It’s been telling us to ‘Think different’ for a few months now and it looks as though Apple Computer Inc’s marketing message has finally gone to interim CEO Steve Jobs’ head. He’s given up trying persuade us that he’s one of the ‘crazy ones,’ and now he wants to be Willy Wonka instead. In a marketing campaign involving disco-dancing Intel techies, Steve Jobs plans to personally sign five gold tickets and place them in the boxes of five iMacs, one on each continent. A quick recap for the oldies among us. Willy Wonka is the eccentric owner of a chocolate factory. In the book, Charlie and the Chocolate factory, Willy hid five golden tickets in Wonka chocolate bars and sent them all round the world. Wonka bar sales hit the roof and the five lucky children who found the tickets each won a tour of the factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate. So what’s Jobs’ prize? A chocolate iMac? (not even he’s that crazy) A trip to Cupertino and a round tour of Apple’s HQ followed by lunch in the boardroom? A lifetime supply of Apple Macs? Actually it’s none of the above. The lucky winners will in fact receive a new Mac of their choosing each year for the next five years. We’ll take the chocolate.
