Google mocked Apple with a fake 'iPager' launch — two months later Apple adopted RCS

In the US, iPhone-to-Android texts fell back to unencrypted 1990s SMS — pixelated media, no reactions, broken group chats — and the green bubble had culturally become Android's fault, not Apple's. Google had argued for RCS adoption for years with blog posts and tweets and got nowhere. With agency David Miami it changed genre: the 'Get The Message' campaign built a fake product, iPager, a beeper presented with all the pomp of an Apple keynote, and launched the film one week after the iPhone 15 reveal in September 2023.

Production studio Masters & Savant mocked up a 3D device, packaging for physical prototypes, novelty case colors and corny 90s catchphrases, then cut the material across YouTube pre-rolls, Shorts, Instagram, X and digital and print out-of-home — a full product launch for a product that was the joke. The format did the persuading: anyone who had watched a real Apple keynote instantly read 'we ship you 30-year-old texting technology' without a single spec being read out.

Less than two months after the launch, in November 2023, Apple announced it would adopt RCS as the fallback messaging standard, finally enabling group chats, read receipts and high-quality media with Android users. The work went on to be shortlisted for the Dan Wieden Titanium Lion at Cannes 2024 and took Silver and Bronze in Brand Experience & Activation — rare for a campaign whose entire media budget was spent making fun of the world's most valuable company.

Don't rebut the rival's myth — parody its keynote ritual

The parody keynote converted a spec-sheet argument (SMS vs RCS) into an emotional verdict the audience reached by itself.

Timing the film one week after the iPhone 15 reveal rode Apple's own news cycle, so tech press amplified it as commentary.

A fake product is screenshot-proof: every share carried the joke's whole argument in one image.

Public ridicule raised the reputational cost of not adopting RCS, complementing the regulatory pressure Google was applying in the EU.

When your competitor owns the narrative, borrow their stage conventions rather than your own fact sheet. A parody keynote lands a technical argument as a joke the press retells for free.

Apple announced RCS support in November 2023, less than two months after the iPager launch, and shipped it in iOS 18 in 2024. Google's 'Get The Message' pressure campaign ended; iPager was shortlisted for the Titanium Lion at Cannes 2024 and won Silver and Bronze Lions in Brand Experience & Activation.