In November, 2012, we titled our very first Idea Email with a line inspired by the sentence Apple used to introduce the second generation of the iPad: “Technology at its very best is invisible.”

In our version, we substituted “marketing” for the word technology.

In that first Idea Email, we wrote what we still believe to be the goal of great marketing:

The goal of great marketing should be to make the customer smarter, stronger, happier, or whatever the customer wants when they purchase a product or join an association or sign up for a service. When you emphasize how your product can help customers achieve something, they don’t think of it as marketing. They think of it as help. And that’s when marketing is at its very best.

In the past few days, I’ve been impressed with how well Apple is once again aiming for that goal with a new advertising campaign for the iPhone 5s.

First, here’s the introductory 90-second commercial for the campaign titled “Powerful.”

On Apple.com, the company provides information about each app seen in the commercial, and a link to where you can find it on the iTunes App Store. From there, there are links to the creators of the apps that each features video tutorials that demonstrate to the user how to accomplish what the iPhone advertisement promises.

As we’ve said, when you focus your marketing how your product can help customers achieve something–and then follow through with the supportive content that fulfills that promise–they don’t think of it as marketing. They think of it as help. And that’s when marketing is at its very best.