Date:    Sat, 28 Mar 1998 13:08:58 -0500
<br>From:    Grant Barrett  gbarrett[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]DFJP.COM 
<br>Subject: RE Re: Think Different
<br>
<br>I love the slogan "Think Different", the campaign, the product, and pretty much
<br> agree with Greg's analysis of acceptability, but I blame the folks at Chiat/Day
<br> for the missing "ly."
<br>
<br>Folks at Chiat/Day, like advertising people everywhere, prefer to think of
<br> themselves as exceptional beings who break rules for the betterment of society.
<br> Sometimes they do it because they get a kick out of it, like shoplifting when
<br> you're 12 or driving way too fast or crossing in the middle of the street
<br> against traffic.
<br>
<br>The ad agency I work for recently helped Carvel, an ice cream company located
<br> primarily in the northeast, launch a campaign for a small ice cream cake
<br> designed to celebrate life's smaller successes. My peers decided to call it
<br> "Little Love" but they wanted something a little more unique. So, it was put up
<br> for a vote as to whether it would be "Li'l Love" or "Lil'Love."
<br>
<br>Naturally, the horrendous name "Lil'Love" is now plastered across television,
<br> newspapers, radio, point of purchase displays and product packaging. Nobody can
<br> tell me if there is a point to the apostrophe, or why there isn't another one,
<br> or what was the problem with "Li'l Love." I know the answers: they don't know,
<br> except they were breaking a rule and it felt  good.
<br>
<br>But like people in advertising everywhere, my coworkers tend to break the safe
<br> rules, the ones they can get away with and still get a good night's sleep. They
<br> break grammar rules.
<br>
<br>Advertising folks like to say, "Well, in advertising you can get away with that"
<br> but I dont think advertising actually gets away with anything. Advertising
<br> people think they get away with things, but really, the world is laughing at
<br> advertising folk's vain attempts to be God-like, such as putting an apostrophe
<br> in the wrong place.
<br>
<br>They also dont get away with their brazen attempts to cover grammatical errors
<br> with cries of "It Tastes Good, Like a Cigarette Should!" as if to say, "Look,
<br> an old grammar flub! Our grammar flub is, therefore, tradition!"
<br>
<br>Regarding the success of the Apple campaign: its success is phenomenal, and
<br> serendipitous circumstances are reinforcing it. The product is selling faster
<br> than Apple can keep up, the stock is at a 52-week high, the company had its
<br> first profitable quarter out of the last five, the Windows/PC magazines are
<br> giving Apple grudging but glowing product reviews, Intel is in psychological
<br> retreat (besides suffering its first serious financial problems in a while and
<br> its CEO resigning), Microsoft is fighting the Justice Dept. and battling a
<br> torrent of complaints about product delays and security failures, scalability
<br> and reliability of Windows NT. Apple is doing very well, and, as it is one of
<br> only two brands that I have any loyalty to at all (the other is Levi jeans), I
<br> am glad.
<br>