Apple
The Ask
Over the years, Colossal has partnered with Apple across multiple landmark initiatives—including the iPhone launch in China, the Apple Card rollout, and, most recently, the evolution of Apple’s gift card system.
Apple’s challenge: disparate gift cards (iTunes, App Store, hardware, services) had created a fragmented experience. The company needed a unified strategy and a creative platform to clearly communicate that one card now worked everywhere across the Apple ecosystem. Our role was to collaborate with Apple’s Marcom team in Culver City to develop the launch strategy and creative direction for the new Apple Gift Card.
The Answer
Colossal approached the challenge with a systems-thinking mindset, breaking down Apple’s vast product and service offerings into a simple, universal visual language.
We drew inspiration from Paul Rand’s rebus design work and from the book How Things Work in Your Home, which encouraged us to find elegant, playful ways of combining symbols and everyday visuals.
The creative breakthrough came from leveraging the emoji and iconography of text messaging—a language already embedded in Apple’s user culture.
This approach allowed us to tell the story of the gift card with clarity, speed, and emotion—without requiring large-scale production or expensive shoots, relying instead on digital assets and expressive typography.
The campaign positioned the Apple Gift Card as a single, universal solution—fun, flexible, and instantly understandable.
The Result
The launch was a global success, extending well beyond the U.S. and into international markets. Localized versions—including in Japanese—demonstrated how the system’s graphic simplicity translated seamlessly across languages and cultures.
By unifying Apple’s gift cards under one umbrella and expressing it through a playful, systematic design approach, Colossal helped Apple communicate clarity at scale. The result not only simplified the consumer experience but reinforced Apple’s reputation for elegant, human-centered communication.
