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"Think Different" is an advertising slogan created for Apple Computer in 1997 by the Los Angeles office of advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day. It was used in a famous television commercial, several print advertisements, and several television advertisements for Apple products. Apple's use of the slogan was discontinued with the start of the Apple Switch ad campaign in 2002. The slogan may have been a play on the venerable IBM Think motto coined by Thomas J. Watson.
Television commercials
Significantly shortened versions of the text were used in two television commercials titled "Crazy Ones" directed by Chiat/Day's Jennifer Golub and art directed along with Jessica Schulman and Yvonne Smith, with a voiceover narrated by Richard Dreyfuss.
The one-minute commercial featured black and white video footage of significant historical people of the past, including (in order) Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Richard Branson, John Lennon (with Yoko Ono), 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 and Pablo Picasso. The commercial ends with an image of a young girl, Shaan Sahota, opening her closed eyes, as if to see the possibilities before her.
The thirty-second commercial used many of the people above, but closed with Jerry Seinfeld, instead of the young girl. In order: Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lennon, Martha Graham, Muhammad Ali, Alfred Hitchcock, Mahatma Gandhi, Jim Henson, Maria Callas, Picasso, and Jerry Seinfeld. This commercial aired only once, during the series finale of Seinfeld.
Print advertisements
Print advertisements from the campaign were published in many mainstream magazines such as Newsweek and Time. Sometimes these were traditional advertisements, prominently featuring the company's computers or consumer electronics along with the slogan. However, there was also another series of print ads that were more focused on brand image than specific products. They featured a portrait of one of the historic figures shown in the television ad, with a small Apple logo and the words "Think Different" in one corner, with no reference to the company's products
Creators
The campaign was made almost entirely in-house by the team at the Los Angeles office of TBWA\Chiat\Day.
Text
Original Version: The original "Long version" appeared on posters made by Apple. Apple folklore has it that Steve Jobs was the author of the original piece, however, Rob Siltanen of Chiat Day was the true author.
The Crazy Ones
- Original
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 praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve 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?
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.
- Full version
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.
- Short version
Here’s to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. 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.
Revivals
2009 iMac Packaging
On the late 2009 release of the new 21.5 and 27-inch iMacs, the box packaging specification sheet contains the following footnote:
Macintosh Think different.
One possible explanation for this inconspicuous usage is to maintain Apple's trademarks on both terms, since neither is widely used in the company's current marketing (Apple's computers are now usually referred to as simply "Mac").
In previous Macintosh packaging, Apple's website URL is printed below the specifications list.
Mac OS X
A truncated version of the "Crazy Ones" text has been reused in Mac OS X Leopard on the high-resolution icon for TextEdit.
Apple.com
On at least five separate occasions, the Apple homepage featured images of notable figures not originally part of the campaign alongside the "Think Different" slogan:
- In 2001, when George Harrison died
- In 2002, when Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize
- In 2003, when Gregory Hines died
- In 2005, when Rosa Parks died
- In 2007, when Al Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize
Parodies
The Think Different campaign was the subject of numerous satirical advertisements by culture jammer Ron English, in which the familiar phrase and logo were represented accompanied by pictures of Charles Manson, Adolf Hitler, and Bill Gates.
In December 2000, Apple's legal department sent a cease and desist letter to the Church of Satan over a parody they created using the image of Anton LaVey. Peter H. Gilmore, the webmaster and administrator of the organization eventually took the parody down, but put up a page disputing the claim.
Hunter Cressall made a parody of Apple's commercials, detailing problems he has had with Macs. After the movie, the slogan "Crash Different" is displayed. It is also noted that he still used Macintosh computers to this day.
The episode Mypods and Boomsticks of The Simpsons pokes fun at the slogan, writing it "Think Differently"
Valve's Left 4 Dead series poked fun at this in a blog post, showing a survivor in L4D (Francis, in this case) who hates everything, saying "I hate Different." This is a joke as that game was porting to the Mac at the time.
References
- 'Think Different': The Ad Campaign that Restored Apple's Reputation. Retrieved August 12, 2008
External links
The 60-sec. version of the television ad
- on Proposed Solution
- .mov file, 3 MB
- .mov file, 5 MB
- .mov file, 10 MB (also here)
- .mov file, 14 MB (also here)
The 30-sec. version of the television ad
One-person versions of the television ad
- mov file, 1 MB Muhammad Ali (mirror)
- mov file, 1 MB Pablo Picasso (the footage is from the 1956 documentary The Mystery of Picasso by Henri-Georges Clouzot)
Spoofs
- .mov file, 6 MB (also here) Villains
- .mov file, 3 MB Think Funny
- .mov file, 4 MB Think Dharma
- Think Different 2007 (YouTube) (a remake using contemporary media persona)
- Think Different spoof regarding hackers of Apple's iPhone
Other ads with the "Think Different" slogan
- A whole collection of them
- Snail (.mov file, 2 MB)
- Toasted Bunnies (.mov file, 4.7 MB)
- Jeff Goldblum (.mov file, 3 MB)
- Muhammed Ali (.mov file, 1 MB)
Miscellaneous
- Apple: Think Different text at the Internet Archive
- Detailed information at The Inspiration Room Daily
- Variety article
- Pictures
- Fan-made version with typography on YouTube
- Song by Roy Zimmerman