In his life, Steve Jobs was seen as the inventer of the extremely successful Apple computers, and various products that we now consider part of everyday life: iPods, iPhones and iPads. However, the reason Steve Jobs was so successful had less to do with the products he sold than the way he sold them. Steve Jobs was, above all, an ingenius marketer. What set Steve Jobs apart from his many rivals was the way he thought, and the way he strived for perfection at the cost of anything. To keep his company one step ahead of his archnemesis, IBM, Jobs came up with creative and innovative marketing ideas.
Learn more about the popular Think Different Posters and the design style of the Macintosh!
Shortly after Steve Jobs was re-hired by his own company, he decided Apple needed two new things:
To do that, he re-hired Chiat/Day to come up with a new innovative campaign to let the world know Apple still had a pulse. Chiat/Day didn't disappoint, and came up with a campaign that featured striking black and white photographs of people like Einstein, Amelia Earheart and John Lennon -- People who were all famous for being outside the box and, quite coincidentally, were heroes of Jobs. The only thing in colour on the poster was a small, multi-coloured Apple logo in either the top-left or -right corner, accompanying only two words on the poster: "Think Different". Although we would consider Steve Jobs unique enough to be put on one of these posters now, it was outrageous for Apple to consider themselves to be anywhere near these geniuses at that time. Apple was spiralling into a gloomy fate at the time, and the world knew it. The "Think Different" campaign was more of a bold promise than anything: they promised that they would put out a product that would convinve the world that Apple truly could think different.
Go to the topIn another, more subconcious, marketing ploy, Jobs changed the design of the Mac. He wanted to give the impression that, just like us, computers had thoughts and feelings, personalities and souls. He wanted to make it more "friendly", more human-like. That was part of Apple's magic -- the design of the computers made it almost living. Jobs demanded that the shape of the computer be taller and narrower than most computers at the time, suggesting more of a head-like shape. The slight curve at the base looked like a chin, and Jobs narrowed the strip of plastic at the top of the Mac so it didn't look like a caveman's head. The resulting design was sleek and iconic. When the computer was turned on, it didn't ask for a command -- it said "Hello". The computer wasn't turned off, it went to sleep. Steve Jobs truly created a personal computer with the Mac, a creation that would seal the fate of Apple into one that was successful and luxurious.
Steve Jobs was a fabulous programmer, but it was his ability as a marketer -- like his hero, Edwin Land -- that secured his safety in the world of personal computers.
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