How Would You Save
Apple?
Cry the Beloved
Company
by ToddK1
"Cry the Beloved Company"
The Story of How Apple Achieved Greatness
and How It Can Do It Again
The second best thing Apple ever did was to remind the world that IBM was
a big, ugly, corporate behemoth that was worthy of being despised. That was
way back in 1984 when Apple began its snazzy television campaign depicting
Big Blue as Big Brother, pitted against a single Orwellian hero who had the
courage to hurl a hammer at the monolith, shattering it for good, and freeing
the laborers that slaved under its rule. The advertisement was also a smash,
and people began their love affair with Apple.
That was when Apple was cocky. It was much smaller than it is now and its
products were far less useful. But like the hero of its television ads, Apple
relished its status as an underdog and used it to take on the big guys. Jobs
and Wozniak were very much the David and Tom Gardner of the computing world.
When the establishment demanded conformity, Apple offered simplicity, common
sense, and a product that worked. And they were fearless in doing so. That
was back when a 20-something Steve Jobs could walk into the office of Pepsi
CEO John Sculley, and say: "Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest
of your life, or do you want to change the world?" The status of the underdog
and an unconquerable self-assurance are so rarely seen in combination, that
people realized that Apple must be right. And they were.
That is why Apple must remember what made them great. I'm not talking about
their little-guy image in the PC world, their base of customer loyalty, or
even their products. They still possess those qualities in abundance. I'm
talking about attitude. Sheer brazenness. A willingness to tell the big guy
to stick it where the sun don't shine. The same way Dick Cavett told off
Norman Mailer in their famous exchange some twenty years ago. From top to
bottom, everyone at Apple needs to regain the confidence to tell the bullies
at school to go home. I'm asking Apple to pick a fight with Microsoft, because
if they do, the people will follow them just like they did thirteen years
ago.
Specifically, Apple must act like it's 1984 all over again. Only this time
Bill Gates is Big Brother and not Big Blue. A month before Rhapsody hits
the market, I want to see larger-than-life black-and-white advertisements
depicting a huge corporate office full of Bill Gates clones slaving away
mindlessly at their Wintel machines. Everyone in the office looks just like
Gates, from the thick-bridged eyeglasses right down to the
but-Mom-told-me-to-comb-it-straight-downwards hairstyle. All of a sudden,
a giant 500-foot tall macintosh apple descends from the heavens above, squashing
the Wintel drones and sending them to a premature doom. Then I want to see
Apple products -- lots of them. A colorful paradise of Performas, Powerbooks,
and Power PCs roaming a corporate universe liberated from Wintel hell. And
people. Smiling, happy people side by side with Macintosh products. Apple
has made a lot of people happy to use computers, and they're going to need
those same people once again if Apple is to have a future.
And I want to see these ads so many times and in so many places that after
the first week, I'm completely sick of seeing them. They must be on television,
in print, at the bus stops, on park benches, hockey games, highway billboards,
and especially on the internet. There must be so many ads that if an alien
life form were to come down to earth, it would say to itself, "what is an
Apple, and where can I get one?"
If it sounds like I'm getting carried away with Apple grandeur here (and
I think that I am), then I go overboard only to remind the executives at
Apple to be fearless in its quest of self-promotion just one more time. The
company is struggling for its very existence and it must take extreme measures
if it is to stay alive. And I cannot think of a company that is worth preserving
more than Apple. The world has always admired their ability to take on the
big guys. But for the past five years we've been scratching our heads, wondering
where that killer instinct has gone. And even if such a plan were to fail,
isn't it best to lose to your inferiors with a good fight than to bow out
with a whimper? To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: Every man kills the thing he loves...
the brave man does it with a sword!
Knock 'em dead, Apple!!
ToddK1
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