Think Different
In the early days of Salesforce, CEO Marc Benioff masterminded a brilliant marketing campaign titled, “No Software”. Perhaps inspired by Apple’s campaign around “Think Different”, the No Software mantra was clearly an emotional play, targeted to a very specific set of individuals.
Much like “Think Different”, which is not grammatically correct, “No Software” isn’t exactly true. Salesforce.com is most definitely software, but at the time delivered through a vehicle that was completely novel and refreshing (SaaS, aka, Cloud). The connection here likely revolves around Benioff’s adoration of Apple’s Steve Jobs, though it could just be a coincidence of two great marketing visionaries coming up with short and expressive mantras.
While grammatically incorrect and technically incorrect, respectively, I look at both of these messages as poetry. Artists use lies to tell the truth, and the art behind these incorrect mantras is an attempt to trigger an emotional response with a specifically targeted user.
Read the rest of this post in it’s entirety on the CloudSpokes blog
