Rare 1997 Video That Explains the Marketing Genius of Steve Jobs

The year was 1997. Steve Jobs had just returned to Apple as CEO and started culling unprofitable product lines such as printers and unloved devices such as Newton.

The product pipeline was virtually empty. Mr. Jobs needed time, but he also needed to redefine Apple to the world and to itself.

In short, he needed to raise the pirate flag again.

He canceled an agency review initiated under Gil Amelio and brought back Chiat/Day, his agency partner in the iconic “1984” campaign. The result was “Think Different” and the video below was taken when he first unveiled it to Apple staff (in shorts!).

Most interesting here isn’t the ad itself (which Mr. Jobs compares to “Got Milk?”) but the preamble where he explains the purpose and role of marketing, what Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak recently called Mr. Jobs’ “greatest strength.”

“To me, marketing is about values,” he said. “This is a very complicated world, a very noisy world and we’re not going to get the chance to get people to remember us. No company is. So we have to be very clear about what we want people to know about us.”

Watch the rare find below. It gives me goosebumps.

When you’re done, it’s your turn: What do you think?  What stands out to you?  Tell us in the comments.

[By Michael Learmonth. Published on October 07, 2011.]