Advertise Different
In today’s society, a corporation represents more than just a name or the product it sells. A corporation stands for an ideal. The Apple Corporation is no different. Ever since the launch of its “think different” advertising campaign in 1997, Apple has strived to represent the ideal of individualism. But why did Apple choose to symbolize this specific ideal? As in any corporation, the decision came down to profitability. The most profitable ideal would become the image that Apple would represent. In choosing a profitable ideal, Apple realized the importance of reflecting the societal values of their customers in order to make their products more appealing. Since Apple’s market is the
In further analyzing the ideals that come to embody a particular corporation, one must first examine how the company advertises their products. In 1997, Apple advertised their computer using “think different” television commercials. In this advertising scheme, Apple presented a series of brief video clips. These video clips included notable figures such as Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. Throughout these clips, the advertisement states:
Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. 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. But 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. (Apple Inc.)
Apple does not specifically advertise any one particular product. The importance of this campaign lies in its ability to convey a positive image of the company to its customers. Since Apple’s customers are predominantly American, they looked to the values of American society to sell their company image. Apple decided to epitomize individualism in order to reflect this value of American society and make the company more appealing to its American customers. In further examining how Apple intended to increase customer appeal, one must first consider a company in a similar situation. In the novel The Conquest of Cool the author, Thomas Frank, says that:
Ever since the invention of the Pepsi Generation in the early 1960s, Pepsi has offered not just a soda but a vision of its consumers as impudent insurrectionaries, sassy upstarts flouting the dull, repressive mores of the past…The Pepsi-Cola Company wanted Americans to question the “establishment” in the most real sense of all, to turn away from established tastes and preferences. (Frank, 169)
Just as Pepsi has to compete with a more established Coca-Cola for the same soda customers, Apple has to compete with a more established Microsoft for the same computer customers. Apple’s celebration of individualism and difference in their “think different” ad campaign, in fact, pays tribute to Apple’s own uniqueness when compared to the more mainstream Microsoft. Thus, the true meaning behind Apple’s “think different” ad campaign becomes clear. Apple used these ads as a campaign to prove the value of the corporation in the overall American computer company landscape. Since Microsoft had already rooted itself as the dominant computer company, Apple needed to prove its worth to American society. By showing the value of people who were not afraid to “think differently”, Apple demonstrates their own purpose in American society. This purpose, like Albert Einstein’s, lies in Apple’s ability to change the world by thinking beyond mainstream ideas (such as those of Microsoft) and truly “thinking differently.”
In the “think different” advertising campaign, Apple creates an ideal consumer profile in order to increase societal appeal for the company. Frank explains this tactic in terms of Pepsi:
…by comparing brands of soda to men’s ties, nonessential items which are worn for decoration only, chosen to make a statement about the wearer’s (drinker’s) personality rather than to serve some utilitarian purpose. Thus Pepsi aimed for an image that described the user in some meaningful way rather than the product…and sought to spell out through advertising the various features of the ideal Pepsi consumer. (Frank, 170)
In the opening lines of the Apple “think different” ad campaign, the company states, “here’s to the crazy ones…the misfits…the rebels…the trouble-makers…” Immediately in these first lines, Apple makes it clear that their products intent to make a statement about the user. In determining the meaning of this statement, one must first discover the characteristics that all these different types of people share in common. “Misfits”, “rebels” and “trouble-makers” all exude qualities of individualism, difference, rebellion, and non-conformity. By praising such qualities in their advertising campaign, Apple not only associates these characteristics with the users of their products, but also associates the users of their products with these characteristics. In doing so, Apple creates an ideal consumer profile. This profile gives Apple the added ability of identifying ideal customers in the population. Even more importantly, this ability to identify ideal customers gives Apple the means to differentiate between potential Apple customers and competing customers (Microsoft). This ability to differentiate between potential customers allows the company to target specifically, those ideal Apple consumers in the population. In upholding a central ideal, Apple created an ideal customer. In creating an ideal customer, Apple formed an individualistic niche in the computer market that had not previously existed. This niche allowed Apple to gain headway in the computer market and begin to challenge companies such as Microsoft.
In examining the Apple “think different” ad campaign, one may notice an important irony or contradiction. How can a corporation that makes mass produced items have a “think different” ad campaign? To answer this question one needs to take a closer look at the conclusion of the Apple ad campaign. In this final part, the advertisement states:
The ones who see things differently... 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. (Apple Inc.)
This ad serves to praise the accomplishments of people such as Martin Luther King Jr. “who see things differently” and, as a result, can “change the world.” On the other hand, Apple, is a major corporation that makes mass produced electronic devices. By this very fact, one can argue that Apple in no way exemplifies their corporate ideal of individualism. When compared to the similarly rebellious and individualistic motto of Pepsi, the deeper connections of Apple’s motto surface. A former Pepsi advertiser states that:
We did something we thought was kind of with it. And, from its mimicry of the grandiose rock sound of the day to its images of long-haired men and liberated women, Live/Give [a jingle for a Pepsi ad campaign] exemplified corporate
Just as the Apple “think different” campaign demonstrated individualism by showing images of famous rebels such as John Lennon, the Pepsi campaign exhibited rebellion by showing “long-haired men” (for example). These advertising similarities are important because, unlike the Apple advertising campaign, Pepsi addresses the irony of making mass produced objects while still standing for individualism as a corporation. Pepsi stands for individualism despite their mass production of soda because they free “people from the restrictions of the past.” Just as Pepsi achieved this through commercials, Apple frees “people from the restrictions of the past” by producing electronic items that give people the freedom to do what they previously could not do. An example of this includes the personal Apple computer (iMac) which allows people to explore the future of technology as an individual. By providing such a product, Apple upholds its ideals of individualism and “thinking differently” while still making mass-produced objects.
In modern American society, a corporation represents more than just a name or the product it sells. A corporation stands for an ideal. In 1997, ever since its launch of the “think different” advertising campaign, Apple has strived to represent the ideal of individualism. As in any corporation, the ideal that embodies a company comes down to profitability. The most profitable ideal would become the image that Apple would represent. In choosing a profitable ideal and ad campaign, Apple considered several important factors. These factors included: the incorporation of the societal values of their customers (Americans), the consideration of Apple’s rival Microsoft, the creation of an ideal consumer and the role of technology.
Works Cited
Apple Inc. “Think Different.” 1997. YouTube. 22 April 2008
Frank, Thomas. The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism.
7 comments:
I would have liked to see more commentary about the individuals from the ad and what other values Apple may also represent from their choices of whom to feature. The parallel between Pepsi and Apple was interesting in that you dealt with the irony of massproduced individualism. Also, how would you compare that ad to the newer ads aired today?
The emphasis on the individual as portrayed by Apple and Pepsi makes for a nice comparison. But, I wonder, does Apple target the young fun loving crowd in the same way as Pepsi, or does it more focus on the ideas of being a misfit, different, and a revolutionary? The relationships of the conventional brands like Microsoft and Coca Cola to their rivals like Apple and Pepsi bring up interesting points of comparison too. Because Apple has risen to become a marketing machine and a legitimate competitor to Microsoft much in the same way Pepsi has to Coca Cola, do you think these brands will ultimately loose their edge of trendiness and individuality over the competition, and be seen in a light of mass production?
Your explanation of the motives behind Apple's choice to take the "be different" advertising route is spot on, and the connection to the Pepsi campaign adds substantial support to your argument. However, I agree with JL that I hoped to see more interpretation of the selected figures for the commercial. Reading over the narration, I feel that characters like Hitler and Saddam Hussein fit this exact mold as well – troublemakers, ones who see things differently, no respect for rules. Do you feel the Apple’s exploitation of that “crazy ones” who are eventually praised for their effects on society is unfair, or is this nonetheless a just marketing ploy?
I find it interesting that you give Americanism as the reason for focusing on individualism for Apple. Do you believe that appealing to this sense of Americanism within citizens had as strong of a positive effect for Apple as Lauren Klinzing says Americanism had for Duracell? I also found some similarities between Apple’s advertisement and Diet Mountain Dew’s advertisements. You commented on Apple’s line about the “crazy ones…the misfits…the rebels.” This also has its own counterpart in the Diet Mountain Dew advertisements. Apple seems to take up a counterculture of its own in order to separate itself from the masses and create an individual personality for its consumers. Do you think this approach will have to be retired as Apple becomes more and more mainstream and less and less a novelty compared to Microsoft?
I found (not surprisingly) many parallels between what I found in my analysis of Apple's OS and what you found. I agree with you that Apple chooses to represent individuality in order to take a counterpoint to Microsoft, its biggest competitor, much like Pepsi did with Coca Cola. Apple chose to appeal to the youth in America--young in spirit. You wrote that through Apple's ads they were able to target ideal Apple consumers. I think I disagree to a slight extent. I think that they were able to not only acquire what they believed were "ideal Apple consumers," but actually created an additional segment of the market that were not there originally for Apple. They did this, I would hold, by creating an attractive brand image which people would be interested in buying and being a part of. Good read.
Everyone in society would like to think of themselves as a "rebel" or a "misfit". Not in the negative sense of the word, but in the sense that each person is unique and brings their own contribution to society. More than in the other papers, I think that you tapped into this idea of mass culture vs. counter culture and how Apple was able to balance this idea without alienating either side. The idea that this a group for different thinkers is an appealing philosophy that I think, more than dancing figures against a plain background, can be attributed to Apple's success in the American market.
Jonathan, I thoroughly enjoyed your essay. When I began to read your essay, the Cola Wars article we read in class immediately came to mind, and I thought you used it very effectively. I think your analysis of the iPod as an "individual" product in the midst of such mass production is extremely interesting. While it is fascinating to me that they market their product as that for the individual, not for the cookiecutter community member, I wonder if the success of this advertising strategy has something more to say about our consumer culture? While individuality has always been marketed in society, I feel as if iPod takes individuality to the next level, stripping some of their ads almost down to nothing: just a hand on a screen turning the nano upside down.
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