Good and Bad Battle It Out in Apple's First Ever Original Ad for Vietnam

Apple has launched its first piece of original work from the brand in Vietnam to celebrate Lunar New Year. Starring fast-rising rapper, singer-songwriter and dancer from Hanoi, tlinh, ‘Don’t Make it Complicated,’ is a brand new, never-before-heard track from tlinh.

Empowering story celebrates the Year of the Dragon and focuses on finding strength to overcome your inner struggles, attributes found in the zodiac sign of the Dragon and tlinh, who was also born in the year of the dragon. 

Vietnamese-American filmmaker and director, Bảo Nguyễn and TBWA/Media Arts Lab APAC bring gritty and powerful visuals to life and uses the cinematic features of iPhone - 5x optical zoom, advanced stabilisation of Action Mode, and Cinematic Mode - to artfully tell the story. The film captures gritty street scenes and fast-paced action shots, much of which is shot in low-light conditions on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City.

“Storytelling and aesthetic cinematography, they all come hand in hand. Shooting on the iPhone helps create this new cinematic language.” said director, Bảo Nguyễn.

In ‘Don’t Make It Complicated’, tlinh plays a schoolgirl who is heartbroken when she thinks she sees her boyfriend spending time with another girl. Overwhelmed with rage and jealousy, she escapes into the city and encounters the inner war of her own two sides: evil and good. Both sides battle it out, until tlinh in whole human form, a combination of both her sides, ultimately emerges. Once she is reunited with her boyfriend, tlinh begins to realise perhaps the enemy had been herself all along.

The film ends with a reminder that love and life are complicated and neither are all good, nor all bad. The film aims to empower and inspire the younger generation of Vietnam to find the strength within themselves, no matter how complicated their struggles.

Apple worked with local creators, from tlinh’s crew (The Last Fire Crew) and her local creator network, Phương Vũ, Lâm Đạo Đạo and Trần Thế Thể Thiện. They collaborated with Bảo and tlinh to capture bespoke behind-the-scenes content and showcase the features of iPhone 15 Pro.

tlinh is a major force in Vietnam’s emergent pop music scene. The 23 year old pushes back on outdated social views of women to embrace her femininity in bold, refreshing ways. She explained that the film speaks to her own conflicts and challenges but also her own inner strength. 

'Don’t Make it Complicated' will premiere on @apple Vietnam YouTube, and is supported by broadcast, social and digital.