How an Architecture Website Got Featured in the iPhone 5 Launch Video

Architecture website Dezeen was prominently featured in the iPhone 5 promotional video revealed yesterday, and today the site has posted a brief behind-the-scenes look at how the collaboration came to fruition.

NewImage
The site is featured in the video starting around the 1:16 mark, with the iPhone 5 user opening an email with a link to the website. He clicks the link, views the site, navigates to Safari's bookmarks list and then opens another page. The page is viewed during a section of the video discussing how LTE technology provides for "really fast downloads over your cellular network."

Apple contacted Dezeen earlier this year asking us to create a bespoke version of our home page and an editorial page for a possible future marketing campaign. Apple specified that both had to be free of external advertisements and social media buttons, but they did not give any details of how the pages might be used.

The pages [were] created for us by our long-term collaborators Zerofee. Besides the iPhone versions of Dezeen, we also created billboard-sized pages that may, or may not, appear in Apple Stores and outdoor advertising hoardings as part of the marketing push for the iPhone 5.

Given how secretive Apple tends to be with its marketing materials, it remains to be seen if this disclosure by Dezeen will impact Apple's marketing strategy going forward.

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Apple Expected to Release iOS 18.3 Next Week With These New Features

Thursday January 23, 2025 6:41 am PST by
iOS 18.3 should be released to the public next week, following beta testing since mid-December. While the software update is a relatively minor one, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones. Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3. Notification Summary Changes Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries Apple Intelligence...
iOS 18

5 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.3

Friday January 24, 2025 1:55 am PST by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.3 next week, bringing further refinements to Apple Intelligence features, a couple of neat new capabilities to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 devices, and bug fixes. While not quite as packed with new features as Apple's preceding iOS 18 point releases, iOS 18.3 still introduces capabilities that aim to make your iPhone smarter and more intuitive. Below, we've...
Generic iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Beta Coming Soon With These New Features for Your iPhone

Friday January 24, 2025 8:16 am PST by
iOS 18.3 is expected to be widely released next week, and that means the first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner. Apple has previously implied that iOS 18.4 will be released in April, as that is when it promised to make Apple Intelligence available in even more languages. Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far. Apple Intelligence for Siri Siri ...
Apple Pay Walmart Feature

Walmart Stands Firm on Why It Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in the U.S.

Thursday January 23, 2025 7:32 am PST by
Walmart still does not accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments at its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and it stood firm on its reasoning for that today. A spokesperson for Walmart today informed MacRumors that its position on contactless payments has not changed since we last reached out about the matter in 2022. The big-box retailer said it remains focused on its own convenient...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Launching This Year With These New Features

Wednesday January 22, 2025 6:01 pm PST by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year. In this article, we recap rumored features and changes for the device. The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, which would be an upgrade over the current Apple TV's standard Wi-Fi 6 support. Wi-Fi 6E extends the...
iOS 18

Here Are Apple's Full Release Notes for iOS 18.3

Tuesday January 21, 2025 4:31 pm PST by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes. The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Horizontal Single Feature

Kuo: iPhone 17 Models Won't Have Smaller Dynamic Island

Friday January 24, 2025 9:09 am PST by
The upcoming iPhone 17 models that Apple plans to release this year will not feature a smaller Dynamic Island, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today. On social media, he said that he is expecting the size of the Dynamic Island to remain "largely unchanged" across the iPhone 17 lineup. His statement is contrary to prior rumors that we've heard about planned changes for the iPhone 17 models. ...
iPhone 16 Apple Store Levels

Gurman: Apple Stores Receiving 'Merchandise' Updates Next Week

Saturday January 25, 2025 5:07 pm PST by
Apple's retail stores will be rolling out "merchandise/floor marketing updates" next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman did not explicitly say if the store updates are related to any upcoming product announcements, but he did mention that next week is around the time that Apple rolls out its annual Black Unity watch band for the Apple Watch. In each of the past four years, ...
apple power beats pro 2

Apple's First Product Announcement of 2025 is Imminent

Thursday January 23, 2025 2:48 pm PST by
It's also time for Apple's first product announcement of the year. Last year, Apple said it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and the wireless earbuds are expected to launch very soon. Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code In his Power On newsletter last weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the...

Top Rated Comments

Eduardo1971 Avatar
161 months ago
Yeah, I guess they shouldn't expect to work with Apple in the future.

"Loose lips..."
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pandamonia Avatar
161 months ago
So Apple wanted a website made to look better than it normally would on the browser! Classic.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Battlefield Fan Avatar
161 months ago
Given how secretive Apple tends to be with its marketing materials, it remains to be seen if this disclosure by Dezeen will impact Apple's marketing strategy going forward.

Idiots.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
John.B Avatar
161 months ago
So Apple wanted a website made to look better than it normally would on the browser! Classic.

I wish more websites were scrubbed of cruft like social media links.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nagromme Avatar
161 months ago
This doesn’t seem like any great trade secret: they’re telling the tale AFTER the iPhone 5 and marketing materials were already released.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kalsta Avatar
161 months ago
Having a company make a special webpage for an iphone advert does not show how the iphone handles webpages on 4G or the iPhone. Its made to look better at its job than it is.

You have to be kidding. They're absolutely entitled to show best-scenario kind of situations to promote their products. That's what advertisers do! If it's an actual video of an actual webpage on an actual iPhone, they've done nothing wrong here.

There are grey areas for sure, like when McDonalds spends hours meticulously recreating a burger for a photo shoot, then touches it up, etc. I think that's stepping pretty close to the line of deception… but to their credit, they finally released a video (//www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSd0keSj2W8) which is very open about this process.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)