Apple’s Core Belief & Worldview

Think about how Apple fits into the worldview of their customers. One of the most beloved instances of presenting a worldview in advertising is the iconic 1984 Apple commercial. Its message is clear: embrace nonconformity. It’s a worldview that celebrates individuality, originality, and ingenuity.

When Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple in 1985 due to a massive disagreement with the CEO and the board, Apple lost its way. When Jobs returned to Apple as interim CEO in 1997, he had the daunting task of restoring Apple’s profitability. Through his remarkable efforts, the company went from a loss of $1.04 billion to a profit of $309 million in just one year. Thanks to Jobs’s leadership, Apple transformed from a laughingstock in the tech industry into the most successful and valuable company in the world.

But how did he do this? There were several factors at play, but the most important one is that Jobs knew Apple was no longer living its values. In a rare video of Jobs, he is shown speaking at an internal meeting, introducing the Think Different campaign. In the video, filmed on September 23, 1997, Jobs says:

The Apple brand has clearly suffered from neglect in this area in the last few years, and we need to bring it back. The way to do that is not to talk about speeds and feeds. It’s not to talk about MIPs and megahertz. It’s not to talk about why we’re better than Windows.…Our customers want to know, who is Apple and what is it that we stand for. Where do we fit in this world? And what we’re about isn’t making boxes for people to get their jobs done—although we do that well, we do that better than almost anybody in some cases—but Apple is about something more than that. Apple at the core, its core value, is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better.

In fall 1997, Jobs executed this concept flawlessly with the Think Different campaign.

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 quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.[4]

This brilliant campaign goes against traditional marketing principles. In the ad, there is no logo, no call to action. There’s a worldview. The genius of the ad lies in its relatability: Don’t most of us feel like we don’t fit in? Don’t most of us see ourselves as misfits?

The underlying message is that truly remarkable people do not conform to societal norms. They carve a unique path on their terms—and, oh, by the way, those people use Macs.

This was an effective approach that conveyed a powerful message. And it continues to resonate, even with the widespread availability of Apple products. Apple users still feel like rebels because our worldview is not about reality but how we perceive ourselves.