Huawei has hired actor Justin Long to star in the company’s new Android smartphone commercial campaign. Long, who previously starred in the famous “I’m a Mac'” TV ads, will now star in an advertising campaign for the largest smartphone manufacturer in China, Huawei.
According to Campaign US report, Huawei hired Long because he starred in those previous Apple commercials.
One of the first commercial campaigns is called “The Interview.” In the video, Long plays a character who is being interviewed by a Mate 9 Android smartphone to become the director of a commercial. The commercial is to poke fun at Long’s previous ties with Apple and is supposed to be ironic considering Android is the ‘PC’ to mobile phones.
The group director behind the advertisement, Jessica Grizzell explained to Campaign US that “There is no doubt that Justin’s history as a pitchman for Apple adds a nice subtext to the videos and builds on Huawei’s challenger position in the market,” Grizzel said.
Apple Q4 earnings
But, Huawei may have fierce competition as Apple’s recent earnings report demonstrated the iPhone 7 was a hit. In fact, the company reported the highest sales quarter ever for the enterprise.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement that, “We’re thrilled to report that our holiday quarter results generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way. We sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch.”
The irony of tech advertising
Huawei’s new commercial comes after Sprint hired the former “Can you hear me now?” actor, Paul Maracelli, who appeared in Verizon Wireless commercials until 2011. In each Verizon Wireless commercial, Maracelli appeared wearing a Verizon jacket, glasses, and saying the famous catch-phrase “Can you hear me now?”.
Now, he’s the spokesman for Sprint. In each commercial, Marcelli references back to his time with Verizon but, explains he switched to Sprint. Instead of the Verizon jacket, Maracelli wears a bright yellow shirt and black jacket, which is synonymous with Sprint’s branding.