14 DAY TRIAL // One of the advertising executives involved with the “Think Different” campaign has made a startling unveiling regarding Steve Jobs’ original impression of the advertising effort to resurrect Apple from its ashes.
Over at Forbes, Rob Siltanen recalls the day he and his partner met Jobs to discuss creating a new campaign that would stop the “hemorrhaging” and put Apple back on its feet.
Jobs walked into the conference room wearing his trademark black mock turtleneck, shorts and a pair of flip-flops. But while he looked casual, he was all business.
The hellos and introductions were very short, and there was zero time spent reminiscing about the glory days when Lee and the old guard at Chiat helped Jobs create some of the most awe-inspiring advertising of all time. Jobs basically said, “Good to see you. Thanks for coming. Now let’s get down to business.” He then went on to say that Apple was “hemorrhaging” and the company was in worse shape than he had imagined. He said, “We have some decent product, but we need to get things figured out. I’m putting the advertising up for review, and I’m meeting with a handful of agencies to see who ‘gets it.’ I’ve already been talking with a couple of agencies that seem pretty good, and you’re invited to pitch the account if you’re interested.” At this point I thought to myself, well, this isn’t going as planned.
Jobs didn’t want a TV spot, but Siltanen insisted that it would be the only way to reach the masses in a strong way.
The skeptic Apple co-founder eventually gave Siltanen the green light to proceed with making a concept of the ad.
Jobs’ concern was “…putting the Apple logo up there with all these geniuses will get me skewered by the press.”
Lee and I flew to Cupertino to play the spot in person to Jobs,” Siltanen continues. “Only the three of us were in the room. We played the spot once, and when it finished, Jobs said, ‘It sucks! I hate it! It’s advertising agency shit! I thought you were going to write something like ‘Dead Poets Society!’ This is crap!’
Siltanen then took Ken Segall on his team to edit the spot and create a newspaper ad as well.
Shortly after the ads went public, the campaign became a hit. Despite his disapproval, the Think Different campaign is regarded today as an advertising masterpiece.