We’ve heard a lot about the Think Different campaign that put Apple back on a lot of people’s map back in 1997, but what we haven’t really seen, or heard for that matter, is how the whole campaign came about from someone involved.
Today, Forbes has an article from Rob Siltanen, chairmen and chief creative officer at Siltanen & Partners, on their site that outlines what it was like to work on that project and with Jobs in particular.
How would he know? He was there:
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.”
Yikes. The article isn’t a Jobs bashing — much to the contrary — and it’s an excellent, albeit lengthy, recount of how the Think Different campaign played out.
We highly recommend checking out the seven page article.
Read The Real Story Behind Apple’s ‘Think Different’ Campaign on Forbes
