John Hodgman and Justin Long provide oral history of Apple’s ‘Get a Mac’ campaign

In September 2005, Steve Jobs gave his advertising agency, TBWA\Chiat\Day, an assignment: Come up with a campaign that clearly demonstrates the Mac’s superiority to the PC. There was no deadline.

Seven months, dozens of tense meetings and countless discarded ideas later, the agency produced “Get a Mac.” It would go on to become one of the most succesful and admired ad campaigns in Apple’s history, no small feat when “1984,” “Think Different” and “Silhouette” are the competition. Among those legendary ads, “Get a Mac” stands out as the most overtly comedic and one of the most expansive: The team shot 323 spots over three years just to get the 66 that made it on air.

Last month, John Hodgman, Justin Long and Jason Sperling, former TBWA\Chiat\Day creative director and head script writer for “Get a Mac,” gathered together for the first time since the final shoot, in the Campaign US New York office, to share stories, laugh and revisit some unaired scripts. You can listen to or download the podcast below.

As we went through script after script, Steve kept saying, “That’s fucking stupid. That is so inane. Who the hell cares about that? — Jason Sperling

I thought that after the first round, it was done. And then when they brought me back for a second round, I’m like, “Well, I’m calling out all the stops and I’m going to ask them to put me in a even nicer hotel.” Little did I know it was going to go on for three more years. — John Hodgman

There was a point at which it felt like, “We did that,” and the writing became a little bit more pitchy, and it wasn’t quite as fun. — Justin Long

Steve’s focus had shifted to the iPad, and his competitiveness had shifted to Google, not Microsoft anymore. We knew that the time had run its course. — Jason Sperling

The transcripts and audio (44:40) – highly recommended – are here.

MacDailyNews Take: We wish they’d bring ’em back. Who’s up for a reboot?!

(Of course without Steve here to oversee the whole thing, it’d suck. So, no, we’re not up for a reboot, sadly.)