I’m a sucker for Apple history, and I particularly enjoy hearing from the people who had an impact on shaping Steve Jobs into the incredible force of nature that he became.
In a new interview with John Sculley, the former Apple CEO sheds some light on what may have been his single biggest lasting impact on Apple: the drive toward making the experience of using an Apple product one of the company’s most important focuses.
Sculley catches a lot of flack for being the CEO who kicked Jobs out of Apple back in 1985, but after Jobs and Tim Cook he was the best of CEO Apple ever had, and someone who’s always interesting to hear talk about Apple. In this particular video he shares his thoughts on the original Macintosh ad and why Apple trumps everyone else at marketing.
More of Sculley’s thoughts after the jump.
On what Apple borrowed from Pepsi, where Sculley had been CEO:
“When Steve Jobs and I met in the early days, long before I joined Apple, and we were getting to know one another, he was fascinated about the idea of selling his new computer he was building called the Macintosh, which wasn’t yet fully developed, [using] the marketing techniques we as consumer branders were using in what was then known as the Cola Wars, Pepsi versus Coke. He loved the Pepsi Challenge. I said, ’Steve, what we learned is it’s all about the experience. We never talk about the product details, we only try to capture the experience.’
Several years later we introduced the first Macintosh, we did a commercial in the Superbowl, which was called 1984, and what was remarkable about that commercial, particularly for a high-tech product, we never once showed the product or mentioned any technical characteristics of the product.
What we did was to sell an experience, that something incredible was going to happen on January 24, 1984 … It became one of the most legendary commercials ever made, and it was actually inspired by the work we did back at Pepsi.”
On what Apple does right in its marketing:
“There are still some very good experience advertising campaigns, and guess who runs some of the best: Apple. What’s really interesting to me is that Samsung and Microsoft way outspend Apple by a mile on how much money they put behind their advertising. And yet everyone seems to remember the Apple commercials. Can you remember a Microsoft commercial, or a Samsung commercial? Apple always focuses on the experience. It will rarely talk about how many bits or bytes or memory, or other characteristics of the product.”
A similar theory about how Apple sells experiences was recently put forward by former ad exec Ken Segall to explain why Apple proves so extraordinary resilient to controversies like Bendgate.
Via: The Loop
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
15 responses to “Former CEO John Sculley explains how Apple sells experiences”
Why does anyone care what this failed buffoon Sculley has to say?
Anyone who’s not an Apple sheep?
Steve Jobs would have driven Apple into the ground if he wasn’t fired back in the 80s.
The original Macintosh was a flop. The Apple II was keeping Apple afloat… Steve Jobs was trying to get rid of it as fast as possible.
It was a very good thing that Steve Jobs was fired, so he could mature and gain better perspective.
You also forget that Sculleyleft the company with an $2 billion surplus.
But if Steve Jobs goes baahhhhh then you sheep go baaaaahhh too.
This is believe Job’s said himself, Although the pain was unbearable at the time of being kicked out of apple he did need time to mature and come back and be the great man we all knew.
‘The original Macintosh was a flop’ has to be one of the least well-informed bits of anti-Apple propaganda ever written.
The original Mac was a work of genius by about 100 of the most talented computer engineers, programmers, designers and scientists ever assembled under one roof. Guys like Bill Atkinson, Andy Hertzfeld, Jeff Raskin, Larry Tesler, Susan Kare, Dan Kottke, Steve Wozniak. It changed the face of computing forever. 30+ years later its influence is still felt directly today in every computer being sold, everywhere. Steve Jobs chose, inspired and led that team. Like the man or loathe him, let’s not deny him credit for that.
Mindless Mac-bashing is a sport practiced by fourth rate minds who wouldn’t have been employed to empty the trashcans of the Mac development team.
I’m not discrediting the Mac changing the world. Obviously inspired Microsoft since they copied the very essence of the OS and change the world by putting a computer on every desktop.
Financially, the Mac was a flop. This is indisputable. If Apple dropped the Apple II and put all of its marketing budget into the Mac like Steve wanted, Apple would be out of business. The Mac DID NOT surpass the Apple II in sales until 1990.
It also failed to capture significant marketshare for Apple.
Compare this to the iPad, which surpassed Mac sales in less than 1 year of release.
It’s not mindless hate. I love my Macs but these are the facts.
I agree with this. Apple’s commercials are able to show you what the device is capable of without going into silly specs. All other OEMs either taunt apple or list random specs that do little to improve the user experience.
I also agree. But I don’t think Sculley was the man that had the idea to use this sort of advertising at Apple. Probably trying to take credit for something Jobs came up with.
The man nearly drove Apple out of business. People seem to forget that.
Do you have any first hand knowledge or do you believe everything you read on the web? Sculley left the company with cash in excess of $2 billion and $8 million revenue. There were two ceos after Sculley before Jobs came back. Sculley did not drive Apple out of business and if you checked the history you will find out the real story. Read Sculley’s new book Moonshot or Walter Isaacson’s book Jobs and maybe get a little education in the truth instead of maligning people you don’t even know
I don’t have any first hand knowledge – but neither do you. I’ve read Isaacson’s book, but have not read Sculley’s (not sure why someone would read a book by the person on whom you’re trying to get objective information on). I did not say that Sculley drove Apple out of business – I said he “nearly” did so. Just because Apple still showed positive revenue when he was finally ousted, doesn’t mean he didn’t damage the company. He was a bean counter who tried to squeeze every ounce of profitability out of Apple’s existing products rather than investing in its future. He made some huge mistakes – mis-pricing the Mac Lisa (causing it to flop) and moving the Mac towards PowerPC rather than Intel. His actions cost the company a lot of momentum. I don’t have much good to say about the two CEOs that followed Sculley either – but they don’t tout their accomplishments at Apple, so there’s no need to comment.
You should heed your own advice: stop maligning people you don’t even know.
Seriously? Like “the soda pop king” would know an experience if he feel over one. Under his leadership Apple had almost 60 variants of “Mac” on the market. The ONLY good thing he did was Newton but he shipped it WAY before it was ready and WAY before Apple knew what it really was.
so he peaked in 1984, shame but a reality, he doesn’t once talk about HIS achievements, but Pepsi’s and now he’s running a shitty little company and needs the air time – OH and look how great I was at apple a life time ago!!!
Hey John how is the wolverine phone going!! Jesus how people rewrite history to suit themselves makes me a bit vexed!! He has contributed zero to society other than tooth decay.
And yet everyone seems to remember the Apple commercials.
Actually I can’t think of one. Like all ads they attempt to create need/excitement where none exists and sane people ignore all of them.
Surely you remember, “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” – I don’t even have a TV and those clearly stood out.
The hostility toward Sculley is really out of place. Was he perfect? Was he Steve Jobs? No. However, Jobs was not sainted when he left Apple the first time. I had friends who were Apple fanatics back in the mid-80 to mid-90s and while they missed Jobs’ style, they stayed loyal to the company. They agreed that Jobs’ was not CEO material back then. Somebody HAD to be keeping the lights on, and that was Sculley to a large degree. Did he make mistakes and need to be replaced himself? Of course, but much of the hostility directed toward him is immature and juvenile and does a disservice to Apple fans.
I revere Steve Jobs and study him, but the best thing that ever happened to him and Apple was being fired by Sculley. For that, if nothing else, we should be thankful.