age group is explained by how digitalized is Taiwan’s society, with a high rate of smartphone ownership, particularly our iPhones, with potential Apple Music subscriptions. For non-Apple Music users, playlist previews are also available.

Offline Activities Offline activities are limited to Taipei city, since it is where the two only official Apple stores are located. This ensures a sense of premium is maintained, while users will feel exclusive and be driven to visit. Temporary booths designed in the theme of V-Day will be set up at the Apple 101 store and, Apple XinYi A13 stores.

Upon visiting, users are eligible to collect one each a pre-designed Valentine’s Day post card, made by Apple. They can then choose among Apple Music Taiwan’s pre-made V-Day playlists. The QR code of the chosen playlist will then be printed onto the card on the spot, with a customizable message limited to 50 words, inclusive of emojis. These post cards can then be used as a gift.

When scanning the QR code, the card receiver will be directed to Apple Music and the playlist, in the case where the application is already installed onto the device. If it has not been installed, an App Clip can be used for playlist preview on iOS, and the corresponding Apple Music website will be fired up other operating systems. For non-subscribers, this will be an enticement, while for existing ones, it reiterates how engaging Apple Music services can be toward its users.

Supportive marketing activities are visual materials (posters including the QR code to the Campaign page) to attract users for on-site participation, or simply to join the campaign digitally. These posters will be displayed on MRTs where commuters are waiting, on their phone, and can scan at ease. In Taiwan, specifically Taipei, headphones can be spotted on the majority of people who rides public transportation, and QR code scanning has become a culture, hence this is an ideal approach to reach them.

Online Activities For the audiences who are not keen to join our on-site activity, the QR codes presented on our visual materials in MRTs can direct them to the Official Campaign site, located within the Apple country Official Website. There, they will be linked to our online activity.

The online approach works the same way, only in absence of the physical post cards. Users will have to log in using their Apple ID to choose a pre-made V-Day playlist, along a customized 50-word message to send. There are options for a QR code in a downloadable jpeg file, or a sharable, shortened url copied to their clipboard. An option for email sending is dropped for Taiwan because instant messaging is a more common and personal way to communicate.

Campaign Timeline Awareness to the Campaign will be risen from 02/01, two weeks before the actual date. Visual materials will be posted on MRTs, and large-size alternatives will be displayed at different spots in the Taipei Main Station. YouTube Advertisements will also be used to promote this campaign digitally, generating the buzz and conversation, tapping onto the audience’s curiosity with the use of #AppleBoundlessLove.

On 02/10, physical booths will be opened for visitors to collect and customize their post cards all the way to the end of 02/14. Also on 02/10, the online approach becomes available for users who scan the QR codes on MRTs. The V-Day playlists will also be featured on the platform.

After the closing of the booths and retrieval of posters, the Campaign’s Official site remains for another 3 days, including another piece of YouTube Ads with the message What Happens After Valentine’s Day? This serves as a sweet reminder that love lives on, and it doesn’t have to be special only for V-Day. Our series of playlists are to stay on the platform, and will be moved from the Valentine’s Day to the other sections related to love one week after 02/14.

Valentine’s Day Playlists - The Heart of this Campaign Apple Music Taiwan will feature V-Day playlists for users to choose from. Existing users can browse them on the Featured section and can listen, share them using as an online approach. There will be three playlists, all on the topic of love, however, are slightly different in terms of theme, music content, and the message to be delivered.

Celebrate Love is a playlist especially edited for couples who share deep connections. It includes music that are long time romantic hits, world wide and locally recognizable tunes that brings about the feelings of love. The tracks are more slow-paced and smooth.

We Could Happen is a collection of songs that for the singles to confess their feelings of love. More timid and sophisticated ways to hint loving feelings are more common in Asia, and sending this playlist is one of them. It shall include light, cheerful, and youthful tracks that paints a picture of newly developed feelings.

Boundless Love is a set of tracks to appreciate the cultural diversity of people in love. All music listeners are able to express their feelings to their significant other. It is also dedicated to long-distance lovers, to whom the distance does not mean much when love means everything. The music included in this playlist are songs in languages of more than just Chinese and English.