How did they do this?

[Nick Jushchyshyn]

I'd probably try to use something like Motion or AE (expressions and/or particles) to drive the creation/animation of the various 2D "display elements" in the music animation.

Then just comp those onto 2D planes in 3D space with AE or Shake to match the hand positions.

[Cal Johnson]

Originally Posted by Nick Jushchyshyn

I think that you're generally correct for about 90% of the effects in the ad series.
The music display did look like something that could have been just as do-able in AE than a 3D app.

Yeah, thanks Nick, that's what I meant. Most of what you see could have been done, or at least emulated pretty effectively with AE, but for sure, its a bigger budget production and I'm betting they wouldn't have hesitated to use a true 3D app for anything they needed. For all I know, they could have used a 3D app for everything, but much of it could have be done with AE as well.