This new video by by Apple (titled ‘2030 Status: Mother Nature’) is a great find by Karthik Srinivasan (as always shared with his thought-provoking commentary).

While I can’t comment on the video’s sustainability angle, I’m interested in the storytelling techniques used. (And I have a suggestion to improve the storytelling).

Here are 3 techniques that struck me:

1. Anthropomorphism: We love to personify non-human elements. Converting nature into a human (played sharply by Octavia Spencer) is a great idea.

2. Mystery: I loved the beginning when the entire conference room is abuzz with nervous energy and the entry of ‘Mother Nature’.

3. Humour: A lot of it to keep our attention engaged. Tim Cook ‘practising’ his lines, Octavia’s responses (‘the weather was however I wanted it to be’!), the photosynthesis joke.

However: The ad missed an opportunity to make a big number relatable.

In the ad, ‘Mother Nature’ asks: “What about your water usage?”

An employee states: We have reduced it.

Mother Nature: By how much?

Employee: 63 billion gallons

Mother nature: 63 million?

Employee: Billion.

And then they move on to the next question.

This was a missed opportunity.

In his superb book ‘Making Numbers Count’, Prof. Chip Heath says that humans cannot comprehend large numbers. We can’t fathom the difference between 63 million and 63 billion.

So what could Apple have done?

Make the number relatable.

Here’s my attempt:

My first instinct was to convert the 63 billion gallons into space.

On some basic research:
– 1000 gallons occupy about 3.7 cubic metres of space
– 63B gallons will need around 238 million cubic metres of space
– How to show that? Burj Khalifa? Hm, not for a US audience.
– How about the Empire State building? A quick search reveals the Empire State Building occupies about 1 million cubic metres of space (all these facts have to be cross-checked!)

So you could say that Apple saved enough water to fill 238 Empire State Buildings.

Hm, not evocative enough. First up, it is tough to visualise.

And second, we don’t think of water in building-shaped towers.

Let’s try another perspective: Time.

Specifically how much do we consume over time
– In a year, the average human consumes about 183 gallons of water (source in the first comment).
– Let’s think of a city and work out its consumption. Apple is based near San Francisco. Population around 800K. Too low.
– Ok let’s take the entire Bay Area. Population around 7.5M. Using the 183 gallons metric, their annual consumption would be 1.37B gallons. So the water saved by Apple (63B gallons) can serve the drinking water needs of the entire Bay Area for 48 years (63/1.37)
– Hm, let’s try and improve that. Take the population of the entire US – 334M. Their annual consumption? Around 61B gallons.

Bingo.

Here’s what the employee should have added after saying ’63 billion gallons’: “Enough to meet the drinking water needs of the entire US population for 1 year”

Make numbers relatable.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/karts_advertising-marketing-corporatecommunications-activity-7107582360795189248-u_8w

Sources for some of the stats:

Converting gallons into cubic metres: https://www.calculateme.com/volume/gallons/to-cubic-meters/63000000000

Volume of the Empire State Building: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building

Consumption of water in gallons per person per year: https://watertalks.csusb.edu/how-much-water-do-people-use#:~:text=How%20Much%20Water%20Does%20One,and%20182.5%20gallons%20per%20year.

US population: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/12/happy-new-year-2023.html

San Francisco Population: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco

Bay Area Population: https://sfstandard.com/2023/05/10/bay-area-population-decline-2023-california-city-county-data/

Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash