Business

On the campaign trail

As IT transitions from being a behind-the-scenes function, there are many reasons why it's time to come out from the shadows through the adoption of marketing, communications and branding techniques.

30 March 2020

Back in the early 1980s, post Apple going public, Steve Jobs found himself marginalised and without management responsibility within the company he had co-founded. In search of a new home at Apple, he took over the Macintosh project, a team developing a more cost-effective, market-challenging PC. Determined to unify his new employees and give them an identity that suited the product and aligned with his objectives, he branded them 'pirates'. His reasoning was that a pirate isn't afraid of change, can move quickly, is brave, takes risks and challenges authority.

The ethos stuck, and, apparently, in 1983, when the team moved to new premises, they even created their own skull and crossbones flag with the rainbow Apple logo over one eye, to hoist outside. Following the success of the Macintosh, the challenger mentality, exemplified by pirates, also spread throughout the company as Jobs' influence regained traction.

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