While a popular and growing market, virtual reality (VR) has had a difficult time converting certain skeptics. A common sticking point? When wearing a headset for play or work you’re isolated from the real world.
This state of affairs raises obvious safety concerns—what if you trip over something you can’t see? It also prevents many with busy lifestyles from being able to use VR—what if you have kids that need constant tending to? Some devices feature a camera that can be used to render a video feed of your surroundings, but many argue this defeats the purpose of VR, which is all about total immersion.
So while VR will forever occupy a—rather sizable—niche, it won’t work for everyone. But does that mean headsets should forever be relegated to tech enthusiasts with particular lifestyles?
Mixed reality becomes our reality
Mixed reality (MR) says no. This emerging technology transplants digital imagery upon your vision of the world around you. MR is similar to augmented reality, but goes the next step by enabling visible digital elements to interact with things found in a user’s surroundings. In short, MR offers the potential for highly tactile, immersive virtual experiences—without shutting the user away from the world around them.
Of course, for MR to become a normal part of consumers’ lives, a trusted brand must first deliver an affordable, high-quality MR headset to market. Varjo’s XR-3 is compelling, but is priced for enterprises so doesn’t quite fit the bill, and other headsets only offer MR as an appetizer to the greater VR meal.
Enter Apple, who in June 2023 announced their vision of the MR future, the Vision Pro. While exciting, questions around the Vision Pro’s visual design and utility inspired memes—though those can be good—and invited skepticism over whether the device will be worth the $3499 asking price when it releases in 2024.
This challenging state of affairs had us wondering: how does Apple’s copywriting successfully market this luxury wearable device?
Our research revealed a simple yet compelling answer: the Vision Pro’s landing page plays a supporting role for high-quality video snippets.
Telling the Vision Pro story
First, seven simple words catch our eyes: “Welcome to the era of spatial computing.” Here, Apple almost effortlessly paints MR and Vision Pro as the key to technology’s future—and the unspoken meaning is that without this unique headset, you’re stuck in the past.
Scrolling down, a video shows a man placing Vision Pro over his head. The video seamlessly transitions to his in-headset view of his surroundings; the only change is the addition of some familiar circular iOS icons superimposed over his living room. For audiences unclear of what’s happening here, the accompanying copy removes any confusion: “Apple Vision Pro seamlessly blends digital content with your physical space.”
Apple’s visuals-first, copy-second approach continues throughout the page’s first section. When a woman uses only her hands to scroll through a Los Angeles Times article, the copy reads: “You navigate simply by using your eyes, hands, and voice.” When she pinches and lifts her thumb and index finger to reveal a TV episode list, the copy continues: “So you can do the things you love in ways never before possible.” And when the show begins streaming on a floating screen, the copy literally brings this—and every Vision Pro experience possible—home with a subtle twist on a common phrase: “You’ve never seen everything like this before.”
Upon seeing links to watch the device in action, your experience reading other brands’ landing copy might have you thinking you’ve reached the bottom of the page. But there’s more: Apple wisely assumes you may have questions about how Vision Pro will augment your existing devices, and conveniently provides those answers on the same page—rather than divide them in other locations readers may have trouble finding.
Apple copywriting sells you the future
The Apps section’s subheader invites you to “Free your desktop” so that “your apps will follow” because “your apps live in your space.” There’s no need for an “in other words” here; the video makes it clear apps open in Vision Pro populate the physical space around you. The Entertainment section builds upon what you’ve seen—that “Vision Pro can transform any room into your own personal theater”—by explaining that you can “Expand your movies, shows, and games up to the perfect size” to “enjoy stunning content wherever you are”.
The Photos and Videos section unpacks how Vision Pro helps us “Be in the moment. All over again.” In the Connection section, copy and video show how with Vision Pro, we can “Get on the same page. In the same space.” The Design section proclaims that Vision Pro is “Designed by Apple”; in 2023, Apple’s design chops led by product designer Jony Ive speak for themselves.
The visionOS and Technology sections come one after another to illustrate the sophisticated hardware infrastructure powering “Apple’s first spatial operating system” that offers “Interaction designed for spatial computing”. Together, these help “Apps leap into life” and “Expand your surroundings”—all to enable “Innovation you can see, hear, and feel.” I particularly love the sentence topping the Privacy and Security section: “When it comes to privacy, we don’t blink.”
Last but certainly not least is a section committed to developers—the people that bring new hardware to life with software content. Apple asserts that Vision Pro is “An all-new platform” that can become “An all-new world for developers” before diving into specifics around compatibility with existing software tools, frameworks, and content creation platforms. This and all the copy samples listed truly bring this page to life.
Apple’s press release for Vision Pro uses longer copy blocks than those found in the landing page. It’s got your standard press release fare, full of product features and executive quotes calling attention to Vision Pro’s myriad innovations. Yet compared to your typical press release, this one is remarkable; as opposed to purely copy, it significantly features photos and videos from the landing page, and even some unique ones too.
While the copy is sharp as ever, this press release is a bit long. Including headers and photo captions and omitting some boilerplate copy, it’s nearly 2400 words; that’s roughly double most blog posts. With Vision Pro likely being many’s first exposure to MR technology, I understand why Apple felt the need to leave no copywriting stone unturned, but this length risks overwhelming and dissuading some readers from absorbing all available information.
$3,500 is a lot for a luxury good—there’s no getting around that. But we think Apple’s marketing approach for Vision Pro—one with visuals that make you think, “Surely that wasn’t real,” and then copy tells you, “It was,”—has the potential to help consumers shrug off cost hangups. We’ll be watching to see whether this copy approach successfully converts MR skeptics into MR fanatics come 2024, and we’ll let you know what went right—and what could have gone better—right here at the MarketSmiths blog.
Until then, if you need a dedicated team of copywriting experts that can connect your brand to copy beyond reality, get in touch with MarketSmiths today!
