One of the many ways Steve Jobs impacted modern business was in marketing and advertising — first with Apple’s 1984 Super Bowl commercial that teased the launch of the Macintosh computer and then with the “Think Different” ad campaign in the late 1990s that rebranded Apple as a company that made products for innovators and visionaries.
Of course, nearly everyone wants to think of themselves as innovators and visionaries, so the Think Different ad campaign was a huge success, helped launch Apple into one of the greatest rebounds in business history, and is viewed as one of the most effective ad campaigns of all time.
The most well-known part of the campaign involved Apple buying full-page back cover ads on magazines such as Time and putting black and white photos of innovative people — Albert Einstein, Ansel Adams, Muhammad Ali, Jim Hensen, Bob Dylan, Mohandas Gandhi, Amelia Earheart, and more — alongside an Apple logo with the words, “Think Different.”
But, there was also a poster and a TV commercial that Apple put out with a statement that sums up the whole campaign and it’s come to be known as “Here’s to the Crazy Ones.” For the television commercial, Richard Dreyfuss did the narration of the statement as short video clips of the innovators mentioned above played during the 60-second spot. However, in recent years, another version of the commercial has surfaced with Steve Jobs doing the narration. This was apparently produced before the Richard Dreyfuss version but never used. In light of Steve Jobs’ passing on Wednesday, it seems fitting to play it, since Steve was definitely one of “the crazy ones.” Here it is:
Here’s the text of the commercial:
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 may 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.
And, here’s an earlier longer version that was on some Apple posters:
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 invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
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.
