Think Different

I stumbled across the the Wikipedia entry for Apple's late 90s Think Different ad campaign today and I thought I'd share it with you. The campaign was commissioned by Steve Jobs after his return to Apple in 1997 and was created by the ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day.


The ads, print and television, never actually showed any Apple product but instead featured black and white images and footage of the following historically significant people:

• Albert Einstein
• Bob Dylan
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Richard Branson
• John Lennon
• R. Buckminster Fuller
• Thomas Edison
• Muhammad Ali
• Ted Turner
• Maria Callas
• Mahatma Gandhi
• Amelia Earhart
• Alfred Hitchcock
• Martha Graham
• Jim Henson (with Kermit the Frog)
• Frank Lloyd Wright
• Pablo Picasso

The television spots also featured the following text written by a TBWA\Chiat\Day copy writer:

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some see them as the crazy ones,
We see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
Are the ones who do.

I feel like this commercial is a perfect example of how well advertising can reach a consumer. The black and white images, the quiet, evocative music, the footage of significant individuals and the simple and poignant voice-over (narrated by Richard Dreyfus) all work in tandem to move the viewer. Well, it worked for me at least. Gave me goosebumps.