Steve Jobs’ Nike Lesson to Apple Employees

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, more than a decade after being ousted from the company he helped create, he faced a major challenge: restoring Apple’s identity and reconnecting the brand with consumers.

Jobs believed Apple needed to move beyond simply promoting computers and their technical specifications. During a town hall meeting with employees, he explained how Nike had built a powerful identity despite selling what was essentially a commodity.

“Nike sells a commodity, they sell shoes. And yet when you think of Nike, you feel something different than a shoe company. In their ads, as you know, they don’t ever talk about the product, they don’t ever talk about their air soles, how they’re better than Reebok’s air soles,” Steve Jobs said.

For Jobs, Nike’s success came from what the company represented rather than the products sitting on store shelves.

“What’s Nike do in their advertising? They honour great athletes and they honour great athletics. That is what they are about,” he added.

Jobs then used the example to explain what he believed Apple should stand for. The company, he argued, was not merely about producing computers and other technology. Its identity needed to be rooted in a larger idea.

"What we're about isn't making boxes for people to get their jobs done although we do that well. We do that better than almost anybody. But Apple is about something more than that. Apple, at its core value, is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better."

He also described marketing as a way of communicating a company's values clearly in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

"To me, marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world.

It's a very noisy world. And we're not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. So, we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us."

That meant Apple should avoid getting lost in technical jargon or direct comparisons with competitors.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kahekashan

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Kahekashan is a passionate technophile with a keen eye for cutting-edge gadgets, emerging technologies, and everything in the digital realm. Raised in a Defence family with strong values and a background in literature, she has consistently pursued excellence in every endeavour. Her last full-time assignment involved content writing with the Indian School of Business.

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