TBWA\Media Arts Lab illustrates Apple privacy in an unignorable way again in this year’s global campaign. The new campaign’s hero commercial follows last year’s The Waiting Room, with its touch of humour, and 2022’s dramatic parody, Data Auction. Flock is a thriller, that features bird-like surveillance cameras that go after people’s browsing data before Safari’s privacy protection comes to the rescue.

The commercial is supported by a striking series of digital ads called Disruptive Displays that appear to hijack actual browsers in real time – exposing the dangers of online privacy by bringing the message to the very place where it’s most impactful — internet browsers.

The surveillance birds were designed, after careful study of real birds’ movements, behaviour and physicality, by visual effects partners House of Parliament and Legacy Effects — the special effects company behind characters such as Baby Yoda and Groot. Each surveillance bird is designed in relation to its environment. Those seen near the ocean have seagull-like demeanour and appearance — covered in rust, while the cameras perched in dim parking garages are reminiscent of bats. To bring out the best possible performance from the cast, 3D printed models of the birds were used on set.

Director, Ivan Zacharias, and Academy Award-winning editor, Mikkel E. G. Nielsen, structured the story of online data surveillance as a spy-like thriller, with a nightmarish crescendo. To achieve the rich cinematic look of the film, the digital footage was printed on film stock. To create the birds’ noises, sound designer, Gus Coven, visited junkyards throughout the city searching for different metallic sounds – high frequency squeaks for the bats’ wings and even a slight “hoot” for the turn of our owl’s head.

Disruptive Displays appear when users scroll through their favourite sites. Suddenly a hidden onlooker peels back part of the page and reveals themself staring at them, before hiding back behind the screen when the Safari messaging appears.

Flock will appear in broadcast, social, cinema, YouTube and .COM. Disruptive Displays will run on digital and social in key publications and websites such as New York Times, Condé Nast, ESPN, The Verge, WeTransfer and Cosmopolitan.

Credits: 
Agency: TBWA\Media Arts Lab 

Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Ivan Zacharias
Bird design: Legacy FX
Editorial: Rock Paper Scissors
VFX: House of Parliament
Colour: TRAFIK
Sound Design & Mix: Barking Owl
Music Editing: Model Citizen