Steve Hayden, Writer Of Apple's '1984' Macintosh Advert, Dies At 78

Tech

Sep 1

1984 trailer still — Image Source: AppleInsider

Steve Hayden, former chairman of Oglivy and the mind behind one of the most iconic advertisements ever made, passed away on August 27th at the age of 78.

A copywriter and marketing executive, Hayden’s most well-known work was Apple’s ‘1984’ Super Bowl Commercial promoting their new Macintosh, a computer that would revolutionize the PC market. Hayden would pitch the idea to Steve Jobs with a full pitch deck, before working alongside Brent Thomas, art director Lee Clow, and film director Ridley Scott to bring this notorious commercial to life. Inspired by George Orwell’s dystopian novel of the same name, the ‘1984’ advert depicts the deprivation of information in a totalitarian regime, disrupted and destroyed by the Personal Computer, marking a new era in technology as well as storytelling in advertising. The commercial would only be aired once, but can still be found online thanks to archivists.

About a decade later, Steve Hayden would join the advertising firm Oglivy, where he would produce award-winning advertising campaigns for companies including American Express, Kodak, Cisco, and Motorola, where he would be the backbone for the ‘Hello Moto’ campaign that was prevalent throughout the 2000s.

Steve Hayden is remembered as a trailblazer in the world of marketing and advertising, proving that thoughtful storytelling can be paramount in advertising products and how developing a sense of personality for a brand can leave a lasting mark on consumers and audiences even decades after a product or commercial has come and gone.