Friday, November 18, 2011

Conventional Wisdom

Conventional wisdom often fails.
Below paraphrased  from Chapter Fifteen, "The Launch"

When Apple's "1984" commercial was screened by Apple's board before it was to be played at the Super Bowl, the board was aghast at the ad. So Apple's board asked Chiat/Day to sell off the two commercial spots. Steve Jobs was beside himself--so when Wozniak was strolling the Macintosh building, Jobs pulled him over, and played the ad in a VCR. Wozniak asked how much the ad would cost. Jobs said $800,000. Woz said he would pay for half of the ad if Steve would also. Chiat/Day then told Apple , (in an act of defiance) that they couldn't see the 60 second spot, and the ad ran.

The ad was eventually selected by TV Guide and Advertising Age as the greatest commercial of all time.



It just shows that misplaced conventional wisdom doesn't only exist among the NFL pundits!

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