Above is a great video of Steve Jobs about the role of values and passion in marketing when he returned to Apple in 1997 following the management upset and ouster of Gil Amelio.

“To me, marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world, it’s a very noisy world. And we’re not going to get the chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. So we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us.”  - Steve Jobs, 1997

This was the launch of the now iconic “Think Different” campaign that injected into the psyche of people everywhere that Apple’s products aren’t about bits and bytes but about what they can do for people who have a passion to change the world.  Jobs describes the approach that Nike takes as among the best in the world and by honoring great athletes and athletics they transcend the fact that theirs is essentially a commodity product.  The Apple approach is quite similar in its celebration of innovation, leadership, and the human spirit.

“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. About 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 they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Apple

Looking back on this presentation nearly 15 years later it is hard to deny that Jobs was planting the very seeds that became the heart and soul of Apple as we know it today.

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• Steve Jobs on marketing & identifying your core values (presentationzen.com)
• A Cup of Tea with Steve Jobs (techprnibbles.com)