The creative ability of Steve Jobs it was huge, but never stopped being inspired by alternative situations to his field of work, technology. One of the companies that left an imprint on the father of Apple was Nike.
This is how he told it in a 1997 chat with Apple workers.
Although Nike’s origins date back to the 1960s, its real explosion occurred in the 1980s, on the feet of one Michael Jordan. It is the same decade in which Apple was born, with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as its promoters.
However, and although there were not many parallels between one company and another (one launched technological products, the other, sneakers), Jobs saw a point for inspiration in the home of the Swoosh.
His main concern is that, after his departure from Apple, the manzanita brand had been devalued. And when I looked towards Nike, it just kept growing and growing.
Steve Jobs’ analysis of Nike’s strategy and how he could apply it to Apple
“The Apple brand It has clearly suffered from neglect.” said Steve Jobs in his presentation. “We have to bring her back.”
“The best example of all, and one of the best marketing jobs the universe has ever seen, is Nike. Remember: Nike sells a commodity. He sells shoes. And yet, when you think of Nike, you feel something different from a shoe company.”
Steve Jobs continues: “In their ads, they never talk about their products. They never tell you about their air soles and why they are better than Reebok’s. What does Nike do? They honor great athletes and they honor great athletics. That’s what they are, that’s what they’re about.”
The father of Apple sought to transfer the spirit of Nike to his company.
“The way to do it is not to talk about speeds and advances. It’s not to talk about MIPS and megahertz, it’s not to talk about why we’re better than Windows. It was about creativity.”
This is how the campaign was born Think Different, or Think Different, of Nike with images of legendary thinkers, such as Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King y John Lennon.
As CNBC well reports, the ads did not describe the specifications or functions of Apple computers, but instead gave an idea of the company’s mission.
Definitely, a brilliant move that paid off, bringing Apple back to the top.
