Filed under: Apple Corporate, Cult of Mac, Apple
10 years of thinking different
When Apple's Think Different television campaign first aired in September of 1997, the company was in dire straights (or, as we call it, "The Sculley Years"). To make a long and well-known story short, Steve came back, the company launched the enormously popular "Think Different" campaign with Chiat/Day, and that, true believers, was how Apple got its groove back.LowEndMac takes a very interesting look at the development of that campaign, from the initial concept to the first broadcast commercial in '97. Some interesting facts include that Chiat/Day was given just 17 days to complete the project, and that Steve himself courted some of the people whose images were used.
Well done, Apple and Chiat/Day. We still love those ads.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
damien said 7:19PM on 4-09-2007
Apple certainly has had some really good advertising (with the exception of the Performa infomercial they did in 95ish) Its actually weird to see the rainbow apple now, seems like it was so long ago they used that. Shedding the colors was good marketing sense.
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Joshua Ochs said 10:01PM on 4-09-2007
However, never trust LEM for accuracy. They write interesting articles, but don't exactly fact check things. No mention is made for instance of Michael Spindler, who presided over the worst period at Apple (1993-1996). Things like Copland, cloning, Performas, lack of direction, lack of advertising - all under his watch.
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Tom Twigg said 12:10AM on 4-10-2007
The "Skully Years"?
As noted by Joshua, Spindler was Apple CEO from 93-96, replaced by Gil Amelio who led the company from 96 until the board showed him the door and made His Steveness iCeo in 97. The Skully years were 83-93.
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Spasso said 2:59AM on 4-10-2007
Yah, sadly another demonstration of how unaware TUAW is of basic Apple history ("OS 8 shipped on time"). I have no problem with being to young to have been around, but how about doing 2 seconds of wikipedia before you publish & spread misinformation.
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Saad said 8:51AM on 4-10-2007
The author actually wrote like fifteen pages on Michael Spindler (and actually references him as the previous CEO in the article "to back his coup against Michael Spindler"):
http://lowendmac.com/orchard/06/0406.html
Seems like there was no omission at all. Just Spindler was not particularly important to the Think Different ads, especially since he was gone for almost two and a half years before Steve took control of Apple.
Also, John Sculley's name is spelled "Sculley", the author wrote an article on him too:
http://lowendmac.com/orchard/06/0222.html
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wackymacs said 9:02AM on 4-10-2007
Wow, none of you seem to know what you're talking about. Tom Hormby is one of the best writers on Apple history, and he thoroughly checks his facts.
Joshua Ochs: Untrue. There are several good LEM writers, despite LEM itself having a bad reputation.
Tom Twigg: It's Sculley, not Skully.
Spasso: Wikipedia isn't exactly the most accurate source of information around. Printed books, newspaper articles and magazine articles are the best sources of accurate information. (Even though there are still mistakes in these sources, sometimes).
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Stucco said 10:43AM on 4-10-2007
I was then and am now offended by those ads. Using dead people to hawk products is tasteless and beneath Apple. Don't even get me started on the "Different/DifferentLY" debate.
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john Vogel said 1:13PM on 4-10-2007
Anybody have a link that has high resolution files for the think different posters avialble for download?
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am2 said 8:25PM on 4-10-2007
Anyone know where we can buy the "Think Different" posters?
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soulsnax said 10:46PM on 4-10-2007
We are in the process of moving, and the other day, guess what we found: an extensive collection of those posters with E. Aldrin, Ghandi, Einstein, Edison, etc. We almost threw them out, but figured that since they're a complete set, it would be nice to keep.
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Dennis said 11:58PM on 4-10-2007
Those posters are collectors items now and priiiicey.
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david said 6:21AM on 4-12-2007
Yeah I would love to get my hands on the image files for those posters the music ones in particular.
I am not really fussed about them being the origional ones.
Can anyone hook me up?
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