Utility, Emotion, Apple, Think Different, I’m a Mac
The following video is getting a lot of tweetage (at least I’ve seen it from 6 of my less than 400 followees):
This is Steve Jobs in 1997, at an internal meeting setting up “Think Different”. I’ve always felt that Apple is a brand that thrives on much, much more than advertising despite its consistently famous spots. So I was surprised to see Jobs eschew “speed and feeds, MIPS and megahertz”, talk about core values so removed from the boxes, and even praise “Got Milk” because the spot’s primary virtue is that it doesn’t even contain the product (except for the milk moustache, and the word itself, of course, but hey). Did I need to think differently than I have in the past about the need for brands to move beyond the abstract emotional idea connected to an abstraction of the benefit the product endows on its owner? ( in other words, #crisisoffaith?)
Thankfully, no. There are a lot of reasons to consider this video something other than “an oldie but goodie” as the poster titled it.
0) This was a very specific moment in Apple’s history. Jobs had just returned as Apple’s CEO and nearly everything about the company had worsened during his absence: focus, quality, understanding of users, design sensibility. While Apple was a world-famous brand even then, its smallish market share still marked it as insurgent — much beloved, to be sure, but by a small, fervently loyal audience that was turning fervently disloyal and feeling betrayed. A bold, 1984-like declaration that the brand was returning to core values, in other words a re-statement of the brand, is exactly what advertising is good for and the Apple audience, the advocates and the embittered alike, are always sufficiently passionate to be reliable viewers and consumers of Apple advertising.
1) This was in 1997, so consumer behaviors were still pre-internet. Yes, Bill Gates had, two years previously, admitted the boneheaded mistake of missing the importance of the internet, but AOL and Netscape and dial-up were still king. A look at archive.org shows that neither consumers nor brands knew the importance of the internet in customer conversation, information spread and transparency, and disintermediation.
2) “Think Different” ran five years before the “Switch” campaign (which featured my veterinarian!) returned to something closer to speeds and feeds, utility, and comparative performance over the Windows-based PC. WSwitch” was short-lived (a little over two years), but there is narrative continuity to “I’m a Mac” in the content. While “1984″ and “Think Different” were high-level statements of high-minded corporate values, the last 8 years of Apple advertising have been very, very focused on the boxes (or cases) and what they do for users, especially in comparison to the bumbling competition.
Reminding myself of these things, I am now much relieved that I don’t need to re-think anything. #braincellssavedforassassinscreed
Coda: anytime I think about Apple advertising, I fondly remember Kevin Costner looking very relaxed and successful while contemplating a simple spreadsheet with his dog nearby. Oh, that I could have a job this taxing: