Think Different

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Think Different was an advertising slogan created by the New York branch office of advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day for Apple Computer during the late 1990s. It was used in a famous television commercial and several print advertisements. The slogan was used at the end of several product commercials, until the advent of Apple's Switch ad campaign. Apple currently does not use the slogan, and their commercials usually end with a silhouetted Apple logo and sometimes a pertinent website address.

It has been noted that the slogan is grammatically incorrect, and should be "Think Differently" instead, though this was done deliberately to make their point ^{[citation needed]}. The slogan can also be read as telling you what to think (for example, "Think Big") rather than how to think — removing the grammatical error. "Think Different" also responds to long-time IBM slogan, "Think." Critics have charged that Apple has tried to associate its brand with historic figures who may not have approved of Apple's products. Supporters of Apple argued that they were paying tribute to the figures in question. Also, some of these people, such as Albert Einstein, were not even alive during Apple's existence, which helps support this argument.

Even today, Think Different remains an intrinsic part of Apple's identity, alongside flagship products like the iPod and iMac. The use of the phrase, "Think Different", however, has ceased.

1 Text
2 Television commercials
3 Print advertisements
4 Staff of Preparation
5 Parodies
6 External links

[edit] Text

A page on Apple's website, which is no longer available, and was found at http://www.apple.com/thinkdifferent/ but has been since removed, had the "full" text:

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 that 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 may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can

change the world, are the ones who do.

[edit] Television commercials

Significantly shortened versions of the text were used in two television commercials titled "Crazy Ones" directed by TBWA's Jennifer Golub 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, 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 Picasso. The commercial ends with a young girl 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.

[edit] Print advertisements

Image:Think Different John Lennon advert.jpg

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 which 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.

[edit] Staff of Preparation

The campaign was made almost entirely in-house by the team at TBWA Chiat/Day, Los Angeles:

Chairman and chief creative officer worldwide & account director: Lee Clow. Creative directors: Ken Segall, Rob Siltanen, Eric Grunbaum, Amy Moorman. Executive producer, director & art director: Jennifer Golub. Art directors: Jessica Schulman, Margaret Midgett, Ken Younglieb, Bob Kuperman, Yvonne Smith, Susan Alinsangan. Copywriter: Craig Tanimoto. Senior editor of the in-house arm, Venice Beach Editorial: Dan Bootzin. Stock photo and film research Susan Nickerson, owner and head stock-footage researcher, with Nickerson Research.

[edit] 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.

At the end of Hunter Cressall's parody [1] the slogan "Crash Different" is displayed.