9 ms·

Steve Jobs explains branding

260 points by sz 16y ago

boredguy8 16y ago
Let me pass along "Art & Copy" as a suggested movie for those interested in marketing. They talk with agencies both for Apple (Chiat/Day) and for dairy farmers. http://www.artandcopyfilm.com http://www.artandcopyfilm.com - and on Netflix instant play.
- alabut 16y ago
  Art & Copy does a great job at explaining why the Mad Men era was important - there was a shift in the 60's from large corporate sales-driven organizations to smaller ones where art directors and other "creatives" were in charge. The parallels to today's startup scene are really strong, with people fleeing corporate cubicle farms and stale products to create fresh new stuff on small teams.
- chriseidhof 16y ago
  Great tip. I just watched it, awesome movie. It's full of advice for entrepreneurs.
noelchurchill 16y ago
He's wearing shorts!
- subbu 16y ago
  I didn't notice it until 1:20 or so. Then you see that!
Marticus 16y ago
Here's what gets me: The disconnect between that video at the end of his presentation versus Apple today. "Think different... as long as we approve your application for download on the app store." Admittedly a pretty cool video though.
- ynniv 16y ago
  This is a common view on HN, but I will suggest that you don't "get it." The AppStore may be a thorn in the side of some developers, but supports Apple's stated core value of enabling people who are passionate. The store reduces risk and variability, while rewarding (through ease of payment and reduced piracy (if you believe piracy to be a demotivator)) those who make great things for the end user. Computer geeks are only one kind of passionate person. Apple's view is that annoying them is a small price to pay for making everyone else's experience better.
- thought_alarm 16y ago
  The App Store the is epitome of "Think Different". It has done an astounding job of attracting developers to their platform, and no competing "Store" does a better job of connecting developers with actual users. Yet there was no shortage of people who said it would never work, and there's still no shortage of people who keep saying they're doing it wrong.
  - emil0r 16y ago
    I thought it was people saying they're doing a lousy job of explaining the rules of approval?
    - Marticus 16y ago
      What he said. If they're going to try to say to break out of your shell and be different and go crazy and be rebels (look at the people in that video, jeez) it's ironic that Apple now tells people what they can and cannot create.
- alsomike 16y ago
  But in fairness, in Gandhi's and Martin Luther King's time, the app store policies were even more restrictive - all apps were rejected, since there was no app store at all! I don't understand it myself, but somehow they were able to change the world despite not being able to create these apps. I totally agree that Gandhi's plan A was to make a Farmville-style game that let's you make illegal virtual salt, and MLK was going to make a SimCity game where you could control a character who refuses to sit at the back of the bus. This is historically documented. Obviously supporting mass protest and civil disobedience in such a safe, efficient, convenient way, so that people could do it whenever they had a spare moment, like waiting in line at the movies or the grocery store, is very threatening to the status quo. And the authorities refused to allow those kinds of apps (or any apps, or smart phones of any kind) because they were correctly seen as too powerful at creating widespread social change, too upsetting to the status quo. Now, I know what you're going to say: "Yes, but we only are allowed to have smart phones because the authorities have found ways of neutralizing their subversive potential! The apps that are truly threatening will be rejected!" I admit this is true - powerful corporate lobbyists have sabotaged my own app where you earn points and badges for turning off lights and composting your trash because of how devastating this would be in their attempts to keep people mindlessly consuming. I guess what I'm saying is, keep hope alive. Yes, Apple's authoritarian iron fist thwarts our attempts at changing the world, but remember that Gandhi faced similar struggles against the violent British colonial regime, and Martin Luther King faced death-threats, even finally being assassinated. Yes, we mourn all our fallen apps that have been "assassinated" or "lynched" by Apple's arbitrary app store policies, but we must not lose hope, we must continue the struggle and endure these heavy losses. History is on our side!
hasenj 16y ago
"The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that actually do." Brilliant
Keyframe 16y ago
I wonder what happened between then and now. Seems like a different company altogether.
- MikeCapone 16y ago
  Would you say they make better products now or when this video was shot? I think that for such a product-centered company, that should be the benchmark.
  - Keyframe 16y ago
    I'd say they make far far better products now. That's not the issue here. It's just that back before Jobs was ousted and when he returned you'd hear about Apple, you'd hear about philosophy behind it etc. Now you hear sales stats and here and there how good the product is or will be. No more philosophy or visions in talks. Maybe it's just my perception of it though.
    - dizm 16y ago
      This is so offbase, that I'm not sure where to begin. Every iPod ad. The FaceTime ads, at the end of all recent Steve Jobs keynote. Apple is trying to promote their philosophy and vision constantly.
      - Keyframe 16y ago
        No, it's not. I see you've got brand nursing out of marketing agencies and genuine talks by Steve Jobs confused. Which makes sense, it worked. I was referring to how before he was ousted and just after he returned he was talking very differently, more passion, genuine. Sure, related concepts to branding they have now, but related only via high concept. Something changed along the way. Take it as you will - it's just a subjective perception anyways.
    - ary 16y ago
      Have you seen a keynote given by Jobs since he returned to the company? You can't watch one without hearing about their philosophy and values. Sometimes it's mere lip service, but it's always there.
wmeredith 16y ago
I'm basically reposting my comments on this video from my company blog... The big takeaway is in the first few lines of this video: "This is a very complicated world. This is a very noisy world and we're not going to get a chance... to get people to remember much about us. No company is. And so we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us." The whole branding/selling thing goes like this... Lunch pitch ~15 minutes > Bar pitch: ~5 minutes > Elevator pitch: ~30 seconds > ? That last one is your brand. It's the ultimate quick pitch. You've got 5 seconds, what do you want someone to know about you and what you do for a living? If you don't know you're in trouble.
- deleted 16y ago
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- Andrew_Quentin 16y ago
  A company like apple does not have 5 seconds. People know about apple and their products much that they need to. You give an elevator pitch if you are unknown to an investor. Perhaps a company which is unknown might have 30 seconds to tell the world - if they can afford it - who they are, so that they can get others to remember their brand. Once their brand is remembered however, you have 30 seconds to maintain your statues quo. Like some Cadbury ads. If you remember the one with the gorilla drumming, it hardly tells us anything about Cadbury, let alone the most important thing. It just makes us feel well good and like Cadbury because unlike other adverts this one was quite cool and so Cadbury keeps being cool.
- mhoofman 16y ago
  Wouldn't this just be a company's logo or slogan? (ie Nike: Just Do It).
  - jpwagner 16y ago
    no, that's a mantra: http://academicearth.org/lectures/dont-write-mission-statement-write-mantra http://academicearth.org/lectures/dont-write-mission-stateme...
tc 16y ago
Apple's "Think Different / Change the World" ad was a brilliant piece of marketing. But it doesn't seem that really stuck as the core value of their brand. If Nike's message is "we hang around great athletes," Apple's message today is "we hang around the young and hip," [1] which is different than "we hang around people who change the world." You could argue that these are somehow related, that the young and hip would be attracted by the Think Different ad. I don't dispute that. But the later ads of kids jamming with their iPod ear buds communicate a message that is much closer to the general perception of Apple as a brand today. -- [1] In the clothing industry, this type of positioning wouldn't be noteworthy or distinguishing. But in consumer electronics, advertising more like Abercrombie & Fitch and less like IBM has worked out brilliantly for them. [2] The pre-2000 perception of Apple's brand was also somewhat tangential to the idea of changing the world. Their core message was "we're not IBM." In the talk, Jobs mentions this shouldn't be their core message, but clearly it was. The 1984 ad reinforced this, and even the 1997 Think Different ad retrenched this ground by riffing off of IBM's motto. [3] Edit: The idea that Apple's core customer is someone who "values their time" and is not a computer geek is meaninglessly broad. Every customer values his or her time, and in any mainstream industry, the vast majority of customers are not computer geeks. [4] Edit: Was it the success of the iPod that made Apple hip, or was the perception of the iPod being hip part of what made it such a success? Clearly it did become a fashion accessory. The product's clean design was congruent with this message.
- dmix 16y ago
  It's likely that the Think Different ads were targeted at early adopters back when Apple was reestablishing itself (with designers, architects, etc). Then as it entered into the mainstream with consumer devices it targeted kids "jamming with their iPods".
- ynniv 16y ago
  The success of the iPod made the Apple brand young and hip, but their core customer has been (and may again become with the iPhone and iPad) people who value their time and are not computer geeks per-se. That's a difficult thing to say in a crowd of computer geeks, but may contextualize the iOS/Android debate around here.
erikstarck 16y ago
3:22. "The core value of Apple... is that we believe that people with passion... can change the world for the better."
motters 16y ago
Steve Jobs is right about branding in this video, and it's for exactly these reasons that I'm not a big fan of Apple. Their core values are about dictating what developers can do with their hardware. Selling software shouldn't be about one person having the power to dictate what goes into a store. That's not a free market. Users shouldn't have to "jail break" their own hardware just to be able to use it as they wish. That's disempowering people with technology, not empowering them. I don't much care for those kinds of core values.
- spoiledtechie 16y ago
  Its pretty sad to see that yes men of Apple vote you down, when you speak the truth and offer an intelligent start to a conversation.
  - forgottenpaswrd 16y ago
    Oh yeah, so sad. Those that agree with you are intelligent and speak the truth, those that not, are "yes men". Forget me, I don't want to pop the bubble you live in.
quux 16y ago
That commercial still give me goosebumps
alexandros 16y ago
I think it says a lot about how much Apple's brand is damaged for me that I can't think of one of those people in the ad, if they were alive today, using a mac without it diminishing their image in my mind.
- dreyfiz 16y ago
  You would think less of Gandhi and Martin Luther King if they used Macs? I think it says more about the irrationality of your Apple hatred.
acon 16y ago
This video is awesome. Think Different is my favorite ad of all time. Unfortunately it feels like they have lost something in the last decade. While before it was about enabling passion and challenging the status quo, now it is more about reverence for old heroes. Before it was a call to arms to be inspired by those great men and women and do great stuff, now it is just to adore what they have done, while we continue to live life in our pods. This makes me sad.
Arun2009 16y ago
Maybe it's because I'm in a cynical mood right now, but Steve Jobs looks like he's performing for an audience. I'd have loved to hear what people like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates really think, but whenever these guys speak, I suspect that they compensate for the fact the people will be listening to them, and that what they say will influence their lives' work. You're left with no other choice but to reverse-engineer their real philosophies from how the respective companies behave in the market.
erikstarck 16y ago
I have to admit, watching this video kind of killed the magic of the Think Different ad video. From now on I will see it as a Nike ad rip-off. A good one, but still.
xtacy 16y ago
It reminds me of this scene from Madmen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus, on How to pitch a product.
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danilocampos 16y ago
Reminds me another Steve Jobs conversation, about the NeXT logo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb8idEf-Iak http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb8idEf-Iak He talks about Paul Rand, who refused to give Steve multiple options on the NeXT logo. He would do just one, it would be right, and Steve could take it or leave it. I admire the courage involved in saying "taste is more than subjective, it's right vs. wrong, and I choose to be right." That's a huge part of the power in Apple's branding.
willheim 16y ago
It's Apple returning to the Big Why. It worked. Apple at the time was in deep trouble having been the "other PC" for too long. They moved away from their "why" to a "what" and they had copied the "what" of every windows PC at the time to abysmal failure. This speech could have been part of a film "How Apple got its Groove Back". The iPod ads have nothing to do with this "Think Different" campaign. The iPod ads maintained the "why" as in "Why do we produce these things?" Answer: For fun! For expression! For freeing you from the shackles of a 60 minute CD. For choice. They didn't go on about what the iPod was (and the iRiver H100 series at the time was a far better machine and the one I chose). They instead went for why it was. That resonated with their audience. They then took that theme and ran with it with every product since. And yet, just being fun and frivolous doesn't work for everything. Take a look at the iPhone ads; all about function through the app store... and yet withthat function they declare "Fun!". Take a look at the words they use; magical this and magical that. Meanwhile their competition tries to tout function this and function that... and price. Even HP now recognizes what Apple did right and they tried to rip it off with designer notebooks. Too bad that while they have the product the ads still suck (does HP advertise?) Apple has nailed down what works in marketing for now. They control the mobile space. They control the music space. They have far greater impact on web development than their products have reach. If Adobe/Microsoft/Google ever "get it", watch out. But maybe that is Steve Jobs greatest asset. He knows that they don't "get it".
lispm 16y ago
There is a big difference between those brands, Nike and Apple. There is a reason I use a Mac and I don't wear any Nike. I bought early one of the most expensive Nike Air running shoes. The quality was total shit and running with them was a pain. I never bought a single pair of Nike shoes again, and I bought a lot of running shoes. There was nothing that Nike could fix, it was just the whole construction of the shoe that was a big fail. Plus it was their most expensive shoe at that time. It was way too soft, the Air sole lost its function early, the rubber was also soft and there was not much left after just a bit of running, it provided no stability at all, and the whole 'Air' was just hot air. The shoe could be used for walking around, but not for running. From running with them one would get all kinds of injuries because of its various construction failures. So the core function and the core value of that shoe, the essence of Nike, was zero. All the marketing money with fancy ads showing athletes was zeroed out. I then kept running Adidas and currently I'm very happy with Brooks shoes. I bought early an Apple IIc, then a Mac SE30, a PowerBook, and then a multitude of other Macs - typing this on a MacBook Pro. The quality was good (not always) and Apple tries to improve things (though not always). All in all it was and is fun to use their products. In the end the 'brand' stuff for me is bullshit of the quality of the product is bad. Apple had some bad products, but it was never such a total failure at its core architecture as that Nike shoe.
mmaunder 16y ago
A rare, wonderful and inspiring look inside the greatest marketing organization ever created. Many businesses create Ogilvy style campaigns that sell benefits (rather than features). For example: "Only Dove is one-quarter moisturizing cream" "At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock" Apple understands that they are essentially in a commodity business much like Nike. It's tough to sell benefits in that environment when your benefits are the same as everyone else's. In the market they're in, everyone already understands what the benefits are and most people can use a spreadsheet, word processor or web browser equally well on an Apple or PC. What Apple did is create a new intangible and very powerful benefit with Think Different: The words "Think different" translated into an Ogilvy style headline would say: "If you buy this product your friends and peers will think you are different and you will stand out from the crowd.". It's not possible to communicate that directly because it's an embarrassing subject. The Think Different campaign takes a wonderful indirect approach to addressing a sensitive issue and communicating that benefit. This approach of creating a new intangible and emotional benefit in a commodity market has worked so well for Apple that they have incorporated the marketing approach into the entire organization including their sales strategy and their products. Whereas before their products focused on differentiated features, now they focus on emotional differentiation. Apple stores are an emotional experience. Apple's smaller market share facilitates this approach because their customers have been the minority. So you're automatically "different" if you buy Apple. These days that is less true, so it will be interesting to watch the marketing organization evolve as their market dominance increases. Here are my notes from the video: 1. Marketing is about values 2. You don't have much of a chance to get people to remember you. 3. You have to be really clear on what you want people to know about you. 4. A great brand needs investment and caring if it's going to retain it's relevance and vitality. 5. At the time of this video Apple's brand had suffered from neglect. 6. Don't talk about features. 7. Nike makes you feel something different from a shoe company. 8. Nike honors great athletes and they honor great athletics. 9. The question Apple asked was "Our customers want to know who is Apple and what is it that Apple stands for? Where does Apple fit in this world?" 10. Apple is not about making boxes to help people get their jobs done. 11. Apple's core value is that "We believe that people with passion can change the world for the better." 12. Apple is going back to their core value mentioned in 12. 13. "Values and core values mostly shouldn't change" ~Jobs 14. "The things that Apple believed at it's core are the same things Apple stands for today" 15. The ad is a way to communicate this. 16. Jobs is clearly and intentionally emotionally engaged with the ad and that engages his audience. 17. The ideas above were distilled into "Think Different."
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kapitalx 16y ago
At least at the time Jobs was thinking different himself. Very powerful idea and transformation for the company. Really planted the roots of what the company has become today. The ad itself is powerful even when watched now, 13 years later.
zeynel1 16y ago
thanks for this video - i just wrote a post about apple marketing comparing it to christian marketing - http://makebelieve1.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/apple-promises-and-delivers/ http://makebelieve1.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/apple-promises-... one thing i disagree with what he says is that it is -not- nike who has the best marketing department of all times but christianity
plainOldText 16y ago
Only someone like Steve Jobs could talk about core values and branding wearing shorts. It's only for a short instance where you can see his shorts. Right before he introduces the ad.
jdietrich 16y ago
Apple has a living, beating heart; That heart is Steve Jobs. He is a megalomaniac, an obsessive driven by the desire to shape the world in his image. He is an artist whose canvas is metal and whose paint is code. Apple is simply a machine that turns Jobs' vision into reality. On Infinite Loop, his word is absolute. You may love or hate that vision, but just you try and ignore it. Apple inspire many emotions, but very rarely indifference. That is the essential genius of Apple - of all computer companies, they and they alone seek not just to appeal to the intellect, but also to the emotions. No other computer company announces new products to rapturous applause. No other company attracts such vitriol, against not only themselves but their customers. No other company elicits gasps of delight and desire at their packaging. Apple have done many things to frustrate me and anger me. They have made many decisions that I strongly disagree with. They have also made me cry with joy, on several occasions. To me, "Branding" seems far too mild a word. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndkIP7ec3O8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndkIP7ec3O8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0FtgZNOD44 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0FtgZNOD44

260 points by sz 16y ago

Let me pass along "Art & Copy" as a suggested movie for those interested in marketing. They talk with agencies both for Apple (Chiat/Day) and for dairy farmers. http://www.artandcopyfilm.com http://www.artandcopyfilm.com - and on Netflix instant play.

alabut 16y ago
Art & Copy does a great job at explaining why the Mad Men era was important - there was a shift in the 60's from large corporate sales-driven organizations to smaller ones where art directors and other "creatives" were in charge. The parallels to today's startup scene are really strong, with people fleeing corporate cubicle farms and stale products to create fresh new stuff on small teams.
chriseidhof 16y ago
Great tip. I just watched it, awesome movie. It's full of advice for entrepreneurs.

noelchurchill 16y ago

He's wearing shorts!

subbu 16y ago
I didn't notice it until 1:20 or so. Then you see that!

Marticus 16y ago

Here's what gets me: The disconnect between that video at the end of his presentation versus Apple today. "Think different... as long as we approve your application for download on the app store." Admittedly a pretty cool video though.

ynniv 16y ago
This is a common view on HN, but I will suggest that you don't "get it." The AppStore may be a thorn in the side of some developers, but supports Apple's stated core value of enabling people who are passionate. The store reduces risk and variability, while rewarding (through ease of payment and reduced piracy (if you believe piracy to be a demotivator)) those who make great things for the end user. Computer geeks are only one kind of passionate person. Apple's view is that annoying them is a small price to pay for making everyone else's experience better.
thought_alarm 16y ago
The App Store the is epitome of "Think Different". It has done an astounding job of attracting developers to their platform, and no competing "Store" does a better job of connecting developers with actual users. Yet there was no shortage of people who said it would never work, and there's still no shortage of people who keep saying they're doing it wrong.
- emil0r 16y ago
  I thought it was people saying they're doing a lousy job of explaining the rules of approval?
  - Marticus 16y ago
    What he said. If they're going to try to say to break out of your shell and be different and go crazy and be rebels (look at the people in that video, jeez) it's ironic that Apple now tells people what they can and cannot create.
alsomike 16y ago
But in fairness, in Gandhi's and Martin Luther King's time, the app store policies were even more restrictive - all apps were rejected, since there was no app store at all! I don't understand it myself, but somehow they were able to change the world despite not being able to create these apps. I totally agree that Gandhi's plan A was to make a Farmville-style game that let's you make illegal virtual salt, and MLK was going to make a SimCity game where you could control a character who refuses to sit at the back of the bus. This is historically documented. Obviously supporting mass protest and civil disobedience in such a safe, efficient, convenient way, so that people could do it whenever they had a spare moment, like waiting in line at the movies or the grocery store, is very threatening to the status quo. And the authorities refused to allow those kinds of apps (or any apps, or smart phones of any kind) because they were correctly seen as too powerful at creating widespread social change, too upsetting to the status quo. Now, I know what you're going to say: "Yes, but we only are allowed to have smart phones because the authorities have found ways of neutralizing their subversive potential! The apps that are truly threatening will be rejected!" I admit this is true - powerful corporate lobbyists have sabotaged my own app where you earn points and badges for turning off lights and composting your trash because of how devastating this would be in their attempts to keep people mindlessly consuming. I guess what I'm saying is, keep hope alive. Yes, Apple's authoritarian iron fist thwarts our attempts at changing the world, but remember that Gandhi faced similar struggles against the violent British colonial regime, and Martin Luther King faced death-threats, even finally being assassinated. Yes, we mourn all our fallen apps that have been "assassinated" or "lynched" by Apple's arbitrary app store policies, but we must not lose hope, we must continue the struggle and endure these heavy losses. History is on our side!

hasenj 16y ago

"The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that actually do." Brilliant

Keyframe 16y ago

I wonder what happened between then and now. Seems like a different company altogether.

MikeCapone 16y ago
Would you say they make better products now or when this video was shot? I think that for such a product-centered company, that should be the benchmark.
- Keyframe 16y ago
  I'd say they make far far better products now. That's not the issue here. It's just that back before Jobs was ousted and when he returned you'd hear about Apple, you'd hear about philosophy behind it etc. Now you hear sales stats and here and there how good the product is or will be. No more philosophy or visions in talks. Maybe it's just my perception of it though.
  - dizm 16y ago
    This is so offbase, that I'm not sure where to begin. Every iPod ad. The FaceTime ads, at the end of all recent Steve Jobs keynote. Apple is trying to promote their philosophy and vision constantly.
    - Keyframe 16y ago
      No, it's not. I see you've got brand nursing out of marketing agencies and genuine talks by Steve Jobs confused. Which makes sense, it worked. I was referring to how before he was ousted and just after he returned he was talking very differently, more passion, genuine. Sure, related concepts to branding they have now, but related only via high concept. Something changed along the way. Take it as you will - it's just a subjective perception anyways.
  - ary 16y ago
    Have you seen a keynote given by Jobs since he returned to the company? You can't watch one without hearing about their philosophy and values. Sometimes it's mere lip service, but it's always there.

wmeredith 16y ago

I'm basically reposting my comments on this video from my company blog... The big takeaway is in the first few lines of this video: "This is a very complicated world. This is a very noisy world and we're not going to get a chance... to get people to remember much about us. No company is. And so we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us." The whole branding/selling thing goes like this... Lunch pitch ~15 minutes > Bar pitch: ~5 minutes > Elevator pitch: ~30 seconds > ? That last one is your brand. It's the ultimate quick pitch. You've got 5 seconds, what do you want someone to know about you and what you do for a living? If you don't know you're in trouble.

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Andrew_Quentin 16y ago
A company like apple does not have 5 seconds. People know about apple and their products much that they need to. You give an elevator pitch if you are unknown to an investor. Perhaps a company which is unknown might have 30 seconds to tell the world - if they can afford it - who they are, so that they can get others to remember their brand. Once their brand is remembered however, you have 30 seconds to maintain your statues quo. Like some Cadbury ads. If you remember the one with the gorilla drumming, it hardly tells us anything about Cadbury, let alone the most important thing. It just makes us feel well good and like Cadbury because unlike other adverts this one was quite cool and so Cadbury keeps being cool.
mhoofman 16y ago
Wouldn't this just be a company's logo or slogan? (ie Nike: Just Do It).
- jpwagner 16y ago
  no, that's a mantra: http://academicearth.org/lectures/dont-write-mission-statement-write-mantra http://academicearth.org/lectures/dont-write-mission-stateme...

tc 16y ago

Apple's "Think Different / Change the World" ad was a brilliant piece of marketing. But it doesn't seem that really stuck as the core value of their brand. If Nike's message is "we hang around great athletes," Apple's message today is "we hang around the young and hip," [1] which is different than "we hang around people who change the world." You could argue that these are somehow related, that the young and hip would be attracted by the Think Different ad. I don't dispute that. But the later ads of kids jamming with their iPod ear buds communicate a message that is much closer to the general perception of Apple as a brand today. -- [1] In the clothing industry, this type of positioning wouldn't be noteworthy or distinguishing. But in consumer electronics, advertising more like Abercrombie & Fitch and less like IBM has worked out brilliantly for them. [2] The pre-2000 perception of Apple's brand was also somewhat tangential to the idea of changing the world. Their core message was "we're not IBM." In the talk, Jobs mentions this shouldn't be their core message, but clearly it was. The 1984 ad reinforced this, and even the 1997 Think Different ad retrenched this ground by riffing off of IBM's motto. [3] Edit: The idea that Apple's core customer is someone who "values their time" and is not a computer geek is meaninglessly broad. Every customer values his or her time, and in any mainstream industry, the vast majority of customers are not computer geeks. [4] Edit: Was it the success of the iPod that made Apple hip, or was the perception of the iPod being hip part of what made it such a success? Clearly it did become a fashion accessory. The product's clean design was congruent with this message.

dmix 16y ago
It's likely that the Think Different ads were targeted at early adopters back when Apple was reestablishing itself (with designers, architects, etc). Then as it entered into the mainstream with consumer devices it targeted kids "jamming with their iPods".
ynniv 16y ago
The success of the iPod made the Apple brand young and hip, but their core customer has been (and may again become with the iPhone and iPad) people who value their time and are not computer geeks per-se. That's a difficult thing to say in a crowd of computer geeks, but may contextualize the iOS/Android debate around here.

erikstarck 16y ago

3:22. "The core value of Apple... is that we believe that people with passion... can change the world for the better."

motters 16y ago

Steve Jobs is right about branding in this video, and it's for exactly these reasons that I'm not a big fan of Apple. Their core values are about dictating what developers can do with their hardware. Selling software shouldn't be about one person having the power to dictate what goes into a store. That's not a free market. Users shouldn't have to "jail break" their own hardware just to be able to use it as they wish. That's disempowering people with technology, not empowering them. I don't much care for those kinds of core values.

spoiledtechie 16y ago
Its pretty sad to see that yes men of Apple vote you down, when you speak the truth and offer an intelligent start to a conversation.
- forgottenpaswrd 16y ago
  Oh yeah, so sad. Those that agree with you are intelligent and speak the truth, those that not, are "yes men". Forget me, I don't want to pop the bubble you live in.

quux 16y ago

That commercial still give me goosebumps

alexandros 16y ago

I think it says a lot about how much Apple's brand is damaged for me that I can't think of one of those people in the ad, if they were alive today, using a mac without it diminishing their image in my mind.

dreyfiz 16y ago
You would think less of Gandhi and Martin Luther King if they used Macs? I think it says more about the irrationality of your Apple hatred.

acon 16y ago

This video is awesome. Think Different is my favorite ad of all time. Unfortunately it feels like they have lost something in the last decade. While before it was about enabling passion and challenging the status quo, now it is more about reverence for old heroes. Before it was a call to arms to be inspired by those great men and women and do great stuff, now it is just to adore what they have done, while we continue to live life in our pods. This makes me sad.

Arun2009 16y ago

Maybe it's because I'm in a cynical mood right now, but Steve Jobs looks like he's performing for an audience. I'd have loved to hear what people like Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates really think, but whenever these guys speak, I suspect that they compensate for the fact the people will be listening to them, and that what they say will influence their lives' work. You're left with no other choice but to reverse-engineer their real philosophies from how the respective companies behave in the market.

erikstarck 16y ago

I have to admit, watching this video kind of killed the magic of the Think Different ad video. From now on I will see it as a Nike ad rip-off. A good one, but still.

xtacy 16y ago

It reminds me of this scene from Madmen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus, on How to pitch a product.

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danilocampos 16y ago

Reminds me another Steve Jobs conversation, about the NeXT logo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb8idEf-Iak http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb8idEf-Iak He talks about Paul Rand, who refused to give Steve multiple options on the NeXT logo. He would do just one, it would be right, and Steve could take it or leave it. I admire the courage involved in saying "taste is more than subjective, it's right vs. wrong, and I choose to be right." That's a huge part of the power in Apple's branding.

willheim 16y ago

It's Apple returning to the Big Why. It worked. Apple at the time was in deep trouble having been the "other PC" for too long. They moved away from their "why" to a "what" and they had copied the "what" of every windows PC at the time to abysmal failure. This speech could have been part of a film "How Apple got its Groove Back". The iPod ads have nothing to do with this "Think Different" campaign. The iPod ads maintained the "why" as in "Why do we produce these things?" Answer: For fun! For expression! For freeing you from the shackles of a 60 minute CD. For choice. They didn't go on about what the iPod was (and the iRiver H100 series at the time was a far better machine and the one I chose). They instead went for why it was. That resonated with their audience. They then took that theme and ran with it with every product since. And yet, just being fun and frivolous doesn't work for everything. Take a look at the iPhone ads; all about function through the app store... and yet withthat function they declare "Fun!". Take a look at the words they use; magical this and magical that. Meanwhile their competition tries to tout function this and function that... and price. Even HP now recognizes what Apple did right and they tried to rip it off with designer notebooks. Too bad that while they have the product the ads still suck (does HP advertise?) Apple has nailed down what works in marketing for now. They control the mobile space. They control the music space. They have far greater impact on web development than their products have reach. If Adobe/Microsoft/Google ever "get it", watch out. But maybe that is Steve Jobs greatest asset. He knows that they don't "get it".

lispm 16y ago

There is a big difference between those brands, Nike and Apple. There is a reason I use a Mac and I don't wear any Nike. I bought early one of the most expensive Nike Air running shoes. The quality was total shit and running with them was a pain. I never bought a single pair of Nike shoes again, and I bought a lot of running shoes. There was nothing that Nike could fix, it was just the whole construction of the shoe that was a big fail. Plus it was their most expensive shoe at that time. It was way too soft, the Air sole lost its function early, the rubber was also soft and there was not much left after just a bit of running, it provided no stability at all, and the whole 'Air' was just hot air. The shoe could be used for walking around, but not for running. From running with them one would get all kinds of injuries because of its various construction failures. So the core function and the core value of that shoe, the essence of Nike, was zero. All the marketing money with fancy ads showing athletes was zeroed out. I then kept running Adidas and currently I'm very happy with Brooks shoes. I bought early an Apple IIc, then a Mac SE30, a PowerBook, and then a multitude of other Macs - typing this on a MacBook Pro. The quality was good (not always) and Apple tries to improve things (though not always). All in all it was and is fun to use their products. In the end the 'brand' stuff for me is bullshit of the quality of the product is bad. Apple had some bad products, but it was never such a total failure at its core architecture as that Nike shoe.

mmaunder 16y ago

A rare, wonderful and inspiring look inside the greatest marketing organization ever created. Many businesses create Ogilvy style campaigns that sell benefits (rather than features). For example: "Only Dove is one-quarter moisturizing cream" "At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock" Apple understands that they are essentially in a commodity business much like Nike. It's tough to sell benefits in that environment when your benefits are the same as everyone else's. In the market they're in, everyone already understands what the benefits are and most people can use a spreadsheet, word processor or web browser equally well on an Apple or PC. What Apple did is create a new intangible and very powerful benefit with Think Different: The words "Think different" translated into an Ogilvy style headline would say: "If you buy this product your friends and peers will think you are different and you will stand out from the crowd.". It's not possible to communicate that directly because it's an embarrassing subject. The Think Different campaign takes a wonderful indirect approach to addressing a sensitive issue and communicating that benefit. This approach of creating a new intangible and emotional benefit in a commodity market has worked so well for Apple that they have incorporated the marketing approach into the entire organization including their sales strategy and their products. Whereas before their products focused on differentiated features, now they focus on emotional differentiation. Apple stores are an emotional experience. Apple's smaller market share facilitates this approach because their customers have been the minority. So you're automatically "different" if you buy Apple. These days that is less true, so it will be interesting to watch the marketing organization evolve as their market dominance increases. Here are my notes from the video: 1. Marketing is about values 2. You don't have much of a chance to get people to remember you. 3. You have to be really clear on what you want people to know about you. 4. A great brand needs investment and caring if it's going to retain it's relevance and vitality. 5. At the time of this video Apple's brand had suffered from neglect. 6. Don't talk about features. 7. Nike makes you feel something different from a shoe company. 8. Nike honors great athletes and they honor great athletics. 9. The question Apple asked was "Our customers want to know who is Apple and what is it that Apple stands for? Where does Apple fit in this world?" 10. Apple is not about making boxes to help people get their jobs done. 11. Apple's core value is that "We believe that people with passion can change the world for the better." 12. Apple is going back to their core value mentioned in 12. 13. "Values and core values mostly shouldn't change" ~Jobs 14. "The things that Apple believed at it's core are the same things Apple stands for today" 15. The ad is a way to communicate this. 16. Jobs is clearly and intentionally emotionally engaged with the ad and that engages his audience. 17. The ideas above were distilled into "Think Different."

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kapitalx 16y ago

At least at the time Jobs was thinking different himself. Very powerful idea and transformation for the company. Really planted the roots of what the company has become today. The ad itself is powerful even when watched now, 13 years later.

zeynel1 16y ago

thanks for this video - i just wrote a post about apple marketing comparing it to christian marketing - http://makebelieve1.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/apple-promises-and-delivers/ http://makebelieve1.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/apple-promises-... one thing i disagree with what he says is that it is -not- nike who has the best marketing department of all times but christianity

plainOldText 16y ago

Only someone like Steve Jobs could talk about core values and branding wearing shorts. It's only for a short instance where you can see his shorts. Right before he introduces the ad.

jdietrich 16y ago

Apple has a living, beating heart; That heart is Steve Jobs. He is a megalomaniac, an obsessive driven by the desire to shape the world in his image. He is an artist whose canvas is metal and whose paint is code. Apple is simply a machine that turns Jobs' vision into reality. On Infinite Loop, his word is absolute. You may love or hate that vision, but just you try and ignore it. Apple inspire many emotions, but very rarely indifference. That is the essential genius of Apple - of all computer companies, they and they alone seek not just to appeal to the intellect, but also to the emotions. No other computer company announces new products to rapturous applause. No other company attracts such vitriol, against not only themselves but their customers. No other company elicits gasps of delight and desire at their packaging. Apple have done many things to frustrate me and anger me. They have made many decisions that I strongly disagree with. They have also made me cry with joy, on several occasions. To me, "Branding" seems far too mild a word. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndkIP7ec3O8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndkIP7ec3O8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0FtgZNOD44 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0FtgZNOD44