As if Ohio State's incomparable "The Best Damn Band in the Land" needed any more positive PR, the marketing gurus at Apple may have given them just that.
After a tremendous last 12 months which saw a number of their shows (a video game themed one, a Hollywood blockbusters one, amongst others) reach viral status which culminated in Ohio State's Marching Band being featured on the TODAY Show, their famed "Jurassic Park" T. rex marching formation (which was almost assuredly learned via iPads, which are standard issue for band members) on the Ohio State practice field is featured briefly in the latest Apple iPad Air ad. The advertisement also features TBDBITL practicing their formations and using iPads to fine tune them.
The advertisement also features "O Me! O Life!" by Walt Whitman in context of its use in the 1989 best picture nominee "Dead Poet's Society". The original poem is as follows:
Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill'd with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew'd,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring-What good amid these, O me, O life?
That you are here-that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Apple channels Robin Williams' character in the film at the advertisement's end to pose, "What will your verse be?"
Check out the band's three scenes in the ad by hovering or clicking on the following:
