For me, the marketing that surrounds Apple products has a magnetic appeal. It seems to emerge from a magician’s hat, and the magic never palls.

The current television ad for MacBook Air has the usual mesmerizing effect on me. The first time I saw it, and heard it, I simultaneously wanted the product and envied the marketing genius behind it. It appealed to all of my senses, especially my sense of desire. There’s the laptop itself being lifted out of its interdepartmental envelope and opened up. There’s the entrancing song by Yael Naim. There’s the absolutely clean and unobstructed visual purity of the message. There’s the ravishingly simple logo image that invites us to take a bite out of life.

I have seen Apple marketing in media ranging from multiple-story billboards to email and I’m always struck by the consistency, familiarity, freshness, and impact of its messaging. It’s never the same but it is always the same. It’s the apotheosis of branding.

I keep watching the magician, hoping that if I look closely enough I’ll figure out just how it’s done.