Rob Siltanen, chairman and chief creative officer at Siltanen & Partners, reports the real story behind Apple's "Think Different" campaign. In an article published on Forbes' website, he describes Jobs as a mix between Michelangelo, Mies van der Rohe and Henry Ford, with some John McEnroe and Machiavelli thrown in:

"Steve was fiercely driven, and there’s no way Apple could have possibly gone from laughingstock to “the stock you dream of owning” so swiftly without a relentless, self-confident genius at the helm. But Steve Jobs didn’t turn Apple around by himself. Many talented and dedicated people played key roles, and that turnaround first began with an advertising campaign called “Think different.”"
 

Siltanen also describes the first day he met Jobs in Apple's HQ. According to him Jobs walked into the conference room wearing his trademark black mock turtleneck, shorts and a pair of flip-flops: 

"The hellos and introductions were very short, and there was zero time spent reminiscing about the glory days when Lee and the old guard at Chiat helped Jobs create some of the most awe-inspiring advertising of all time. Jobs basically said, “Good to see you. Thanks for coming. Now let’s get down to business.” He then went on to say that Apple was “hemorrhaging” and the company was in worse shape than he had imagined. He said, “We have some decent product, but we need to get things figured out. I’m putting the advertising up for review, and I’m meeting with a handful of agencies to see who ‘gets it.’ I’ve already been talking with a couple of agencies that seem pretty good, and you’re invited to pitch the account if you’re interested.” At this point I thought to myself, well, this isn’t going as planned."

At the beginning Jobs did not want them to prepare TV ads. Instead he wanted them to create some print ads in the computer magazines until they get things figured out.

When Siltanen talked about the idea for a "Think Different" Jobs did not like the idea. Even though he thought that the concept was great he also believed it would harm his image and the image of the company:

"He looked around the room filled with the “Think Different” billboards and said, “This is great, this is really great … but I can’t do this. People already think I’m an egotist, and putting the Apple logo up there with all these geniuses will get me skewered by the press.” (...) Steve then paused and looked around the room and said out loud, yet almost as if to his own self, “What am I doing? Screw it. It’s the right thing. It’s great. Let’s talk tomorrow.” In a matter of seconds, right before our very eyes, he had done a complete about-face."

But when Jobs saw the completed TV advert for th first time he hated it:

"We played the spot once, and when it finished, Jobs said, “It sucks! I hate it! It’s advertising agency shit! I thought you were going to write something like ‘Dead Poets Society!’ This is crap!”"

However you know how the story ends - Jobs accepted the "Think Different" concept and it was one of the best advertising campaigns in history.

And if you want to read the whole story (it's worth it!) make sure to follow this link.

Source: http://www.forbes.com