Think Different: Apple ascends through innovation

There are only a handful of marketing campaigns that can be credited in engraving a company into the human consciousness.

Apple's legendary "Think Different" campaign is one of them.

Upon Steve Jobs return to Apple in 1997, 12 years after being ousted from the company he co-founded, it's products, financial health, and marketing teams were in a listless state.

To rejuvenate Apple, one of Jobs' first moves was to rehire Chiat/Day, Apple's ad agency during Jobs' first term, and intensely collaborate with them to create the "Think Different" campaign. (Chiat/Day was also the ad agency responsible for the famous 1984 Macintosh Ad that was aired during Superbowl).

Highlighting historical figures and entrepreneurs who impacted the world such as Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Marin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali, Winston Churchill,  Buckminster Fuller, Amelia Earhart, Pablo Picasso, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Richard Branson, Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers, "Think Different" connected the spirit and achievements of these great people and synced their values and philosophy with Apple's. 

It was a cornerstone towards Apple's ascent in becoming the most valuable technology company in the world. It gave momentum to Apple and its faithful and brought back the core value to the company that "People with passion can change the world". 

In the prelude to the the Think Different ad introduction, Jobs fearlessly said if the people appearing in the campaign who have passed away were alive today, they would have used a Mac.

Thinking different from the beginning

Apple's first products were a result of thinking different. It took computing from an intimidating activity with a big machine to a user-friendly technology, where ordinary persons can enjoy its functionalities.

This was shown in the Apple I, wherein its distinctiveness was descriped in Wikipedia: Apple I's built-in computer terminal circuitry was distinctive, where all one needed was a keyboard and an inexpensive television set. Competing machines such as the Altair 8800 generally were programmed with front-mounted toggle switches and used indicator lights (red LEDs, most commonly) for output, and had to be extended with separate hardware to allow connection to a computer terminal or a teletypewriter machine. This made the Apple I an innovative machine for its day. 

Apple's succeeding products like the Macintosh, introduced the now ubiquitous mouse and graphical user interface for the personal computer. Although the mouse and the graphical user interface were taken from the Xerox PARC research center, Apple was the first company that realized the significance of these technologies, fine tuned it and brought it to the mass market as the Macintosh. It was a result of being able to see what others can't. 


Even Xerox, the originator of these technologies, did not see that what they were developing in their own backyard would be as revolutionary as Jobs thought it would be. 

Henry Ford (the man who invented the automobile) once said that if he asked the people what they wanted then, they would have said, "a faster horse". In short, people don't know what they want. But Jobs did. And he was determined to give it to the world.


The first product launched by Apple after the Think Different campaign was the iMac, a computer that looked like a machine from a sci-fi movie. At that time, almost all the available computers were boxy and were either beige or black. The iMac, on the other hand, was curvy and came in shades such as Bondi Blue, Grape and Strawberry. It even had a handle on top, enticing people to come nearer and touch it. Its processing unit was also integrated with the monitor, its internal parts translucent.


The iMac brought back the element of fun & innovation to the personal computer by giving it a makeover. Again, Apple's ideas jumped out of the box and brought a radically designed computer to the market, certain that it would be accepted. And it was.

Apple's iMac in Bondi Blue

Innovation is also at the heart of Jobs' management principles.  At the onset of his return, he de-cluttered Apple by discontinuing several product lines to focus on few product categories. 


The Digital Hub strategy, where Apple emphasized that the PC is going to be the central hub that controls and adds tremendous value through software programs to a bevy of digital devices - is a direct result of Apple's narrowed down product lines.


The products that grew out of the Digital Hub Strategy are iOS devices such as the iPhone & iPad, which now account for 70% of Apple's sales and software programs such as Final Cut Pro, Garage Band and iTunes.

The iPhone is the most successful product that emerged out of Apple's Digital Hub strategy

The Digital Hub Strategy is a crucial point in Apple's history. Again, Apple thought different, capitalized on an innovative direction, and rocketed ahead of the competition.


Everyone should "Think Different" 

As Apple achieved phenomenal success in internalizing the message of Think Different and acting on it, I believe the same can happen to us if we Think Different to attain success in our lives. 

There can be no limit to what our minds can achieve. We can push our ideas to the point of people thinking we are "crazy" because of an idea's seeming impossibility but as long as we believe in our "crazy" ideas and act on them with passion, we can make a dent in the world.  


And as the final words of the Think Different ad stated - "Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."