Inspired by a true story, the short film Three Minutes was created to inspire people to cherish every moment they have with their loved ones during Chinese New Year. The story focused on a train conductor who couldn’t go home during CNY, because she was on duty that period. However, her train will be pulling into the station at her hometown, so she will get to see her son for a few minutes. The film was shot entirely on iPhone X and was used as a powerful story-telling tool to capture every second of the fleeting reunion, yet it was never shown in the film.

Directedly by award-winning Chinese film director Peter Chan, Three Minutes particularly dramatized the preciousness of the reunion during CNY, and focused on those who yearn to be together but couldn’t. It highlighted to all the truly special part of the reunion is the connection between loved ones; it’s never about cliched cheerful celebrations portrayed in the media.

The campaign consisted of the short film and its various cutdowns, with how-to videos to provide guidance for the audience to film their own precious CNY reunion moments and memories using their own iPhones. Once again, Apple was able to demonstrate in real life its belief of lifting humanity through technology.

With a perfectly timed launch that’s in sync with the first day of the great CNY Migration (the beginning of the travel days of people returning to their hometowns, usually via train), Three Minutes resonated greatly immediately and exploded in social media to become a huge cultural phenomenon in China, meeting and exceeding the original objectives set:

- Brand Impact - Deepen the emotional connection and differentiation through the brand’s belief in humanity.

- Cultural Impact - Spark social conversations and engagements to be part of the culture during CNY.

A few key results:

“The most touching CNY ad that moved China”

The campaign made headlines across 2,300 media outlets, including the official state newspaper People’s Daily. Praised as “setting a new standard for advertising”, it was the first time that the state mouthpiece had reported on a foreign brand’s campaign.

Not only did Apple’s Three Minutes campaign created the most buzz in China during CNY, with over 138 million total views during the campaign period, it was also the country’s most talked about CNY campaign of 2018.

Made culture

Three Minutes sparked deep conversations around Chinese and CNY culture. Many were deeply moved and were inspired to shoot and share their own emotional reunion stories. There was even a user-generated LEGO bricks remake of the Three Minutes film.

Propelled the brand connection

Apple’s WeChat public account followers increased 41% during the campaign period. The raise in brand affinity through the campaign could have had impact on the amazing business performance as Greater China’s revenue growth rate (+21%) achieved the highest in ten quarters. Tim Cook particularly called out that “iPhone X was the best selling device in China this quarter” in the Q2 earning call.