Two years ago, we said goodbye to Steve Jobs, the rebel, the genius, the one crazy enough to think he could change the world (and did).

Tim Cook, this is the future speaking. So listen up. (Business owners and CEOs, what follows is a vital lesson for us each to be reminded of.)

Remember when an Apple ad
would be the next day’s
water-cooler topic du jour?

They were unexpected.

They engaged us.

They were different.

Some were ROTF funny.

They spoke a language we were all waiting to hear.

Yet each was impossible to ignore (for instance, the video shown below has gotten over 600,000 views in less than 3 weeks).

Why?

Because those ads were never about the product.

They were never about the past (previous achievements or the number of users).

They were about dreams.

And what could be attained.

They inspired what could be possible, versus reminding us what has been done.

Each reminded us that all we needed to do was bring our minds, talents and imaginations instead of merely showing the newest gadget that could do it all.

We were the stars. The newest Apple product simply helped shorten that path between now and something amazing.

The Video That Reminded Me:
It’s About Us, The Customers,
Not the Gadget

Tim and Apple (and TBWA), you should be hiring this videographer today.

This video made me look forward to seeing the world you make possible, rather than yesterday’s news of people using iPhone cameras, Facetime or saying hello.

Watching this stirred me emotionally while also making me interested in the tool that helped achieve this.

It also made me think it is exactly the type of message that would make Steve Jobs smile from above.

THIS is where your ads should be taking us, on a ride to the future, not a reminding of the past.

Brands that are about the future are about Quality. Brands that are about the past and past glories talk about Quantity.

Dreamers embrace qualitative factors. Numbers people are about quantitative factors.

***Geniuses are able to balance both qualities and quantities in their proper proportions.***

The Branding Lessons We Each Need To (re)Learn

If your branding is vanilla, that will not stir imaginations. The hot fudge (selling very well someplace else) will.

If your branding does not engage the imagination of the audience with what’s possible, you have failed your brand.

If your brand is all about you, and not about your customer, their dreams and their aspirations, your branding is nutritionally deficient, leaving audiences and your company starving for something that will satisfy their hunger. Because if you don’t satisfy that hunger, somebody else will.

Photo credit: Denys Prykhodov / Shutterstock.com 

Tagged as: Apple, brand leadership, iPhone, iPhone 5s, slo-mo, slow motion, steve jobs, Tim Cook, video, vimeo