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Legendary ad man Lee Clow talks about Steve Jobs' love of branding and more
While speaking at the PTTOW! summit last May, legendary ad executive and TBWA Global Director and Chairman Lee Clow reminisced fondly about his 30-year journey "looking into the future" with Steve Jobs. He was 25 years old, when I met Steve. And he was already this passionate, intense. He and Wozniak invented this thing called the personal computer. Wozniak was just kind of into it for the hobby kind deal. Steve looked at it and said, "This is going to change everything." Clow touched on a number of topics, but his story regarding Jobs' love of branding is particularly interesting. Clow said that Jobs loved brands, having grown up admiring both Sony and Polaroid not only for furnishing cool products, but also because they represented the type of branding he admired. Clow explains that in calling the company "Apple", Jobs may have been influenced by Sony which in 1958 changed the company name from Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo to Sony because it was a "charming, kind of fun, sunny, nice name." Another theory, not mentioned by Clow, is that Sony was chosen because it was easy to pronounce in any language. Drawing a parallel between that and Jobs' decision to name his company Apple, Clow explained: I think, even though I'm sure he didn't think it through, that his intuition told him that he'd introduce the world to technology that was going to change everyone's life and do special things, but at the same time, it was going to be new, it was going to be scary, and people weren't going to know what to do with a computer, or if they even needed one. So he thought - Apple. Maybe if it's named something non-threatening, something likeable, something you could trust, I think he intuitively understood that that was gonna be a more graceful way for people to come to this technology that he believed would be so amazing and change our lives. Also interesting, and clearly a principle that seeps into every aspect of Apple's products, was Jobs' belief that everything a brand does is a de facto advertisement. "Steve figured out," Clow said, "that every way a brand touches you is a message, and it's either a positive message or it's a message that kind of contradicts what you thought about the brand." That said, Clow relayed how Jobs and Apple from the very beginning left no detail to chance. Clow explained that his company even helped write the manuals for the original Mac because Jobs wanted it to be accessible to the masses, not written in technical jargon that would inevitably alienate and confuse consumers. That attention to detail, Clow continued, is also evident in Apple's unique approach to packaging, and of course, Apple's retail stores which Clow once told Jobs were the best ads Apple ever did. There are a lot more interesting nuggets in the full video below. It's well worth watching.
Apple's ad man changes roles, but another Apple fan will take his place
Update: As our loyal commenters have pointed out, Gizmodo (which was among the first sites to report that Clow was changing roles, echoing a piece in the industry journal Advertising Age) has followed up with an internal email from Clow where he says Miller's promotion does not imply that Clow is stepping away from his own leadership role with the company, including "keeping an eye on Apple." --- When many people think of Apple, they think of the ad campaigns that the company has used over the years: The original "1984" Super Bowl ad that introduced the Mac to the world The "Think Different" campaign that coincided with the return of Steve Jobs to the company The iPod dancing silhouettes "There's an app for that" -- the iPhone ads "Hello, I'm a Mac. And I'm a PC." -- the Get A Mac ads Apple's advertising agency is TBWA / Media Arts Lab, and the person who has been the creative force behind all of these ads is a man by the name of Lee Clow. The 66 year-old Clow has decided to step down as chief creative officer at the agency, although he'll remain chairman and global director of Media Arts Lab and fulfill other roles within TBWA. Clow's replacement is no stranger to Apple. Duncan Milner is currently the executive creative director on the Apple account and is considered by many in the advertising industry to be the perfect replacement for Clow, a close friend of Steve Jobs.
Apple's main ad man thinks different, steps down as Macs battle PCs like it's 1984
Apple's certainly seen plenty of shakeups in its ranks over the years and, while this one may not exactly come as a shock, it's still tough to overstate the influence of Lee Clow, who has announced that he's stepping down as chief creative officer of Apple's main ad agency, TBWA/Media Arts Lab. While he also made his mark with a range of other clients (including the Energizer Bunny and the Taco Bell Chihuahua), Clow was most closely identified with Apple, and founded the Media Arts Lab as part of TBWA in 2006 specifically to serve the company. Clow has been the man behind virtually every major Apple advertising campaign even before that, however, including the famous 1984 Superbowl ad, the "Think Different" series, the dancing iPod silhouettes and, of course, the Mac vs. PC ads. Not surprisingly, another Apple ad man, Duncan Milner, has been tapped to take his place, and Clow will be staying on as Chairman if he ever needs a little advice. Let's head on past the break for a brief trip down memory lane, shall we? [Via Macworld]
