You’ve seen the grainy black-and-white footage of Lennon, Gandhi, and Ali. You've heard the raspy, rhythmic narration. Here is for the crazy ones—the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers. It’s arguably the most famous manifesto in advertising history, but most people actually get its origin story wrong. They think Steve Jobs wrote it. He didn’t. They think it was an immediate hit. It wasn't exactly that simple.
In 1997, Apple was bleeding. Seriously, the company was about 90 days from bankruptcy. Michael Dell famously said if he were in charge, he’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders. Jobs had just returned to a fractured company and needed a "North Star" to stop the bleeding. He didn't have a new product to sell yet—the iMac was still a secret project. So, he sold a philosophy instead.
The Script That Saved a Trillion Dollars
The heavy lifting for the "Think Different" campaign happened at TBWA\Chiat\Day. Rob Siltanen and Ken Segall were the primary architects. Siltanen actually wrote the initial draft of the "Crazy Ones" poem. When he first showed it to Jobs, Steve hated it. He called it "advertising agency sh*t."
It’s wild to think the poem that defines Apple’s soul was almost tossed in the trash because it felt too "sentimental" to the man who eventually voiced the internal version.
Eventually, the copy was refined. It became a lean, punchy ode to non-conformity. The brilliance of here is for the crazy ones wasn't just the prose; it was the audacity. Apple was asking you to associate a beige computer box with Martin Luther King Jr. and Albert Einstein. It was a massive gamble on brand association over technical specs. In the late 90s, everyone else was talking about megahertz and RAM. Apple talked about changing the world.
Who was actually in the ad?
The selection process for the "Crazy Ones" was grueling. They needed people who didn't just have talent, but who had fundamentally shifted the human trajectory. We're talking about:
- Albert Einstein: For reimagining the universe.
- Bob Dylan: For turning folk music into a political and poetic weapon.
- Thomas Edison: For literally lighting up the dark.
- Maria Callas: For redefining the emotional stakes of opera.
- Mahatma Gandhi: For proving power could be peaceful.
They didn't pay these estates millions. Most of the families or the icons themselves (like Joan Baez) agreed to participate because they actually respected what Apple was trying to do. It felt like a movement, not a pitch.
Why the "Misfit" Narrative Actually Works
Humans have a deep-seated desire to feel like they belong to an elite "out-group." It sounds like a contradiction, right? We want to be part of a tribe, but a tribe that is smarter and cooler than the rest. By starting with the line here is for the crazy ones, Apple gave permission to every creative professional, student, and dreamer to stop feeling like an outsider and start feeling like a pioneer.
It’s classic psychological branding.
If you use a PC, you’re a user. If you use a Mac, you’re a "crazy one." That distinction built a moat around Apple that no hardware spec could ever breach. Honestly, it’s the reason people still line up for iPhones today even when the camera upgrades are incremental. They aren't buying a phone; they are renewing their membership in the "Think Different" club.
The Jobs vs. Dreyfuss Mystery
There are two versions of the narration. The one the world heard on TV was voiced by Richard Dreyfuss. But there’s a "lost" version voiced by Steve Jobs himself.
Jobs originally recorded it because he wanted the ad to be deeply personal. But then he did something surprisingly humble: he pulled his own voice. He felt that if he narrated it, the ad would become about him, not the company. He wanted the focus on the icons and the customers.
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Dreyfuss brought a certain theatrical, gravelly weight to it. "The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." When you hear that line, it doesn't sound like a corporate slogan. It sounds like a prophecy.
The technical structure of the prose
The writing in here is for the crazy ones follows a specific cadence. Notice the lack of conjunctions. It’s a list of nouns that builds tension.
- The misfits.
- The rebels.
- The troublemakers.
- The round pegs in the square holes.
This is a linguistic device called asyndeton. It makes the speech feel faster, more urgent, and more defiant. If they had used "and" between every word, the magic would have evaporated. It would have sounded like a grocery list.
Why Branding "Crazy" Is Harder Today
In 1997, being a "rebel" meant something specific. It meant you were counter-culture. Today, Apple is the culture. They are the most valuable company on the planet. Can the biggest player in the game still claim to be for the "round pegs in the square holes"?
It’s a tough sell.
Modern marketing has moved toward "authenticity," but often lands on "manufactured relatability." The here is for the crazy ones campaign succeeded because it was unapologetically elitist in its intellectualism. It didn't try to be for everyone. It explicitly stated it was for the people who "have no respect for the status quo."
Most brands today are too afraid of Twitter (X) mobs to say they "have no respect" for anything. They want to be liked by everyone. Apple’s 1997 strategy was about being loved by a few and misunderstood by the rest.
Real-World Application: How to Use This Logic
You don't need a billion-dollar budget to use the "Crazy Ones" framework. It's basically a three-step psychological ladder:
1. Identify the Enemy
The enemy in the Apple ad wasn't Microsoft. It was "the status quo." It was "the way things have always been done." If you’re building a brand or a project, don't fight a competitor. Fight a boring idea.
2. Celebrate the Struggle
The ad doesn't say being a misfit is easy. It says "you can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them." It acknowledges the friction. People trust you more when you admit that being different is hard.
3. The Visionary Payoff
Always end with the "Why." They change things. They push the human race forward. Your brand needs to explain how your customer’s "craziness" or "difference" actually leads to a better result for the world.
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The Legacy of the 1997 Manifesto
We still talk about this because it was the last time a major corporation took a poetic stand. Most corporate manifestos are written by committees and polished until they are smooth, shiny, and completely devoid of soul.
Here is for the crazy ones had rough edges. It was a poem disguised as a commercial.
It taught us that people don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. Simon Sinek made a whole career out of that concept, but Apple lived it in '97. They didn't show a single computer in the initial TV spot. Not one. Think about the guts that took. You're dying, you're broke, and you spend your last few million dollars on an ad that doesn't even show your product.
That is actually crazy. And that’s exactly why it worked.
Actionable Takeaways for Your Brand
- Stop listing features. If your marketing is just a list of "what" you do, you’re a commodity. Find the "who" you are for.
- Embrace the polarizing. Apple wasn't afraid to say "they’re not fond of rules." Who are you okay with offending? If you aren't for someone specific, you're for no one.
- Use rhythmic copy. Read your writing out loud. If it doesn't have a heartbeat—a cadence of short and long sentences—start over.
- Reference giants. Link your brand to the values of people or movements that your audience already admires. Don't be a copycat, be a kin.
- Keep it simple. The most powerful line in the whole campaign was just two words: Think Different.
If you're trying to build something that lasts, you have to realize that the "safe" path is usually the one that leads to being forgotten. The world is built by people who are willing to look a little bit ridiculous in the short term. Because honestly, the people who are crazy enough to think they can change things are the only ones who ever actually do.
Find your "crazy ones." Speak directly to them. Ignore the rest. That is how you build a legacy that people are still writing about thirty years later.