Steve Jobs “Marketing is about Values”

We stumbled upon the Steve Jobs “Think Different” marketing campaign speech in light of the new movie release this weekend. As animators, we were really struck when he paused for a good while before he said “… marketing… is about values.” We could see in his body that this thought weighed on him. And, in fact, that thought would determine the direction of Apple for the next two decades.

For Jobs, Apple was not about “making boxes for people to get their jobs done.” He and his executive team needed to be about something more. They needed to think beyond the equipment… beyond the dollars, toward something more. They needed to live in service to a higher calling. It’s hard to hear this speech without being moved. Not just because we are hearing a speech from a dead man, but because we know what Steve Jobs is saying is true. Our studio was challenged by this very real moment. Were we just clocking in and clocking out? Were we living from dollar to dollar? Or, were we working for something more?

We also looked at it in the light of Apple’s company history. What did the company go through? What did Steve Jobs go through? What changes were made in his life? And the company’s life? When we looked we couldn’t help, but see our own lives flash before our eyes. As the Apple devices aged over time, and animation aged over time, so to were the choices we made. In the end, we had to ask ourselves the all-consuming question — “Do we think different?”

We hope you enjoy the video,