“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them. Glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them, because they change things. 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.”

This is the copy read by Richard Dreyfus for Apple Computer’s Think Different television campaign. It’s a free-verse poem titled, “Here’s to the Crazy Ones,” written by Chiat/Day copywriter, Craig Tanimoto.

I still think the “Think Different” campaign developed for Apple Computer in 1997 by the Los Angeles office of TBWA\Chiat\Day is one of the most memorable of the past 20 years.

You may or may not be an Apple fan. I am. I purchased my first Macintosh while an art director in 1986 and never looked back. The story of how this campaign developed is fascinating. It demonstrates a unique collaboration between Apple and their agency, Chiat\Day.

The story goes Lee Clow, a creative director at Chiat\Day, one of three agencies invited to pitch ideas to Apple, presented the slogan and images featuring artists and creative professionals using Apple’s Macintosh computer. Steve Jobs, having just returned as the de facto CEO of Apple liked the concept. Jobs was a fan of black and white photography and, in fact, collected poster-sized prints by Ansel Adams. He decorated his home with black and white photos of his heroes including Albert Einstein. Jobs, the Apple marketing staff and Chiat\Day began to brainstorm on the spot. They decided to keep Chiat\Day’s core concept but Jobs suggested using celebrities and thinkers and thus the “Crazy Ones” idea was born.

Using a satellite uplink (remember, this was WAY before online video conferencing, GoToMeeting, etc.) both client and agency hammered away at concept and message refinement. Because of a focused collaboration, this entire campaign was completed in 17 days! Sure, this campaign won dozens of awards but most importantly, it helped turn around a faltering Apple Computer.

Maybe it’s respect for the right brain/left brain kind of thinking that fosters a good, productive collaborative environment between the agency and client. To me, thinking different is encouraging the client to participate in the creative process. We can all be Crazy Ones. If you’d like to read more about the evolution of the “Think Different” campaign, you should read the article posted on Low End Mac written by Tom Hormby. It can be found here: http://lowendmac.com/orchard/07/apple-think-different.html