Steve Jobs Almost Didn’t Record One Of Apple’s Most Iconic Ads
May 23, 2014
Over the years, Apple has green lit some pretty amazing advertising campaigns. The “Think Different” campaign, which ran between 1997 and 2002, was certainly one of the best.
The “Here’s to the Crazy Ones” Think Different television ads that ran featured the voice of actor Richard Dreyfuss. The late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs also recorded a version, a fact that came to light following his 2011 death.
That version was almost not recorded, according to Ken Segall, the former TBWA\Chiat\Day creative director who helped create the Think Different campaign.
During an interview with Macworld UK, Segall recalled trying to convince Jobs to record his voice. The former Apple CEO was never accused of being a patient man. Therefore, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the conversation was pretty heated:
Jobs participation didn't stop at sharing his opinions. Jobs voiced the Here's to the Crazy Ones ad. "We said to him: 'Steve you should be the voice on this commercial, if you believe it why would we hire an actor who will act like he believes it?' We pressed heavily for Steve to read the commercial, which he resisted – he though (sic) it was a bad idea because if he was the voice then everyone would be talking about why Steve Jobs was such an egomaniac, they wouldn't be listening to the words. He liked the words so much he wanted people to hear the message. "So begrudgingly he agreed to record and I went up to Apple one day with the sound guy and we set up in the Apple auditorium, which was a dark lonely room, and their was a lone mic stand on the stage. Steve came in with a fairly nasty attitude that day I recall. He was late and he said 'I'm really busy today I don't have time for this, I don't like the idea, but I'll give you one read and then I'm out of here'. So he did it. It became popular on YouTube after he died. I think it's really neat to hear Steve Jobs reading these words himself because he really believed in them."Here's the ad Jobs recorded that day, followed by the Dreyfuss version: http://youtu.be/-z4NS2zdrZc http://youtu.be/tjgtLSHhTPg Which version do you like the best?
