We all know Apple. But let’s talk about the GOAT.

We throw around GOAT (Greatest of All Time for my millennials and up) for athletes, artists, and yes, even that one ex who’s suddenly into mindfulness.

But the real GOAT?

It’s an ad campaign.

One that revived a dying tech company. One that never once mentioned the product. One that tripled a stock price. One that turned a brand into a movement.

And no, it wasn’t just Steve Jobs behind it.

It was a team of unsung heroes, the creatives, strategists, and beautiful misfits at TBWA\Chiat\Day who saw beyond the product and sold us something far stickier, identity.

* Flashback to 1997 when Apple was on life support *

Macintosh had dropped below 5% global market share. The company had 90 days of cash left. The world had moved on.

So they brought back Steve Jobs.

Charismatic. Uncompromising. Turtleneck-wearing visionary.

But even he knew, Apple didn’t just need better tech. It needed a soul.

And that shift didn’t begin in Cupertino. It started in a pitch room.

The quiet spark? A wildly creative art director named Craig Tanimoto.

He mocked up a few rough sketches. Einstein. Gandhi. Edison. All in black-and-white. A rainbow Apple logo. And one line that said everything without saying much at all:

Think Different.

No product. No copy-heavy manifesto. Just vision. Just belief.

Jobs almost turned it down. But he didn’t. And that almost saved his name, his pride, and his company.

The script that would become advertising legend was originally inspired by the film Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams. Raw, poetic, and rebellious at its core.

Written by Rob Siltanen, refined by Ken Segall, and delivered in the iconic voice of Richard Dreyfuss, the spot came to life.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers…”

And just like that (she said channeling her inner Carrie Bradshaw),

Apple stopped being a company. It became a cause.

Here’s what most people miss:

There was no shiny new product. There were no features to show off.

What they had was storytelling rooted in strategy.

They weren’t selling a computer. They were selling the why. They were selling you, to you.

And that, my friends, is what great marketing does.

Because when done right, marketing doesn’t just create customers. It creates believers.

A cult following that doesn’t just buy, they evangelize. They tattoo the logo. Camp outside the store. Drag their partners. Gift your product like it’s sacred.

This is the halo effect in full force.

When your brand’s perception becomes so magnetic, it carries your entire product ecosystem on its back.

You’re no longer buying a phone. You’re buying a belief system. You’re not joining a user base. You’re joining a tribe.

So here’s your reminder:

Product can be copied. Value props can be matched. But brand? Brand is religion.

And religion is built by those behind the curtain.

The strategists. The copywriters. The art directors. The misfits.

The unsung heroes who see not just what’s in front of them but what it could become.

So the next time someone shrugs and says, “It’s just an ad.” Tell them about the campaign that saved a company. Tell them about the agency that gave Apple its soul back. Tell them about TBWA\Chiat\Day. Tell them about Craig Tanimoto. Tell them about the time the creatives changed the world, with two words, and no product.

And that? That’s the Greatest. Of. All. Time.