Apple
Apple celebrated its 40 year anniversary in 2016 with a number of references to its past in advertising. It released a video celebrating its 40 years in 40 seconds and an Apple Music playlist with music from its ads, which have helped position the company as an industry leader.
We chose the most important Apple commercial from each year since the company's watershed advertising moment at the Super Bowl in 1984.
From the celebrity-packed "Here's to the Crazy Ones," to the beginning of Apple's memorable demonstration-style ads, here are its best commercial hits.
Julien Rath contributed reporting to this article. Will Heilpern contributed to an earlier version of this post.
1984 — "1984"Wikimedia CommonsIn 1984, Apple introduced the Macintosh personal computer during the Super Bowl with a vision. The ad was directed by Ridley Scott. Apple's board of directors at the time hated the video, calling it "the worst commercial they had ever seen,"according to Walter Isaacson.
However, despite these initial doubts, "1984" became what some people consider the greatest TV ad of all time and it is in the Clio Awards Hall of Fame. After the ad came out, Apple went onto to sell 72,000 computers in 100 days, twice as many as had been anticipated, according to Forbes.
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1985 - "Lemmings"Steve Jobs — Fortune
Still on a high from its incredibly successful 1984 ad campaign, Apple hoped it could repeat its success with "Lemmings." Made by the same creative team as the year before and directed by Ridley Scott's brother Tony, Apple looked to replicate a similar formula.
However, "Lemmings," which featured mass suicide, turned into a complete disaster for Apple.
Viewers called the ad "insulting" and, due to relatively poor results following the commercial, Apple was forced to get rid of 20% of its staff. Founder Steve Jobs also left the company in 1985.
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1986 — "The Power To Be Your Best"Lecollector.net
Apple's "The Power To Be Your Best" slogan began in the 1980s.
A mark of its success is that it was used well into the next decade.
The campaign faced some criticism by ad experts for failing to pick out Apple computers specifically, rather than computers in general. However, the campaign was largely successful.
It was even parodied by Saturday Night Live, becoming "The Power To Crush Other Kids."
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1987 — "Hard Sell"
Back in the 1980s, IBM dominated the business computer market.
Apple wanted to move to increase its share, with what it perceived as better computers than its competitor. "Hard Sell" from 1987 shows Apple's frustration.
Apple had a famous rivalry with IBM, which lasted well into the 21st century.
However, in 2014, Apple and IBM announced a huge partnership for business customers, formally marking the end of the antagonism between the two tech giants.
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1988 — "Pencil Test"Wikimedia Commons
In 1988, Apple released a short film made in collaboration with Pixar called the "Pencil Test" to show the capacity of the Apple Macintosh II for creating animations.
The film shows a pencil escaping the computer screen, before trying to get back. Bonus fact: "Ratatouille" producer Galyn Susman was listed on the credits for the ad.
Additional bonus fact: Steve Jobs, who resigned from Apple in 1985 before returning to the company in 1997, purchased the graphics computer division from George Lucas' company to create Pixar in 1986.
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