apple iphone ad has a familiar ring

the latest ad for apple's iphone is a montage of various film and tv stars answering the phone. it's called "hello".

it's a fun ad. but of course i'd think that; i did basically the same thing in 2001 for the opening track of the animals within animals double-cd mono a mono (recently reissued as a free mp3 download). this track was also included on boom selection's never mind the bootlegs compilation, making it one of my most popular/well-known compositions.

of course, it could be a coincidence. after all, the bran flakes had done something pretty similar on their cd hey won't somebody come and play a couple years before i did (though i never heard their track until long after i made mine). in fact, the idea has been done so much that jon nelson put together an entire hour-long episode of his excellent radio program, some assembly required, of "hello" tracks and similar works.

still, it's a good idea. so is it just one of those ideas that's so good (or, perhaps, so banal, so glaringly obvious) that lots of people come up with it? or are there some fans of AWIA and the bran flakes in the apple marketing department? ¶