I found an old, VHS-y recording from 1997 where Steve Jobs talks about marketing (and sales) in a way that was true when he said it, but perhaps even more true today.
We live in such a noisy digital world clamoring for our attention, that to truly stand out as marketers, we’ve got to stand for more than just our product or service.
That’s easier said than done, right?
Before you watch Steve’s brilliant answer to this problem (below), here’s the back-story to the video:
The year was 1997. Steve Jobs had just returned to Apple as CEO and started culling unprofitable product lines such as printers and unloved devices such as Newton.
The product pipeline was virtually empty. Mr. Jobs needed time, but he also needed to redefine Apple to the world and to itself.
In short, he needed to raise the pirate flag again.
He canceled an agency review initiated under Gil Amelio and brought back Chiat/Day, his agency partner in the iconic “1984” campaign. The result was “Think Different” and the video below was taken when he first unveiled it to Apple staff (in shorts!).
Most interesting here isn’t the ad itself (which Mr. Jobs compares to “Got Milk?”) but the preamble where he explains the purpose and role of marketing, what Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak recently called Mr. Jobs’ “greatest strength.”
“To me, marketing is about values,” he said. “This is a very complicated world, a very noisy world and we’re not going to get the chance to get people to remember us. No company is. So we have to be very clear about what we want people to know about us.”
[By Michael Learmonth. Published on October 07, 2011.]
Watch the rest below. What do you think?
EDIT: As noted by some readers, the video above does not load in this page (perhaps due to your browser blocking third-party cookies). You can watch directly here instead: https://www.facebook.com/davidrosendahlfan/videos/334340150539662/
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I’m sure I’m going to take some heat for this video — some people hate SJ as much as others admire him. I’m not saying I feel either way about him, but I do agree with what he’s saying about marketing. Do you?
Best as I can tell that’s a picture not a video. Epic fail. If there’s a video somewhere it’s hard as crap to find. I gave up. This is perhaps the worst marketing fail in Facebook history. You may get “clicks” and hopefully that’s all you’re looking for, because I’m sure there’s a lot of PISSED OFF PEOPLE like me for wasting their time teasing a video that either doesn’t exist on this site or is so convoluted to find it makes your expertise look pitiful. No doubt this comment won’t appear anywhere and you’ll use my “required” email address for spam. Scumbags.
Hey Joe! Very sorry it is hard to find the video. It should be directly above this area (the comments). Let me know if you don’t see it? I’ll also try to find a direct link and place it here in a moment.
Joe, ok, here’s a direct link to the embedded video: https://www.facebook.com/davidrosendahlfan/videos/334340150539662/
Does that work for you?
Joe — just to make sure there isn’t a problem (and I appreciate you raising it), here’s where the video appears for most people; do you see it?: https://mindfiredavinci.s3.amazonaws.com/Rare_1997_Video_That_Explains_the_Marketing_Genius_of_Steve_Jobs__Da_Vinci_by_MindFire_.jpg
CAN’T SEE THE VIDEO? As noted by some readers, the video above does not load in this page (perhaps due to your browser blocking third-party cookies). You can watch directly here instead: https://www.facebook.com/davidrosendahlfan/videos/334340150539662/
Just in case you can’t load the video above, or from the Facebook link, here it is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Psy3CFlZ290
David, gotta love the haters! Hope he sees the video. However, I found it inspiring. I work in direct mail industry with NPOs, and what keeps me doing what I do is my clients passion to change hunger, homelessness, abuse. This video had me “think different” about my talk track to convey how my company can help our clients change the world.. Thanks..
Kelly — WOW. That’s *very* cool. That’s exactly what I hoped people would be inspired to do. And I think in your case with NPOs, it is very appropriate!
Thank you for the comment and keep up the good work 🙂