10 Years of “Think Different”

Do you remember 1998?

  • The Bronco’s won the Super Bowl.
  • The first XML spec was released.
  • Titantic won 11 Oscars.
  • Viagra was approved by the FDA.
  • Google, Inc. was founded.
  • Apple unveiled the iMac and reminded us to Think Different.

Today, as I was rearranging some books on a shelf, I ran across the limited edition publication to commemorate the first year of the Apple Think Different Series, “1998: The Year of Thinking Different”.

10 years later, this ad campaign still strikes a chord in my soul. I can’t resist sharing this quote from Apple with you.

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
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 praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify them or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.

Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some 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.

Think Different.

So, my friends, I implore you to question, lead, create, sing, speak, tinker, dance, play, love, fly, believe, transform, improvise, evolve, laugh and dream with all of your passion. Make every day different.

7 comments

  2. I’ll second Clay, I mean, my Math is not what it used to be…but 1998-2008 is 10 years. You’re future-thinking again Glenda!!! haha :D

  3. Lord, that is what I get for posting while taking cold medicine. Corrections made. I bet I’ll still like the quote in 20 years too ;)

  4. When they launched the Think Different Ad campaign Apple had thousands of posters made up. They had “one sheet” movie poster size posters in piles in the public areas, they had 3 story posters that you could see on the buildings facing highway 290 in cupertino. Then on all the walls – literally every free space in all of R&D they had 12 by 12 foot posters on some kind of plastic backing. The process for printing those caused them to stink… and the whole of R&D smelled like a print shop for about a month.

    When I left apple in 1998 I took one of the giant think different posters that were literally posted everywhere around the R&D buildings. At that time there were about a dozen different ones and I stole mine from the basement of R&D 3… It was a 12 foot by 12 foot black and white picture of Buzz Aldren taken by Neal Armstrong on the moon…. It was big enough you could see Neal taking the picture in the reflection off of Buzz’s helmet.

    I had it on the wall of my office for many years… but during one of my many moves over the years I have lost it…. oh well….

  5. Wow Carl, that gives me goosebumps! I just took another look at the Buzz Aldren photo and can see the reflection of Neal Armstrong too!

  7. @Smo, Yeah…that’s just one of the reasons I think you are one of the bestest creatures on the planet :)

    Get this..I was doing some family research the other day…and discovered that Amelia Earhart is my cousin! Okay, okay…so she is my 8th cousin two times removed…but still!

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