Tor Myhren, Apple’s VP of Marketing Communications, opened this year’s Cannes Lions with a talk on the role of human creativity in an increasingly automated industry.
Through examples spanning hearing loss, immersive cinema, live brand activations, and shot-on-iPhone films, he outlined a creative philosophy rooted in emotional clarity, attention to detail, and respect for the audience.
He focused less on future trends and more on a core belief: creative work still matters when it’s made with care, intent, and originality.
“The human touch is our superpower,” he said. “I really believe it's the secret to building long-term brand love.”
That message set the tone for a session built around recent Apple campaigns—each one reinforcing the idea that intuition and empathy still drive the most meaningful work.
The Quiet Revolution in Product Advertising
One of the stories that defined the talk was the new AirPods Pro feature designed for people with hearing loss. It took Apple four years to build. It required clinical data, rethinking product design, and pushing their R&D to expand the very purpose of a consumer product.
“So let’s take the best audio product in the history of the world—and now let’s use it to help people with hearing loss,” Myhren explained.
It became personal when he told the story of his father. A few months ago, Myhren’s dad visited him in California. They ran the hearing test together using the new feature. Eight minutes later, his father emerged from the closet they’d used as a quiet space, wearing the AirPods, hearing clearly, and smiling.
“He wore them all week… and he said, ‘Well, they work”
This wasn’t a feel-good anecdote for the sake of it. The campaign that followed—Apple’s holiday ad “Hearstrings”—was elegant, emotional, and grounded. It racked up over 51 million views on YouTube and caused a spike in Google searches for hearing aids. But Myhren made it clear: the real reward was knowing they had done something that actually helped people.
AI: Tool, Not Answer
Myhren didn’t avoid the question on everyone’s mind. He faced AI head-on and drew a line.
“AI is the most exciting creative tool we’ve seen in our lifetimes. It’ll be woven into everything we do... but it’s not going to save advertising. And it’s not going to kill it either.”
He called AI a “bionic arm” that accelerates process and scale—but made it clear that emotion, originality, and judgement still sit with humans. Algorithms can optimise, but they can’t decide what matters. They can calculate attention—but they can’t create resonance.
“To a tear, the algorithm sees water. But to us, it’s heartbreak. It’s grief. It’s the pain in your chest that takes your breath away.”
There was no call for fear, and no hype either. Just a steady voice reminding the industry that the creative process still belongs to people who care about getting it right.
Vision as an Interface
When Myhren turned to Apple Vision Pro, he shifted from reflection to ambition. The goal, he said, was to push beyond the gimmicks of immersive media and find something more intimate.
Apple released a film. “Adventure,” produced for Vision Pro, put the viewer inside the narrative, using 180-degree video that surrounds the user in story, space, and emotion.
“You’re not watching a movie anymore—you’re inside the story.”
It marked a turning point in how Apple thinks about content. Since then, they’ve created an immersive Super Bowl experience, partnered with The Weeknd for a music video, and are now developing a horror film for the platform. The ambition isn’t spectacle—it’s emotional depth through new formats.
Real Stories, Real Places
In another standout moment, Myhren shared the Severance activation in New York’s largest subway station. Instead of typical ad formats, Apple brought live actors into the station, recreating scenes from the show in real time. People stopped. Watched. Some stayed for hours.
“These kinds of activations get attention because they’re real and physical… In a world that’s become so virtual, we crave human interaction.”
Across these projects—whether immersive, traditional, or experimental—Myhren returned to one thread: care. Not as a branding tactic, but as a way of working. From privacy-first product choices to human-centred storytelling, Apple’s campaigns don’t aim for virality. They’re built to mean something, and that takes time.
Final Word
“Creative people solving problems with original thinking. That’s the game we can win.”
In a week where AI, metrics, and performance marketing will dominate conversation, Apple opened Cannes Lions 2025 with something else: a defence of intention. A belief in human effort. A blueprint for brand-building that doesn’t sacrifice emotion in pursuit of scale.
Myhren closed by quoting Steve Jobs:
“Make something wonderful and put it out there. Somehow, in the act of making something with a great deal of care and love, something is transmitted there. And it’s a way of expressing to the rest of our species our deep appreciation.”
That’s Apple’s real competitive advantage. Not speed. Not spend. But care—applied at every step of the process, from insight to execution.