This post was written by Rob Siltanen, chairman and chief creative officer at Siltanen & Partners.
Apple’s remarkable rise, coupled with Steve Jobs’ recent death, has prompted quite a few people to reflect on the historical impact of the “Think Different” ad campaign and the “To the crazy ones” commercial that launched it. There have been a lot of different accounts of how the work was created, who conceived it, and how it was presented to Jobs, so I thought now was a good time to share my own perspective and give you an inside look.
How do I know what took place? I was there—right in the thick of it. I was the creative director and managing partner at TBWA/Chiat/Day working on the Apple pitch alongside CEO and Chief Creative Officer Lee Clow. Together, Lee and I headed up and actively participated in all of the work done for the pitch. I was also in every agency meeting with Jobs throughout the process — pre-pitch, pitch and post-pitch.
In writing this story, I’ve drawn from handwritten, dated creative journals I’ve diligently chronicled throughout my agency career as well as files I saved from the 1997 Apple time period (being a packrat often proves useful). In these journals are countless pages of notes and concepts I jotted down during the process of trying to bring Apple back to prominence. I also found the original “To the crazy ones” television script I presented to Jobs, as well as a plethora of rough drafts.
While I’ve seen a few inaccurate articles and comments floating around the Internet about how the legendary “Think Different” campaign was conceived, what prompted me to share this inside account was Walter Isaacson’s recent, best-selling biography on Steve Jobs. In his book, Isaacson incorrectly suggests Jobs created and wrote much of the “To the crazy ones” launch commercial. To me, this is a case of revisionist history.
Steve was highly involved with the advertising and every facet of Apple’s business. But he was far from the mastermind behind the renowned launch spot. In fact, he was blatantly harsh on the commercial that would eventually play a pivotal role in helping Apple achieve one of the greatest corporate turnarounds in business history. As you’ll learn later in my account, the soul of the original “The crazy ones” script I presented to Jobs, as well as the original beginning and ending of the celebrated script, all ultimately stayed in place, even though Jobs initially called the script “shit.” I’ve also read a few less than correct accounts on how the “Think Different” campaign was originally conceived. While several people played prominent parts in making it happen, the famous “Think Different” line and the brilliant concept of putting the line together with black and white photographs of time-honored visionaries was invented by an exceptionally creative person, and dear friend, by the name of Craig Tanimoto, a TBWA/Chiat/Day art director at the time.
I have read many wonderful things about Steve Jobs and how warm and loving he was to his wife, children and sister. His Stanford commencement address is one of the most touching and inspiring speeches I have ever heard. Steve was an amazing visionary, and I believe the comparisons of him to some of the world’s greatest achievers are totally deserved. But I have also read many critical statements about Steve, and I must say I saw and experienced his tongue lashings and ballistic temper firsthand—directed to several others and squarely at me. It wasn’t pretty. While I greatly respected Steve for his remarkable accomplishments and extraordinary passion, I didn’t have much patience for his often abrasive and condescending personality. It is here, in my opinion, that Lee Clow deserves a great deal of credit. Lee is more than a creative genius. In working with Jobs he had the patience of a saint.
People ask me what Steve Jobs was like, and I often describe him as a mix between Michelangelo, Mies van der Rohe and Henry Ford—with some John McEnroe and Machiavelli thrown in. Steve was fiercely driven, and there’s no way Apple could have possibly gone from laughingstock to “the stock you dream of owning” so swiftly without a relentless, self-confident genius at the helm. But Steve Jobs didn’t turn Apple around by himself. Many talented and dedicated people played key roles, and that turnaround first began with an advertising campaign called “Think different.”
The Real Story Behind Apple's 'Think Different' Campaign
The first meeting with Steve
It was early July 1997 when Lee Clow joyfully strolled into my office and said we would be flying to San Jose and driving to Cupertino to talk with Steve Jobs about Apple’s advertising account. Steve had recently come back to Apple as their interim CEO, and he was looking to make some changes. On the flight, Lee told me he firmly believed Jobs would “hand us” the account, which at the time was housed at BBDO, the same agency that won the business from Chiat over 10 years earlier. Lee felt Chiat/Day never deserved to lose the Apple business and this, hopefully, would be Jobs’ way of making up for the agency getting screwed over in the past.
At the time, our agency was on a roll. We had been named agency of the year by the top trade magazines, and we were winning a lot of new business, including some major accounts without pitching at all. I was 33 years old, and I was creative director and managing partner at the agency where I headed up the Nissan and Infiniti accounts—the two largest accounts in the agency network. I had recently created a famous Nissan spot called “Toys” that had been named commercial of the year. Our Nissan and Infiniti staff consisted of some the most talented creative people in the ad industry. We were all stoked at the thought of working on Apple and proving our creative capabilities beyond the car business.
On the plane ride to Apple, Lee told me that if we were asked to formally pitch the business against other agencies, he’d respectfully decline. For years Clow and I would have lunch together, and he would tell me how wrong it was that agencies had to spend their own big money in order to pitch accounts. Now it appeared we held all the cards, and I fully agreed with Clow we shouldn’t pitch. Not only was the agency red hot at the time, Lee had already done the best work in advertising history for Apple in the past. We both believed anything less than a direct handoff would be a slap in the face.
Rob's visitor pass from Apple (photo courtesy of Rob Siltanen)
When we arrived at Apple’s headquarters, a secretary showed us to a large conference room and said Steve would join us shortly. Lee hadn’t seen Steve in 10 years, and I was expecting Steve would give Clow a warm embrace and a “welcome home” type of greeting. That wasn’t exactly the case.
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 went on to say that the process would be fast and he didn’t need to see fancy executions—just some initial concepts and thinking. He said, “I’m thinking no TV ads, just some print ads in the computer magazines until we get things figured out.” Clow remained his cool, reserved self at this point, while I found Jobs to be far more bossy and arrogant than I imagined. I got the impression he felt we were just another company lucky to be in his presence. I also didn’t agree at all with his gameplan. I chimed in and told him, “Half the world thinks Apple is going to die. A few print ads in the computer magazines aren’t going to do anything for you. You need to show the world that Apple is as strong as a lion. Nobody stands around the water cooler talking about print ads. You need to do something bigger and bolder. You need to do TV and other things that are going to give you true momentum.” I went on to say that any agency could talk the talk. You need to see actual creative executions to truly judge the power of an idea.
“Fine, show me the ideas and executions that you guys think are best,” Jobs shot back. We weren’t getting off to a good start, but I didn’t mind playing the bad cop because I figured Lee would put the kibosh on things very shortly. “Well, that’s up to Lee,” I said. Lee had told me just hours earlier that we wouldn’t pitch, so I turned to Lee, thinking he was going to tell Jobs, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Instead, Lee calmly said, “Well, if you like some of the other agencies you’re talking with, why don’t you just go with one of them?” Jobs said he might. Lee then told Jobs, “We’ll think it over and call you tomorrow.”
On the cab ride to the San Jose airport, I asked Clow what was going on. “I thought you said we weren’t going to pitch?” Clow said, “I’ve changed my mind. If we win this thing, we’ll have a great story to tell. I want to get it back.”
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