We need some stinking (Apple) badges!
1983
In 1983, when we at Apple were filled with fervor and zeal, someone had an unusual idea for a magazine ad. Instead of talking about how awesome our products were, the ad would say that many of us had bought Apple computers, then loved them so much that we ended up working at Apple. Which was absolutely true!
The ad would feature a collage of actual Apple employee badges. So the word went out via the social media of the day (memos and gossip) for employees who bought Apple computers before working there to lend their badges to be assembled and photographed. I seem to recall an interoffice envelope going around, and interested people dropping their badges inside. And then we got them back the next day or so, I guess. Security was not so strict in those days, and badges were just laminated paper, not active electronic devices needed to open gates and unlock doors.
Some time later, printed copies of the ad appeared around the office – not in magazines or newspapers, but samples to look at.
Of course the first thing I did was look to see which badges made it into the ad. John Sculley, Andy Hertzfeld, and Ann Bowers, all well-known employees, were in prominent positions. And wait, there was my wife Barbara at the lower left! And hey, there I was (lower right)! And a few other people I knew.
After checking out the badges, I read the copy. I thought the ad was fun and cheeky, the familiar Apple ad tone we still hear today. Having famous people like Sculley and Andy in the ad felt like a wink rather than a brag: see, they started as regular folks who bought our computers, just like you and me.
(Note the usage “people who use Apples.” “Apple” was shorthand for an Apple computer in those days, as in “I got a new Apple” or “I play games on my Apple” or “My Apple has 48K of RAM, top that!”)
The ad made it this far, but that was the end of the road. It never ran in any publication. The stories in the ad are nice, but on further review, people wondered exactly what the point was. So what if people bought Apples, then came to work at the company? What were we selling here, and to whom? So the ad was killed. And now it’s a story.
Thanks to John Zeisler for providing a copy of the ad image.
Wow. The photo of that ad spread brought back memories buried deep. The layout; the font. 100% Apple. I can't remember the agency, but it was a great one, and obviously Jobs-directed. Actually I never see print ads at all any more, except for groceries. Times have changed and so have I, I guess.
I'm just an old geek - not an artiste - but Apple really introduced me to the idea of artistic design in everything from ads to packaging to white space and Garamond, in addition to the product itself. When I look at the listings in the apple store, it reminds of the old days of PCs - fluff words and cores and stuff. The iPods were the last products to not only be works of art but also marketed with art.
That's how I came to Apple in 1988! Macintosh by then, but I was writing code for both PCs and Macs and I realized I was tired of trying to make PCs have a decent (let alone a stellar) UI.