While the Apple Watch was not originally created to save lives, over the years some of the health-related features on the device have sent out timely warnings allowing users to get to the doctor or the hospital before it was too late. In other situations, the Apple Watch on a person’s wrist notified emergency services or first responders, and a timely rescue was made. If you recall, when Apple was planning to launch the Apple Watch in April 2015, the tech giant was looking at the device as a piece of luxury jewelry.
Apple was able to get its timepiece on the cover of regional editions of Vogue months before the product was released. In early 2017, Apple started shutting luxury-themed Apple Watch pop-up stores in Europe as it moved away from promoting the Apple Watch as a luxury timepiece as reports started to come in about users having their lives saved thanks to the watch.
Apple has released a couple of new television commercials for the Apple Watch, both of which are based on real-life events and focus on a specific health-related feature. The first ad, created by Apple Australia, is called “Lexie’s Heart.” A young woman Lexie Northcott started to get low heart rate notifications on her Apple Watch and after a trip to the hospital, she was diagnosed with a congenital heart block. Doctors operated and gave her a pacemaker and, as Lexie’s mom says later in the ad, “If it wasn’t for that watch, she might not be here right now.” This 30-second ad is focused on “Heart Rate Notifications.”
The second ad, also 30 seconds in length, also from Apple Australia, and also based on a true story, is called “Bruce and the Roo.” A gentleman named Bruce Mildenhall had been knocked unconscious by…wait for it…a kangaroo while he was biking. Bruce hit the ground hard, activating the Fall Detection feature on his Apple Watch. The device called emergency services and even messaged his wife to alert her.
When Bruce came to, he heard the sound of someone hitting the back glass of the ambulance he was placed in. He then heard his wife asking, “Have you got Bruce Mildenhall in there? Is he alive?” The first responders told her, “Yes, he’s OK.” As the ad for the Apple Watch’s Automatic Fall Detection comes to an end, Bruce says, “I still wear my watch and I’m still looking for that kangaroo with tire marks.”
Suppose Apple does run these ads outside of Australia and adds them to its advertising rotation in the U.S.. In that case, you might see one or both appear during this weekend’s big NBA and NHL games, college basketball telecasts, and between innings or during a pitching change on MLB spring training broadcasts.