Huawei hires a Mac to promote its latest phone
Gutsy or just plain disrespectful? Huawei’s ad agency WPP Blast Radius has just hired actor Justin Long – known for playing a Mac alongside actor John Hodgman’s PC – to star in their new series of advertisements to promote the new Huawei Mate 9.
According to Blast Radius group director Jessica Grizzel, the actor's history with Apple is one of the main reasons he was considered. It seems Blast Radius initially wanted to more directly call out Long’s relationship with Apple, but the actor and Huawei convinced them to reach a “nice middle ground where that idea is inferred as opposed to explicitly stated."
As you can see from the video above, the first commercial sees Long playing himself. He’s seated across from a Mate 9 and is trying to explain why he should be allowed to shoot commercials for Huawei. The actor says he’s got a ton of experience with tech and rattles off his achievements while the Mate 9 responds with emojis, photos and videos.
"The storyline for the video series positions Justin as a new director providing guidance to a series of Huawei products as they are looking to break into the market and make their mark," Grizzel said. "There is no doubt that Justin's history as a pitch-man for Apple adds a nice subtext to the videos and builds on Huawei's challenger position in the market."
As they say, turnabout is certainly fair play, and there certainly is nothing holding Long to the decade old campaign. The only question now, is how will Apple’s creatives respond?
Source: Apple Insider