I love discovering how different the view of an advertising campaign can be before it launches versus after it has run. 

I am reading Steve Jobs Biography (well technically I’m listening to it, since I bought the audio version) and I got to the part about the 1984 Super Bowl ad for the MacIntosh computer.  Here it is:

Now when this commercial was aired at Apple for the first time, the first comment was…

to ask if who was interested in dismissing their advertising agency entirely. There was agreement among the executives to sell their two reserved Super Bowl ad spots, a 30-second spot and a 60-secod spot.

Steve Jobs liked it, but it seemed he was about the only one who did. At the time Steve Wozniak was not active in the company, though when he did see the commercial he offered to split the cost of the 60-second spot with Steve Jobs

Instead the advertising agency chose to run the ad, claiming that they were unable to sell the 60-second spot (some say they didn’t try). It was an instant hit, being replayed on the news and talked bout and touted as the greatest commercial ever made.

So….. how to tell if an advertising idea is good or bad? Sometimes you have to try them out, it’s the only way to know.

P.S. There’s a “Part 2″ to the Apple 1984 commercial story.