Some campaigns make a big splash but quickly fade into the celebrity advertising firmament. Others last longer. One such campaign was Apple’s ‘Think Different’ in 1997.
It was unique for a number of reasons, the most important of which was undoubtedly the use of a large number of celebrities. Although in their case it is hard to say that they were celebrities.
For many, Steve Jobs is a unique figure in the world of technology and computing. For us, he is also a pioneer of modern integrated marketing and bold, original advertising. From the beginning, he took a holistic view of the brand, thinking about how users would react to new computers and how best to advertise them. When he made his revolutionary commercial in 1984 (hailed at the time by the prestigious Ad Age magazine as the best commercial of all time), Apple’s board was determined to change the advertising agency after the first presentation. But Jobs assumed that the audience did not know what they wanted, and that it was necessary to anticipate their perceptions. This is what he did with the 1984 campaign and later with the launch of the iPad. He was also the first to connect soulless machines with emotions, to humanise them. It was not just the technical performance that mattered, but also (and sometimes above all) the design, the functionality, the values associated with the brand.
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When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 after a 15-year absence, the company was in deep trouble. Sales were down, the brand had lost its appeal and the company had lost the identity and creativity that had been its strength in the 1980s. When preparing the launch of the new Macintosh, Jobs was looking for a unique campaign. pon his return, he wanted to work again with TBWA/Chiat/Day, the agency that, among other things, created his 1984 ads.Lee Clow, the agency’s creative director, declined. For a decade, they had pursued their own independent brand and had not been involved in Apple’s marketing. However, considering that other networks like BBDO had already been invited without Jobs, it was hard to turn them down. Eventually, Clow relented and presented an idea, which turned out to be the Think Different concept. There was a purity about it that I will never forget. When Lee pitched the idea to me, I cried in my office. – Jobs said. Instead of showcasing individual products, they decided to remind people of what made the brand special. It was a campaign about creativity. It was also a reminder to Apple employees themselves of who they are and what they do.
Coming up with the creative concept was a challenging. Seal’s song ‘Crazy’ (‘We can’t survive if we don’t get a little crazy’) was used in the first video, but it was impossible to get the rights to use it. Other ready-made lines were also used, including Robin Williams’ speech from the film Dead Poets Society. However, it was decided to write its own. Jobs was explosive, not only to his employees but also to outsiders. He greeted the first version of the ad with an angry outburst, saying he ‘hated that shit’. That’s how he worked. But he usually knew how to get the best out of people. The final text of the ad went like this: “Here’s to the crazy. The outsiders. The rebels. The adventurers. The misfits. Here’s to those who see the world differently. They don’t like rules. They don’t respect the status quo. You can quote them, you can disagree with them; you can glorify them, you can defame them. But one thing you cannot do – you cannot ignore them. Because they are the ones changing the world. They are moving humanity forward. And while some may see them as mad, we see them as genius. Because people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who change it. Steve Jobs himself wrote a few lines.
“There was a purity about it that I will never forget. When Lee pitched the idea to me, I cried in my office”. Jobs said
The grammar of the slogan was also an issue that needed to be addressed. The English language imposed the form ‘Think Differently’. Jobs, however, wanted an adjectival form that captured the spirit of the philosophy better and alluded to some colloquial expressions in the style of ‘think big’. Ultimately, the slogan urged creativity and originality, so it became ‘Think Different’ and was one of the best slogans in its ideal close to Nike’s “Just Do It”. It captured the essence of the brand, the products and Jobs himself, who once turned a command line screen into a picture screen, then a keyboard into a touch screen and a record store into the iTunes Store. The tagline was in keeping with the ‘stay hungry, stay foolish’ philosophy he delivered in a very personal speech at Standford University.
To capture the spirit of Dead Poets Society, Jobs wanted Robin Williams to read the question. His agent disagreed, and attempts at personal contact were torpedoed by his wife. Another candidate considered was Tom Hanks. Jobs personally asked Bill Clinton to persuade Hanks. The president refused to help. Finally, Richard Dreyfuss, a well-known actor and big Apple fan, objected to the text. Just before the premiere, a version of the ad with Jobs’ voice was considered, but in the end he decided on the Dreyfuss version.
The TV campaign was accompanied by a press campaign – one of the most distinctive. It had a simple design, consisting of black and white photos of famous people, the logo and the Think Different lettering. Nothing else. Interestingly, the faces in the ad were not signed, but not all of them were as famous as Einstein, Gandhi, Lennon, Dylan, Chaplin, Picasso or Luther King. Most were idols of Jobs, who personally oversaw the selection of shots and frames. Jobs used the magic of the Apple brand and his personal charm to win a photo of Gandhi from Time Incorporated and, among others, the creator of the Muppets from his family. The same was true of Yoko Ono, although in her case Jobs made a point of sending in photos of John Lennon. The campaign was a huge success and entered the canon of American advertising. Jobs succeeded in creating the only lifestyle brand in the technology and electronics category at the time. Few companies would get away with using such authority figures in advertising. But Apple was authentic.
Since then, celebrities have been courted to appear in Apple’s campaigns because it guarantees them an automatic rise in popularity. The Black Eyed Peas, for example, found this out when they lent their song “Hey Mama” to one of the first distinctive iPod commercials. Even Bob Dylan himself, whose 2006 commercial helped his album reach number one on the Billboard charts for the first time since 1976! Interestingly, after viewing the initial version of the ad, Jobs was merciless and insisted on reshooting it, despite Dylan being his idol.
Few people know that up until a certain point, film producers themselves were asking Apple to provide products for TV series and cinema productions! Ba! U2, arguably the biggest band of the last two decades, would have long courted Apple to release their limited edition iPod, and the Cupertino company’s products are openly used by Barack Obama. But Apple is an iconic brand. Electrifying, but also close to art. The personality of Steve Jobs has always attracted artists. This is not surprising, given that Jobs combined science and art in his company, sometimes even emphasising the latter.
However, it is worth remebering that Apple’s advertising is not just about big productions like the 1984 ad or legendary explorers, painters or music stars. Another well-known Apple communication platform, ‘Get a Mac’, is a very different campaign. The 66 commercials in a single Mac vs. PC format were filmed between 2006 and 2009. The campaign was voted the best platform of the decade by the influential Adweek website in 2010.
“To the crazy. To the misfits. The rebels. The adventurers. The misfits. Here’s to those who see the world differently”.
