iPod History

The Polyphonic Spree “Light & Day” and the VW Pods Unite Promotion

A joint promotion, not an iPod ad

"Light & Day" is not documented in any Apple-made iPod commercial. Its link to the iPod comes through Volkswagen: published accounts, including a 2014 CityBeat profile of the band, say the song was used in a joint Volkswagen and Apple campaign, usually identified as "Pods Unite". Some sources date that use to 2004, while Pods Unite was announced in July 2003, so the exact timing is uncertain.

“Light & Day” by The Polyphonic Spree, a Volkswagen and Apple promotion, 2003, offered free with the car the iPod (3rd generation). Chart of the iPod commercials covered on this site, 2001–2007, with this one highlighted.
Where “Light & Day” sits among the iPod commercials of 2001–2007.

Pods Unite

The promotion offered US buyers of a 2003 Volkswagen New Beetle sedan a free 15GB iPod with a connectivity kit; the convertible was excluded. Advertising ran on television, radio and in newspapers until the end of September 2003, and Apple posted the commercial on its website. It pairs the curves of the chrome-and-white iPod with a similarly styled Beetle, shows the words "Buy a New Beetle. Get a new iPod.", and follows the driver, who takes out the earbuds and plugs the iPod into the car. It closes on "pods unite" in red, with Volkswagen's logo and its slogan "Drivers wanted".

The song

Released on 10 February 2003 as the second single from The Beginning Stages of..., an album first intended as a demo, "Light & Day" reached No. 40 in the UK. It was later heard in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Scrubs, and in 2010 PRS for Music research found it was the most performed song in UK television advertising. The Dallas band was formed in 2000 by Tim DeLaughter, formerly of Tripping Daisy, as a large choral rock group in white robes.

Browse iPod Advertising to see more commercials, or return to Home to continue exploring iPod History.