How Apple made its charming claymation Mac mini ad

In Apple’s newest ad, its Mac mini is a muscly bodybuilder, a donut-spinning race car, and a rocket ship blasting off. Every one of those characters was made out of clay. The spot, which debuted on August 25, was created by TBWA\Media Arts Lab (MAL) (a bespoke global agency that partners only with Apple) to mark the launch of the new Mac mini, which is the company’s line of screenless desktop computers. The $899 device runs on the M6, Apple’s first 2-nanometer chip, which significantly improves storage, graphics, and AI performance. In just two days, the spot introducing the new product has amassed more than 16 million views on YouTube, while an accompanying behind-the-scenes video has hit a whopping 188 million views on Instagram. To capture the concept of the Mac mini’s small stature (it measures just 5 inches by 5 inches) but mighty capabilities, the teams at Apple and MAL decided to reimagine the computer as a series of tiny characters with outsize personalities. And, to keep the human craft behind the project at the forefront of viewers’ minds, no CGI or AI was used for the animation. Everything seen in the film, from the characters themselves to the expressive motion lines, …