APPLE COMPUTER, INC.
THINK DIFFERENT: MARIA CALLAS.
Printed vinyl banner with metal rail, 1370 x 730 mm, [Cupertino, c.1997/1998].

'Think Different' was the ad campaign announcing the new direction the company took after the return of Steve Jobs. Chiat/Day was the advertising agency that produced the classic '1984' ad for the Macintosh launch. John Sculley replaced that agency with BBDO in 1986. When Jobs returned in 1997, and after CEO Gil Amelio resigned, he had Lee Clow of Chiat/Day come to Apple headquarters to pitch for a new ad campaign. Jobs recounted the scene: 'This chokes me up ... It was so clear that Lee loved Apple so much. Here was the best guy in advertising. And he hadn't pitched in ten years. Yet here he was, and he was pitching his heart out, because he loved Apple as much as we did. He and his team had come up with this brilliant idea, 'Think Different.' And it was ten times better than anything the other agencies showed. It choked me up and it still makes me cry to think about it, both the fact that Lee cared so much and also how brilliant his 'Think Different' idea was. Every once in a while, I find myself in the presence of purity—purity of spirt and love—and I always cry. It always just reaches in and grabs me. That was one of those moments. There was a purity about that I will never forget. I cried in my office as he was showing me the idea, and I still cry when I think about it' (Isaacson p 328).
The campaign, with it's simple slogan tied to images of the most creative and historically impactful figures of the last century, was a major success for both Apple and TBWA/Chiat/Day. It received both critical acclaim and managed to reestablish the counter-culture aura of the company's early days. Large format retailer banners from this campaign are extremely rare on the market. Isaacson Steve Jobs (New York: [2011]).