In a somewhat unorthodox move, Apple last week contacted 18-year-old British student Nick Haley about an 30-second spot he made for the new iPod touch. At first, it all seemed like a joke:

“I was sitting on the bus and I got this e-mail on my phone,” Mr. Haley, a native of Warwick, England, said in an interview “The message said, ‘We represent Apple and we’ve seen what you have produced and we’d like a chat with you,’ … This seemed ridiculous and far-fetched. My initial reaction was, someone wanted to steal it.”

But it turned out to be legit and he was soon contacted by TBWA/Chiat/Day, Apple’s advertising agency of record for over 20 years, and as of Sunday 28 Oct, the ad will be showing on the web, and around the world. Here’s the spot in terrible quality from YouTube:

And here’s a higher-quality version from Apple’s site. Read this article from the New York Times for more details.

This is, of course, a new chapter in the book of consumer-generated advertising. While campaigns from GM and others have gone down in flames, this one seems to be generating the internet buzz in a positive way. This is significant because it is perhaps the first concrete example of amatuer creative being implemented and used by professionals. The world of teenagers in bedrooms is no longer off-limits; it’s now potentially just as powerful and persuasive as anything a big agency can cook up. A scary shake to the status quo.

But TBWA and Apple aren’t entirely new to making it up as they go along. The recent iPhone spots have a definitive man-on-the-street quality, especially since the closing shot reveals an impromptu set on the streets of New York. Back in late 2001, the “Switch” campaign broke and featured non-actors giving testimonials about their Mac experience, including the instant cult classic, Ellen Feiss.

But Nick’s ad shows us once again that with great power comes great responsibility. This will likely unleash a torrent of homemade advertising, and most of it will of course be crap. But now companies are sure to be looking; hopefully with scrutiny, they’ll be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. I reckon we’ve not seen the last student-made ad to hit the big-time.

// a tale of advertising: tv/radio, computers & gadgets
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