What Steve Taught Me About Advertising

This is my tribute to Steve Jobs and what he taught me about advertising. Steve was a visionary, a forward thinker and a great user experience and product designer.  In a very big way, Steve changed the world. He was one of the crazy ones. The way we now see, hear, touch and interact with things and technology, we all owe to him.

However, Steve also taught us what advertising and communications was truly about: Values. This was way back in 1997, during his second tenure back at Apple when they launched "Think Different"

Steve talked about how complicated and noisy the world was and how difficult it was for brands to get people to remember them. In order to do that, brands needed to be crystal clear on what they wanted consumers to remember about them.

Even great brands need constant investment and nurturing if it is going to continue it's relevance and vitality in people's lives. The way to do that is not to just talk about product features or the technology and how a brand is better than it's competitors. Steve preached  about the need for brands to talk about who they are and what they are about. Our customers want to know who we are and what we stand for; Where we fit in this world and in their lives. And to do this in a way where it resonates with consumers at a higher emotional level. To touch their souls and connect with them instantly.

A lot of things will change for a brand over time - the market, the brand's place in a market, the product, the distribution strategy
but core values should not change. It is fundamentally what the brand stands for.

Apple doesn't just build products that let people do their jobs, access music and content on the go or any of the many innovations that have changed consumer behavior. Apple believes that people with passion can change the world (in their own big and small ways ) for the better and the people who are crazy enough that think that they can change the world are the ones that actually do.

Think Different is a point of view that honors people who actually do that and as a result have changed the world and moved humanity forward.

And Apple didn't just talk the talk, it walked the walk. This same point of view set the stage for what Apple would become in the years that followed (and will follow): thinking different and implementing seemingly crazy ideas that no other company aside from Apple could have pulled off. And they succeeded, time and time again. Apple didn't follow the latest trends and fads in technology but forged its own path and became the company that everybody else wanted to be.

And Steve, you are by far the craziest one of them all. Thank u for your brilliance & foresight and for making it possible for us to do what we do daily. You will be dearly remembered

Don’t move products. Instead, enrich lives.” - Steve Jobs

Posted via email from The Digital Marketer