The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2022–2023
Apple's 'The Greatest' makes accessibility features the hero — Cannes Music GP
A 2.5-minute film shows real people with disabilities using iPhone accessibility features; it won Cannes' Music Grand Prix and a 2023 Emmy.
Apple Inc.
What it had to solve
Apple needed a global audience to know iPhone and iPad can adapt to people with vision, hearing, mobility or cognitive disabilities — without making the message a pity story or a features list. The film launched for International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
How it works
Apple had spent years building accessibility into iPhone and iPad, but the features were little known beyond the disability community. For International Day of Persons with Disabilities in December 2022, it decided to show them not as a charity story but as tools of independence.
Kim Gehrig directed a two-and-a-half-minute film called 'The Greatest' in which real people with disabilities — musicians, artists, athletes, parents — use features such as Voice Control, Door Detection, Sound Recognition, Magnifier and AssistiveTouch to get through ordinary days, from a model taking selfies to a mother hearing her baby cry through a Sound Recognition alert.
The film's soundtrack, 'I Am the Greatest,' is built from Muhammad Ali's speeches and sung by Australia's Marliya Choir, with a remix by Cola Boyy and improvised piano by Matthew Whitaker; both artists are disabled and appear in the film. Ali, who developed Parkinson's disease, became a disability advocate after his boxing career.
At Cannes 2023 the film won the Entertainment Lions for Music Grand Prix, a Silver Lion in Film, Gold Lions in Film Craft for direction, casting and licensed music, and a Titanium shortlist. It closed the year with the Emmy for Outstanding Commercial.
Why it lands
- It proved the features by showing real users living real days, so the film itself was the demonstration — no spec sheet needed.
- The music turned the message into an anthem: Muhammad Ali's words, sung by a choir, gave disability and capability the same triumphant register.
- Casting actual disabled artists like Cola Boyy and Matthew Whitaker made the work credible to the community it portrayed.
- Launching on International Day of Persons with Disabilities gave the film a news hook and a purpose beyond the brand.
What it did
Won the Entertainment Lions for Music Grand Prix and a Film Silver Lion at Cannes 2023, plus Gold Lions in Film Craft for direction, casting and licensed music, and a Titanium shortlist. In January 2024 the film won the Emmy for Outstanding Commercial.
What you can take
Casting real people and letting capability lead made accessibility feel like triumph, not charity: the ad demonstrates the product through lives lived, not a list of features.
Since then
The film collected a Cannes Entertainment Lions for Music Grand Prix, a Film Silver Lion, three Film Craft Golds and a Titanium shortlist in June 2023, then beat six other commercials to win the Emmy for Outstanding Commercial in January 2024. It became a reference point for disability representation in advertising and for showing product features through real life rather than claims.
Sources
- THE GREATEST
- Accessibility work swept the awards in Cannes — but it's too soon to celebrate
- Apple's 'The Greatest' ad secures prestigious Emmy
- Apple short film – The Greatest
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