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Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign

Apple’s Think Different Campaign

Advertising is all about persuading people to do or buy things they would otherwise not even

care about. Perhaps it is a new set of pans, or a new computer. These goods are not necessarily

life essentials, so then that makes them harder to sell. Good advertising knows how to get inside

people’s heads and subtly change their minds about the product being sold. Advertising is

commercial persuasion and their intent is clear; to sell. In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple as

CEO and his company was in bad shape. No one cared about having a MAC at the time, and the

marketing Apple was doing did not help (Siltanen, 2011). This would leave Jobs to seek out

marketing agencies who know how to use many different appeals to reach any kind of consumer.

What is Think Different?

Rob Siltanen was one of the people responsible for coming up with the idea for the “Think

Different” Campaign. The actual term “Think Different” is almost ironically not necessarily a

unique slogan. As Siltanen writes, there was a day when one of the other guys on the team came

to him and explained that “IBM has a campaign out that says "Think IBM" … I feel Apple is

very different from IBM, so I felt “Think Different” was interesting. I then thought it would be

cool to attach those words to some of the world’s most different-thinking people” (1,2011).

Thus, the “Think Different” campaign was born. The original idea was for just a print campaign

to be made (Appendix A), but the agency also made a video set to Seal’s song “Crazy.”

Unfortunately, the video could not be cut down enough for a TV ad, so Siltanen proposed writing

a voiceover instead (Creative Review, n.d.). The script for the “Think Different” voiceover was,

as most things were, not satisfactory for Steve Jobs. In fact, he hated it. After the first script did

not work out, it was then the ad company brought in writer Ken Segall who would ultimately end
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Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign
up writing the script that is heard in the TV spot (Appendix B) as, as spoken by Richard

Dreyfuss (Siltanen, 2011).

Results of the “Think Different” Approach and overall campaign

The “Think Different” campaign was revolutionary. It was just what Apple needed at just the

right time. The target audience were those that were open to the new and brilliant ideas in the

world, usually on the younger side. In 1998, a study done by Shavitt, Lowrey, and Haefner

showed that adults 18-34 respond very favorably to advertising. This means the they were very

susceptible to being sold what it was that was being advertised, which is very beneficial when

trying to sell high price technology to people . The year after the Think Different campaign

debuted, Apple stock tripled, and the commercial won an Emmy (PR Hacker, 2017). This was

one of the times in Apple’s short history at this point that showed just how creative they could be

when they wanted to be.

Functional Attitude Approach

The Functional Attitude model (Katz, 1960) was made to try to explain why people hold the

attitudes that they do. Katz (1960) believed that without fully understanding what psychological

need is met by the attitudes that people held, essentially what the use of these attitudes were, then

no one could ever predict when or how the attitudes can change. To begin understanding the

attitudes purpose, or function, Katz (1960) proposed a system based off of four different attitude

functions that could explain why someone reacted the way they did. These four functions are the

utilitarian function, the ego-defensive function, the value-expressive function, and the knowledge

function (Katz, 1960).

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Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign
The utilitarian function, called the adjustment function by Katz, is the function that is used by

people to judge whether something will serve to reach someone’s goals. Using this function,

people find the practical value in things (Katz, 1960). The ego-defensive function is the function

that is used by people to try to protect their own personal feelings and internal values (Katz.

1960). The value-expressive function exemplifies the internal self-image that people have in

themselves (Katz, 1960). Finally, the knowledge function helps in the interest of satisfying

various specific needs, people also seek knowledge to give meaning to what would otherwise be

an unorganized, chaotic universe. People need standards or frames of reference for understanding

their world, and attitudes help to supply such standards (Katz, 1960).

The positive feelings experienced from the value-expressive function go beyond just

confirming a self-identity, we also find satisfaction in the fact values associated with our ego,

our true inner self is being expressed (Katz, 1960). Value-expressive attitudes can be formed by

making links between an attitude toward something, and the values that are associated with the

object (Hullet and Boster, 2001). In an experiment done by Shavitt, Lowry, and Han, participants

were instructed to write reviews about certain products. High-self monitors tended to side more

with the self-identity function and had more image-based writing (1992). Because the value

expressive function is all about self, this means that the value-expressive function is more

appealing to those who identify as high self-monitors. The “Think Different” campaign is heavy

with appeals to high self-monitoring people.

Examples in the “Think Different” campaign

In the Apple “Think Different” campaign, there is a heavy use of images, which appeal to

high-self monitors, who can be heavily influenced by the value-expressive function. The choices
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Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign
for the campaign range from Frank Sinatra to Jim Henson and the TV ad’s script itself makes for

a powerful call to action. The script starts with “Here’s to the crazy ones.” The rest of the script

is clearly a call out to those who feel like they may not fit in the mold of society. Those that hold

these values, will be extremely attracted to this commercial. It is important to note that there are

no specs of the actual computer mentioned in the computer at all and just images of famous

people who were part of those who were crazy enough to think they can change the world. By

using the famous people in the commercial and leveling them with regular people who are

misfits, this plays into a value-expressive function by connecting to people’s inner values.

Pros & Cons of the Functional Approach

The functional approach is perfect for targeting both those of high self-monitoring with the

value-expressive function, and those that are low self-monitoring with the utilitarian function

(Shavitt et. Al, 1992). Katz also states that with the value-expressive function, there is a chance

that when an individual enters a group, they may develop the values of that group (Katz,1960).

This works well in a selling point of view, because this means that you could feasibly persuade

someone who is even somewhat reluctant about Mac computers with a value-expressive by

addressing their values. Then, once they are part of the Apple community, they will adopt the

values of the community and become a loyal customer.

There are downsides to the attitude function approach, however. There is a chance that unless

a message truly meets the same values as a person, then they will not feel it is a good enough

argument (Hullet, 2002). There is also the issue that some attitudes may be associated negatively

with a value and therefore would not have the desired effect on a person. Because of this, it is

important to create mixed messages, that is messages that address both ends of the value, to
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Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign
make is effectively persuasive (Hullet, 2002). Another issue that may also want to be considered

is that women are more emotionally oriented than men, and therefore are more influenced by

feeling messages, whereas men are more influenced by thinking messages (Mayor, Tormala,

2010). The value expressive function is a very emotional function and may affect male audience

less than female, meaning that females who are the target of persuasive tactics, will be more

easily persuaded than males.

Emotional Appeals

Almost everybody regularly experiences emotions, and people can be very directed by their

emotions to do whatever the emotions drive them to do. Emotional appeals rely “on the

subconscious mind's "auto-pilot" to handle the chores of receiving, processing and evaluating

information to make a decision” (Boykin, 2019). Emotions mostly take place in the

subconscious, this means that decisions are made at the subconscious level and they are based on

emotions and instincts, or "gut feeling" (Boykin, 2019). This means that there are many

decisions that are not based on rational thought, or any thinking at all really.

In contrast to cognitive approaches, affective positioning aims at emotions and goes to heart

by focusing on emotions, feelings or drives associated with a product and brand (Panda, Panda,

Mishra). Of course, there are many different types of emotions that can be used. This positioning

can be done on the basis of joy, fear, sadness and happiness or desire of bliss. While both

cognitive and affective are important, the emotional positioning takes the center stage. (Panda,

Panda, Mishra). Emotions drive people, and emotions can be easily created and used through

proper use of advertising and messages, such as Apple’s “Think Different” campaign.
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Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign
Emotional Appeals In Apple’s Think Different Campaign

The Apple commercial has a certain feel to it that gives it its edge. It has an inspirational pull,

something that pulls on people’s insides and sort of riles up what is inside. This is an appeal to

people’s emotions. This is common in advertising and it is the subject of much discussion. Many

authors “have tested the role of evoked emotions and have found that ad-evoked feelings have a

direct influence on attitude towards the advertised brand and purchase intention” (Panda, Panda,

& Mishra, 2013, 8). So, if apple is able to invoke emotions, then it would then very easy to get

people to buy from them.

Now, Apple is a tech company, so it sems odd that they would push so hard for emotional

advertising instead of rational, factual based advertising. However, the idea of rational

advertising assumes that consumers process information while making purchase decisions based

on logical or/and utilitarian decisions (Panda, Panda & Mishra, 2013). Companies try using

product quality, economy, value or/and price performance phenomenon for persuading

customers towards a decision (Panda, Panda & Mishra). These are all very logical things to use,

especially when dealing with technology. However, Apple strays from that and instead uses

prominent figures from history and a very emotionally driven, inspirational script to ramp up

emotions and connect those emotions to their products.

According to Aaker and Williams, 1998, there are two kinds of emotional groups. One of

these groups is the ego-focused emotions (e.g., pride, happiness, frustration, anger) that tend to

be associated with an individual's internal state or attributes, to the exclusion of others, and are

consistent with the need for individual awareness, experience, and expression (Aaker and

Williams, 1998). These emotions can be felt in the script used by Apple during the think
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Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign
different campaign, which really calls out the people who feel that they have more to offer the

world.

However, there are also other-focused emotions (e.g., empathy, peacefulness, indebtedness,

shame) which tend to be associated with others in a social context or close others. The close

others are usually other people who have values that are also centrally important to the

individual's self-definition and are consistent with the need for unity, harmony, and the

alignment of one's actions with those of another (Aaker and Williams, 1998). This sense of

others can also be felt by examining the same words that are used to describe individuality. This

is because those words call out everyone who feels there different, and sort of puts them into one

large category of misfits, the crazy ones, and hopefully, Apple users.

Pros & Cons of Emotional Appeals

As with many theories, Emotional Appeals has its pros and cons. Emotional Appeals are

perfectly used for big-ticket items, such as the computer that Apple is selling. If customers are

motivated to buy products based on emotions, they usually have a reduced need for cognitive

information during the pre-purchase stage (Panda, Panda, Mishra). This goes back to the fact that

emotions are often the strongest driving force for making decisions. For many consumers it is

easier to buy a long-lasting product such as a computer on the basis of the technology or

operating system used in it than to read everything about the product in detail and then make a

decision. So, affective buying behavior is found to be less stressful than cognitive buying

behavior (Panda, Panda, Mishra). This being, of course, because affective, emotional, behavior

all happens on a subconscious level.

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Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign
There are of course some downsides to the use of emotional appeals. While everyone may

feel emotions, often, what one person may find triggers certain emotions for them, does not

trigger those same emotions, if any, in another person. The relationship between emotional

response and evaluation of advertising may be confounded by other variables, including

individual characteristics, such as sex, age and innate predisposition to buy particular classes of

goods; the content of the commercial; and the viewer’s past history of exposure to advertising.

(Panda, Panda, Mishra).

Most Effective Persuasion Strategy

I think that the most effective persuasion strategy was the value-expressive functional

approach that was taken with the commercial. Much of the Apple script played into personal

beliefs people may have about themselves and those values, the deep internal ones, are some of

the most important, and if you can reach those ego-focused emotions (Aaker and Williams,

1998) such as pride, or happiness, then you have in effect won over the person. Everyone wants

to feel that they are a part of a group because are very social animals.

Once again addressing what Katz write that with the value-expressive function, there is a

chance that when an individual enters a group, they may develop the values of that group

(Katz,1960). That means that since the ad campaign is really good at targeting individuals

specifically you may be able to persuade that one person who may be somewhat reluctant about

Mac computers with a value-expressive by addressing their values. Then, as Katz mentioned,

once they are fully immersed in the culture and community of Apple, they will adopt their other

values as well, making them loyal customers.

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Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign
Recommended Future Strategies

While the “Think Different” campaign did well utilizing the value-expressive function, there

are other strategies I feel may also be beneficial for Apple to try. One of the best strategies I

would recommend is using narrative persuasion. Narratives work well because humans are

naturally hardwired for storytelling. For people, regardless of the content of the ad, the structure

of that content predicted its success. “People are attracted to stories… because we’re social

creatures and we relate to other people” (Monarth, 2014).

The other usefulness of narrative is the very simple requirements it needs to be effective.

According to Monarth, The most successful storytellers often focus listeners’ minds on a single

important idea and they take no longer than a 30-second Superbowl spot to forge an emotional

connection (Monarth, 2014). This means that something as simple as a 30 second story can be

incredibly effective for selling. The story does not even need to be real to be effective. A

narrative that was labeled as fiction or fact did not influence the level of involvement in the

narrative, suggesting that factuality is not critical to emotional involvement (Cho, Shen, and

Wilson, 2012).

Conclusion

The Apple “Think Different campaign was a very emotional and thought-provoking

campaign. It went with a strategy of not displaying any pictures of the computer it was selling,

nor any specs from the computer. Apple has had many successful campaigns since the “Think

Different” campaign, but this ad may be one of the most well remembered. In the future it would

be good for Apple to focus more on the narrative approach to advertising since everyone can
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Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign
relate to stories and can be persuaded by them. Appealing to the inner selves of people is a fast

track to being able to persuade them and change their attitudes.

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Apple’s “Think Different” Campaign
References

Aaker, J. L., & Williams, P. (1998). Empathy versus pride: the influence of emotional appeals

across cultures. Journal of Consumer Research, 25(3), 241–261.

Boykin, G. (2019, February 12). How Is Emotional Appeal Used to Persuade? Retrieved from

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/emotional-appeal-used-persuade-56346.html

Cho, H., Shen, L., & Wilson, K. (2012). Perceived Realism. Communication Research, 41(6),

828–851. doi: 10.1177/0093650212450585

Hullett, C. (2002). Charting the process underlying the change of value-expressive attitudes:

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Hullett, C., & Boster, F. (2001). Matching messages to the values underlying value-expressive

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Katz, D. (1960). The functional approach to the study of attitudes. The Public Opinion

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Mayer, N., & Tormala, Z. (2010). "think" versus "feel" framing effects in

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Monarth, H. (2014). The irresistible power of storytelling as a strategic business tool. Harvard

Business Review Digital Articles, 3/11/2014, P2.

Panda, T. K., Panda, T. K., & Mishra, K. (2013). Does emotional appeal work in advertising?

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The history of the Apple Think Different slogan. (2018, November 15). Retrieved March 3,

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What Gandhi & Hendrix Had In Common With Silicon Valley. (2017, December 2). Retrieved

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Shavitt, S., Lowrey, T., & Han, S. (1992). Attitude functions in advertising. Journal of

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Shavitt, S., Lowrey, P., & Haefner, J. (1998). Public attitudes toward advertising: More favorable

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2011/12/14/the- real-story-behind-apples-

think-different-campaign/#2ec2545562ab

Appendix A

Appendix B

https://youtu.be/5sMBhDv4sik