The Real Story Behind
Apple's 'Think Different'
Campaign
Image via Wikipedia
This post was written by Rob Siltanen, chairman and chief creative officer at Siltanen & Partners.
Apple’s remarkable rise, coupled with Steve Jobs’ recent death, has prompted quite a few people to
reflect on the historical impact of the “Think Different” ad campaign and the “To the crazy ones”
commercial that launched it. There have been a lot of different accounts of how the work was
created, who conceived it, and how it was presented to Jobs, so I thought now was a good time
to share my own perspective and give you an inside look.
How do I know what took place? I was there—right in the thick of it. I was the creative director
and managing partner at TBWA/Chiat/Day working on the Apple pitch alongside CEO and Chief
Creative Officer Lee Clow. Together, Lee and I headed up and actively participated in all of the
work done for the pitch. I was also in every agency meeting with Jobs throughout the process —
pre-pitch, pitch and post-pitch.
In writing this story, I’ve drawn from handwritten, dated creative journals I’ve diligently
chronicled throughout my agency career as well as files I saved from the 1997 Apple time period
(being a packrat often proves useful). In these journals are countless pages of notes and
concepts I jotted down during the process of trying to bring Apple back to prominence. I also
found the original “To the crazy ones” television script I presented to Jobs, as well as a plethora
of rough drafts.
While I’ve seen a few inaccurate articles and comments floating around the Internet about how
the legendary “Think Different” campaign was conceived, what prompted me to share this inside
account was Walter Isaacson’s recent, best-selling biography on Steve Jobs. In his book, Isaacson
incorrectly suggests Jobs created and wrote much of the “To the crazy ones” launch commercial.
To me, this is a case of revisionist history.
Steve was highly involved with the advertising and every facet of Apple’s business. But he was
far from the mastermind behind the renowned launch spot. In fact, he was blatantly harsh on
the commercial that would eventually play a pivotal role in helping Apple achieve one of the
greatest corporate turnarounds in business history. As you’ll learn later in my account, the soul
of the original “The crazy ones” script I presented to Jobs, as well as the original beginning and
ending of the celebrated script, all ultimately stayed in place, even though Jobs initially called
the script “shit.” I’ve also read a few less than correct accounts on how the “Think Different”
campaign was originally conceived. While several people played prominent parts in making it
happen, the famous “Think Different” line and the brilliant concept of putting the line together
with black and white photographs of time-honored visionaries was invented by an exceptionally
creative person, and dear friend, by the name of Craig Tanimoto, a TBWA/Chiat/Day art director
at the time.
I have read many wonderful things about Steve Jobs and how warm and loving he was to his
wife, children and sister. His Stanford commencement address is one of the most touching and inspiring
speeches I have ever heard. Steve was an amazing visionary, and I believe the comparisons of
him to some of the world’s greatest achievers are totally deserved. But I have also read many
critical statements about Steve, and I must say I saw and experienced his tongue lashings and
ballistic temper firsthand—directed to several others and squarely at me. It wasn’t pretty. While
I greatly respected Steve for his remarkable accomplishments and extraordinary passion, I
didn’t have much patience for his often abrasive and condescending personality. It is here, in my
opinion, that Lee Clow deserves a great deal of credit. Lee is more than a creative genius. In
working with Jobs he had the patience of a saint.
People ask me what Steve Jobs was like, and I often describe him as a mix between
Michelangelo, Mies van der Rohe and Henry Ford—with some John McEnroe and Machiavelli
thrown in. Steve was fiercely driven, and there’s no way Apple could have possibly gone from
laughingstock to “the stock you dream of owning” so swiftly without a relentless, self-confident
genius at the helm. But Steve Jobs didn’t turn Apple around by himself. Many talented and
dedicated people played key roles, and that turnaround first began with an advertising campaign
called “Think different.”
Here’s the story.
The first meeting with Steve
It was early July 1997 when Lee Clow joyfully strolled into my office and said we would be flying
to San Jose and driving to Cupertino to talk with Steve Jobs about Apple’s advertising account.
Steve had recently come back to Apple as their interim CEO, and he was looking to make some
changes. On the flight, Lee told me he firmly believed Jobs would “hand us” the account, which
at the time was housed at BBDO, the same agency that won the business from Chiat over 10
years earlier. Lee felt Chiat/Day never deserved to lose the Apple business and this, hopefully,
would be Jobs’ way of making up for the agency getting screwed over in the past.
At the time, our agency was on a roll. We had been named agency of the year by the top trade
magazines, and we were winning a lot of new business, including some major accounts without
pitching at all. I was 33 years old, and I was creative director and managing partner at the
agency where I headed up the Nissan and Infiniti accounts—the two largest accounts in the
agency network. I had recently created a famous Nissan spot called “Toys” that had been named
commercial of the year. Our Nissan and Infiniti staff consisted of some the most talented
creative people in the ad industry. We were all stoked at the thought of working on Apple and
proving our creative capabilities beyond the car business.
On the plane ride to Apple, Lee told me that if we were asked to formally pitch the business
against other agencies, he’d respectfully decline. For years Clow and I would have lunch
together, and he would tell me how wrong it was that agencies had to spend their own big
money in order to pitch accounts. Now it appeared we held all the cards, and I fully agreed with
Clow we shouldn’t pitch. Not only was the agency red hot at the time, Lee had already done the
best work in advertising history for Apple in the past. We both believed anything less than a
direct handoff would be a slap in the face.
Rob's visitor pass from Apple (photo courtesy of Rob Siltanen)
When we arrived at Apple’s headquarters, a secretary showed us to a large conference room and
said Steve would join us shortly. Lee hadn’t seen Steve in 10 years, and I was expecting Steve
would give Clow a warm embrace and a “welcome home” type of greeting. That wasn’t exactly
the case.
Jobs walked into the conference room wearing his trademark black mock turtleneck, shorts and
a pair of flip-flops. But while he looked casual, he was all business.
The hellos and introductions were very short, and there was zero time spent reminiscing about
the glory days when Lee and the old guard at Chiat helped Jobs create some of the most aweinspiring advertising of all time. Jobs basically said, “Good to see you. Thanks for coming. Now
let’s get down to business.” He then went on to say that Apple was “hemorrhaging” and the
company was in worse shape than he had imagined. He said, “We have some decent product,
but we need to get things figured out. I’m putting the advertising up for review, and I’m meeting
with a handful of agencies to see who ‘gets it.’ I’ve already been talking with a couple of
agencies that seem pretty good, and you’re invited to pitch the account if you’re interested.” At
this point I thought to myself, well, this isn’t going as planned.
Jobs went on to say that the process would be fast and he didn’t need to see fancy executions—
just some initial concepts and thinking. He said, “I’m thinking no TV ads, just some print ads in
the computer magazines until we get things figured out.” Clow remained his cool, reserved self
at this point, while I found Jobs to be far more bossy and arrogant than I imagined. I got the
impression he felt we were just another company lucky to be in his presence. I also didn’t agree
at all with his gameplan. I chimed in and told him, “Half the world thinks Apple is going to die. A
few print ads in the computer magazines aren’t going to do anything for you. You need to show
the world that Apple is as strong as a lion. Nobody stands around the water cooler talking about
print ads. You need to do something bigger and bolder. You need to do TV and other things that
are going to give you true momentum.” I went on to say that any agency could talk the talk. You
need to see actual creative executions to truly judge the power of an idea.
“Fine, show me the ideas and executions that you guys think are best,” Jobs shot back. We
weren’t getting off to a good start, but I didn’t mind playing the bad cop because I figured Lee
would put the kibosh on things very shortly. “Well, that’s up to Lee,” I said. Lee had told me just
hours earlier that we wouldn’t pitch, so I turned to Lee, thinking he was going to tell Jobs,
“Thanks, but no thanks.” Instead, Lee calmly said, “Well, if you like some of the other agencies
you’re talking with, why don’t you just go with one of them?” Jobs said he might. Lee then told
Jobs, “We’ll think it over and call you tomorrow.”
On the cab ride to the San Jose airport, I asked Clow what was going on. “I thought you said we
weren’t going to pitch?” Clow said, “I’ve changed my mind. If we win this thing, we’ll have a
great story to tell. I want to get it back.”
The creative process
Back at the agency I gathered the creative teams and briefed them on the assignment. Most of
the teams worked directly for me on the Nissan business, and a few others were junior art
directors that served as Lee’s creative assistants. There was no time to wait for a long writtenout strategy or to put together a detailed creative brief. We needed to figure out how to get
Apple back on track fast.
All of the creatives had used Apple computers for years. They were not only well aware of the
brand — they lived it and loved it every day. They really didn’t need a formal strategy. I
requested that people start creating ideas immediately and we’d review work in a week.
Meanwhile the account team, agency planners and our new business team began pulling as
much information as possible on Apple’s strengths and weaknesses in the marketplace.
(photo courtesy of Rob Siltanen)
Apple had some brand zealots in various creative industries, and we thought maybe the best
way to stop the bleeding was to do some testimonials with famous celebrities we had heard were
Apple backers. We found that people such as Steven Spielberg and Sting used Apple computers,
and so did several other prominent creative stars. Conversely, we saw a lot of articles talking
about Apple negatively — many people in the business world were calling Apple computers
“toys” that were incapable of “real” computing. Meanwhile, the press started suggesting that
buying an Apple was a dumb purchase, and they spoke freely of the fact that Apple had a
miniscule and shrinking market share while also having a fraction of the software applications of
classic PCs. Apple’s situation was outright ugly. But through ugly situations come beautiful
opportunities.
The next week we gathered in a large conference room at the agency where everyone had their
work tacked up on wallboards. The room was filled with photos, pencil sketches, rough ideas and
taglines. You know that scene in the movie “A Beautiful Mind” where the room is plastered with
paper on every inch of wall space? Well, during a new business pitch or preparation for a big
project, our conference rooms typically looked like that. This pitch was no exception. About four
different creative teams had work represented, and virtually all of it was mediocre. Through
quantity doesn’t necessarily come quality.
But there was one campaign that jumped out at me. And it jumped out in a big way.
It was a billboard campaign that had simple black and white photographs of revolutionary people
and events. One ad had a photo of Einstein. Another had a photo of Thomas Edison. Another had
a photo of Gandhi. Another had the famous photo of flowers placed in gun barrels during the
protest of the Vietnam War. At the top of each image was the rainbow-colored Apple logo and
the words “Think Different.” Nothing else.
The creator of the work was a brilliant art director named Craig Tanimoto. Craig had worked with
me for many years (mainly on the Nissan business), and he virtually always had a unique way of
looking at things. When I started my own ad agency a few years later, Craig was one of the first
creative people I hired.
Craig’s Apple campaign seemed big and fresh in a room that was filled with classic computer
shots and stereotypical celebrity photos. I loved it. But at the same time, the work seemed in
need of explanation.
I asked Craig what it all meant, and he said, “IBM has a campaign out that says “Think IBM” (it
was a campaign for their ThinkPad), and I feel Apple is very different from IBM, so I felt “Think
Different” was interesting. I then thought it would be cool to attach those words to some of the
world’s most different-thinking people.”
The rainbow-colored logo served as stark contrast to the black and white photography, and, to
me, it seemed to make the “Think Different” statement all the more bold. It was the exact kind
of attention-getting and thought-provoking advertising Apple desperately needed. Clow loved
the idea as well, and we directed everyone in the room to start blowing it out in TV and other
media.
"Think Different" Apple Sketch (photo courtesy of Rob Siltanen)
At this point, the entire team started working on television concepts, and several art directors
started finding other famous black-and-white images that would be turned into magazine ads.
Meanwhile, Clow had Jennifer Golub, one of the agency’s most talented and artistic broadcast
producers, begin looking for video footage of legendary people. Typically in a new business pitch
or when we were trying to construct a new campaign from scratch, we would build what we
called “rip-o-matics” or what are often referred to as a “mood” or “concept” videos. These
videos are usually only intended to be seen by the client, and they serve as a set-up for the
campaign. When creating television commercials, you need to keep within the network
constraints of costly 30- or 60-second time slots, but with a mood video, time isn’t an issue, and
the primary objective is to create a feeling or tone of voice.
Clow came up with the inspired idea of using Seal’s haunting song “Crazy,” with the key lyric,
“We’re never going to survive unless we get a little crazy” as the driving force to the video. I
worked with Clow on a title card explaining the concept that throughout history, true visionaries
have gone against the grain and thought differently, and Apple makes tools for these types of
people.
After the video played, a series of title cards appeared.
There are people who see the world differently.
They see things in new ways.
They invent, create, imagine.
We make tools for these kinds of people.
Because while some might see them as the crazy ones,
we see genius.
(FADE TO APPLE LOGO AND TAGLINE)
Think different.
The video, cut by Dan Bootzin, Chiat’s gifted in-house editor, was strong and moving. It was
also about two minutes long. We relentlessly tried to cut the video down to a 60-second spot,
thinking Jobs would want to turn it into a television commercial if we won the pitch, but the
lyrics wouldn’t work in the cut-down format. While I believed the video was great as a mood
piece, I always felt I could write something with more teeth and staying power. I thought if Jobs
liked the direction we were heading, then I would write a more impactful commercial later.
With the mood video finished, a great outdoor and print campaign in place and a few
storyboarded TV concepts drawn up, we had a day to do a pitch run-through at the agency. In a
traditional pitch scenario, three or four of us would have roles throughout the presentation, but
because Clow had a past relationship with Jobs and we had only one campaign to share, I
suggested Clow do the entire pitch presentation — from the thinking behind the campaign all the
way through to the creative executions. Lee was always an amazing presenter, and he was so
passionate about Apple that I felt the rest of us would only interrupt his flow. Lee and the rest of
the team agreed.
The pitch
Think Different
A small handful of us flew to San Jose, and we were directed to a very compact conference room
at Apple where we set up the presentation. Jobs walked in with a few other people from Apple,
and on that day he seemed like he was in very good spirits. Clow began the pitch, and the more
he started talking, the more enthusiastic and passionate he became. He took Jobs through our
thinking and walked him through the outdoor, print and TV spots. He closed with the mood video
and finished by saying he thought this was the right campaign and we were the right agency.
Jobs was quiet during the pitch, but he seemed intrigued throughout, and now it was time for
him to talk. He looked around the room filled with the “Think Different” billboards and said, “This
is great, this is really great … but I can’t do this. People already think I’m an egotist, and putting
the Apple logo up there with all these geniuses will get me skewered by the press.” The room
was totally silent. The “Think Different” campaign was the only campaign we had in our bag of
tricks, and I thought for certain we were toast. Steve then paused and looked around the room
and said out loud, yet almost as if to his own self, “What am I doing? Screw it. It’s the right
thing. It’s great. Let’s talk tomorrow.” In a matter of seconds, right before our very eyes, he had
done a complete about-face.
After we had officially won the business, Steve (as predicted) said he wanted to run the Seal
video as a commercial. He had become mesmerized with the video, and he wanted to cut it
down to a :60. We told him we had unsuccessfully tried this before the pitch, but we would try
some more. We tried again and again, but it still wouldn’t work. There were also some issues
with getting the rights from Seal, but that basically didn’t matter. The lyrics provided a powerful
element to the video, and when they were cut up or eliminated entirely, the piece lost its power.
Lee and I flew back to Apple to go over general business, and we told Steve the mood piece was
never intended to be a spot and it wouldn’t cut down. He wasn’t very happy about it. I told him I
would write a manifesto that would be even better. I was always moved by the movie “Dead
Poets Society,” starring Robin Williams, and particular pieces of the movie had made a major
impact on me. The emotion and the context of the movie very much related to what I wanted to
capture for Apple. Below are some key passages from “Dead Poets” that resonated with me and
ultimately served as inspiration for the Apple script.
“We must constantly look at things in a different way. Just when you think you know
something, you must look at it in a different way. Even though it may seem silly or
wrong, you must try. Dare to strike out and find new ground.”
“Despite what anyone might tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”
“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because
we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion.
Poetry, beauty, love, romance. These are what we stay alive for. The powerful play
goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”
I quoted a few lines from “Dead Poets” and asked Steve if he’d seen the movie, and he said, “Of
course I have. Robin Williams is a personal friend of mine.” I told Steve I would write something
in a similar tone of voice, and we’d come back in a week.
I went back to the agency and worked non-stop day and night. I filled my journal with countless
handwritten scripts. I wrote everything with the mindset it would be spoken by Robin Williams. I
had two sections that I loved. The opening, which I had written to feel like a titled poem …
“To the crazy ones. Here’s to the misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The people who see the
world differently.”
and the closing:
“The people who are crazy enough to believe they can change the world are the ones who
actually do.”
I felt the opening was powerful because I designed it to sync up with the images of the geniuses
and have a certain shock value. I thought about the brilliant people throughout history and the
struggles they went through. Many lived tortured existences, and it was becoming clear to me
that they shared a common thread. Like Apple, they all had amazing visions, but also like Apple,
all of them at one point or another were given unflattering labels. Martin Luther King was seen
as a troublemaker before he was universally seen as a saint, the rebellious Ted Turner was
laughed out of town when he first tried to sell the concept of a 24-hour news channel, and it’s
been said that before Einstein was celebrated as the world’s greatest thinker, he was thought to
be just a guy with crazy ideas. Of course in 1997, Apple was being called a “toy” that was only
for “creative types,” and it was being chastised for not having the same operating system as
everyone else. But I felt this copy would speak to the fans and get people who weren’t on our
side to re-evaluate their thinking and realize that being different is a good thing. Ralph Waldo
Emerson once said, “To be great is to be misunderstood,” and I always believed that was the
general concept behind the “Think Different” campaign.
Early writing for To The Crazy Ones. Rob originally wanted Robin Williams to voice the
commercial. (photo courtesy of Rob Siltanen)
I believed the end line of the script was wonderfully succinct and beautifully poetic. It was my
favorite part of the copy. I struggled a bit with the middle and wrote endless versions because
that is where the piece needs to turn the corner and speak about the relationship or
commonality that these geniuses share with Apple while not being too much of a hard sell.
Eventually, I had a few versions that I felt worked nicely. I shared my scripts with Lee, and he
thought they were good. He made a couple tweaks, and we put my voice on a 60-second rough
cut. We shared it with quite a few people around the office, and several people said it gave them
goosebumps.
continued…
Lee and I flew to Cupertino to play the spot in person to Jobs. Only the three of us were in the
room. We played the spot once, and when it finished, Jobs said, “It sucks! I hate it! It’s
advertising agency shit! I thought you were going to write something like ‘Dead Poets Society!’
This is crap!”
Clow said something like, “Well, I take it you don’t want to see it again.” And Steve continued to
go on a rant about how we should get the writers from “Dead Poets Society” or some “real
writers” to write something.
I was taken aback by his tirade. I had poured my heart and soul into the piece, and I had played
what I believed was a key role in the entire architecture of the campaign, and he was going off
on me. I told him, “Steve, you may not like the piece, but it doesn’t suck.” Jobs continued to say
he thought it was crap, and Clow, trying to put the fire out, said we’d go back and try some
other things.
The original script we presented to Jobs (as taken from my files) is below. As you can see, it’s
very close to the final script that would eventually go to air.
To the crazy ones.
Here’s to the misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.
Here’s to the ones who see the world differently.
They’re the ones who invent and imagine and create.
They’re the ones who push the human race forward.
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to believe they can change the world are
the ones who actually do.
FADE TO APPLE LOGO AND LINE “Think different.”
When Clow and I left the building, I told Clow I had given the script everything I had, and I
thought it was best he get someone else to deal with Jobs. I told him Apple had taken up a ton
of my time, and I needed to spend more time on my duties as creative director on the agency’s
two largest accounts, Nissan and Infiniti. Clow agreed.
When we returned to the agency, I went back to putting my energies into our car clients.
Meanwhile, Lee put the Apple TV assignment out to various copywriters within the agency and
brought in a few noted freelancers, too. One of the writers given the assignment was Ken Segall.
Ken was a highly gifted writer/creative director who was hired shortly after we won the Apple
business. Ken had worked with Jobs in the past, and Clow convinced Ken to leave his job at an
agency in New York (Y&R) and work for us in Los Angeles on the Apple business. Upon Ken’s
arrival in L.A., he was quickly given the task to work on the TV script along with all the other
writers. One day, Ken came to my office and said, “Jobs has seen a ton of scripts, and he’s gone
full circle …we’re moving ahead with your ‘Crazy Ones’ script. I made some tweaks. I hope you
don’t mind.”
Ken had added some beautiful additions to the TV script, and he created a long copy version of
the script that was turned into a magazine and newspaper ad. His additional touches were
terrific, and he truly did make the spot better than ever, but the heart and soul of the spot from
the original version stayed fully intact.
While I had always hoped Robin Williams would be the voice over, he refused to do any form of
advertising, so they ended up going with Richard Dreyfuss. I always felt Tom Hanks or Dreyfuss
would be the next best choices. Clow always wanted Jobs to do the read, and I’ve heard the
version Jobs laid down, but I never thought it was the right thing. It seemed too self-serving to me. I
think the selection of Dreyfuss was an excellent one. I later used Robin Williams to voice a
campaign for the Olympics — he obliged because it was pro-bono — and he was truly amazing.
But Dreyfuss gave the “Crazy Ones” spot a slow, gritty and unique read that made each word
seem all the more important. In my mind, Dreyfuss ended up being the perfect choice, and he
would have been next to impossible to top.
After the outdoor campaign went up and the spot aired, it wasn’t long before Apple became the
talk of the town. Some of the talk wasn’t good. A writer for the Los Angeles Times ripped on the
campaign, saying something along the lines of, “It’s perfect that Apple is doing a campaign with
a bunch of dead guys because the brand will be dead soon, too.” But the great thing was—good
or bad—people were talking about a brand that had fallen off their radar. And they were talking
a lot. Apple clearly had a pulse, and while they weren’t strong as a lion, they certainly gave the
impression they were. This got the Apple faithful fired up, it got the fence-sitters back on board,
and it got an audience that once thought of Apple as semi-cool, but semi-stupid to suddenly
think about the brand in a whole new way. Apple was off to the races and about to make history.
Next: How “Think Different” transformed Apple
Final thoughts
Think Different
While Steve Jobs didn’t create the advertising concepts, he does deserve an incredible amount of
credit. He was fully responsible for ultimately pulling the trigger on the right ad campaign from
the right agency, and he used his significant influence to secure talent and rally people like no
one I’ve ever seen before. Without Steve Jobs there’s not a shot in hell that a campaign as
monstrously big as this one would get even close to flying off the ground. But while Steve
accomplished more amazing things than perhaps any business person before him, a lot of people
helped him get there. And without some very dedicated advertising people, Apple’s incredible
rise from flame to fame probably never would have happened.
When the “Think Different” campaign launched, Apple immediately felt the boost despite having
no significant new products. Within 12 months, Apple’s stock price tripled. A year after the
“Think Different” launch, Apple introduced their multi-colored iMacs. The computers represented
revolutionary design, and they became some of the best-selling computers in history. But
without the “Think Different” campaign preceding and supporting them, it’s likely the jellybeancolored and gumdrop-shaped machines would have been viewed by the press and general public
as just more “toys” from Apple.
Even with my painful run-ins with Steve, things ended up working out pretty well. The “Think
Different” campaign would win many awards, and the “Crazy Ones” would go on to win several
commercial-of-the-year honors.
The creative credits had many of us listed—and Clow made sure to put Steve Jobs on the list,
too. I always thought that was cool because the campaign truly required the contribution and
dedication of many. Craig Tanimoto and I would go on to do a lot of enjoyable work for other
brands, and we remain the closest of friends. Ken Segall would go on to create the wonderful
iMac launch campaign and do tons of outstanding work for Apple before eventually returning to
New York.
Several other brilliant creative people made sizeable contributions as well—people such as
Yvonne Smith, Margaret Midget Keen, Jessica Shulman, Jennifer Golub and Dan Bootzin
dedicated their talent and enormous amounts of time to the Apple cause. So did Chiat’s
remarkable media director, Monica Karro. And outstanding creative people such as Duncan
Milner, Eric Grunbaum and Susan Alinsangan have kept the flame burning with one fantastic
campaign after the next — all thanks to the enduring talent, guidance and patience of Lee Clow.
Despite the sad death of Steve Jobs, his legacy and impact on the world will be remembered
forever. I can’t help but to think that his life may have been cut short, but his memory will
outlast us all. Apple seems to have done pretty well, too. In 1997, they were in deep trouble,
and this year, they were ranked the most valuable company in the world. Crazy? You better
believe it.
About the Author
Rob spent ten of his 23 years in the advertising business at TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles. In
1990, at the age of 26, he was made the youngest creative director in the history of the agency
and headed Chiat/Day’s largest account for nine years. Before his departure in his role as
creative director/managing partner Rob oversaw five accounts with total media billings of over
$700 million. His accomplishments include: Time magazine commercial of the year, Rolling
Stone magazine commercial of the year, USA Today commercial of the year, Adweek commercial
of the year, the Emmy award for commercial of the year, five commercials in the permanent
collection at the New York Museum of Modern Art, the most successful new-model launch in
automotive history and the winning of virtually every top advertising-industry honor, from Gold
One Show to Gold Clio to Grand Effie.
Rob and his imaginative work have been featured in articles by The New York Times, The
Washington Post, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. He has also discussed his work on a
variety of television programs including Good Morning America and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Since forming Siltanen & Partners in November 1999, Rob’s work has continued to receive the
highest acclaim. His ad campaign for Freeinternet.com, featuring a character called “Baby Bob,”
was turned into a sitcom for CBS. The Baby Bob Show was the first prime-time sitcom inspired
by an advertising character, and was the 26th-highest-rated television show in America.