The storyboard was done within hours, and I emailed it to Steve in the afternoon. The challenge would be getting the necessary legal approvals - but that would all be moot if Steve didn’t buy into the idea. We were okay with that because the idea was so simple. The entire spot would consist of a slow move in to HAL’s red eye as he speaks to astronaut Dave, just as he did in the original movie. We weren’t scheduled to visit Cupertino for another week and I didn’t want to waste time, so our presentation would have to be done by email and phone. The first order of business was to create a storyboard to share with Steve. (In later years, Susan would be responsible for the groundbreaking iPod Silhouette campaign.) Upon arrival, I asked our incredibly talented art director Susan Alinsangan to be my partner on this idea, and she eagerly joined in. In those days, I lived in NY and commuted to the agency in LA every other week, and as fate would have it, I was on a plane to LA the next morning. It was a good thing I did, because the next morning, it was only that note that made me remember. But, not trusting myself, I dragged myself upstairs to my office and put a yellow sticky on my Mac: “HAL and Y2K.” I liked the idea enough that I was sure I’d remember it in the morning. On the topic of the Y2K Bug, HAL could literally be the voice of experience.

It struck me that because HAL lived in the year 2001, he could actually look back at what happened in 2000. I suppose all that thinking about the year 2000 reminded me of 2001, being the sci-fi fan I am. While trying to fall asleep that night, I had a flash about HAL and 2001. (Which might explain my dubious output of brilliant ideas.) Many writers and artists keep a notepad by their bed so they’re ready when inspiration hits. The Mac’s immunity to Y2K was interesting, but how could we turn that into a brand ad that would appeal to the mainstream audience? Just “an ad.” Steve was more enamored with the idea than where it might run. There was no talk about Super Bowls, TV, magazines or billboards. “Maybe we should do an ad about this,” he said. They were designed with more foresight, and would function perfectly until the year 29,940. Steve cheerfully pointed out that Macs didn’t have a Y2K problem. In a phone conversation with Steve Jobs, the topic of Y2K came up. I was the Apple creative director at TBWA/Chiat/Day at the time. The year 2000 was more than a year away, but no business could afford to ignore it. Hundreds of millions of dollars were being spent worldwide by companies determined to avoid a meltdown. The press became obsessed with what was called the Y2K Bug. The machines recognized years as two-digit numbers, and the change from 99 to 00 had the potential to cause global havoc. It was revealed that there was a flaw in the design of the first computers. Out in the real world, fear was spreading about the turn of the century. Apple’s HAL was born - conceptually - in the summer of 1998.Īt this point in time, Apple’s comeback was barely beginning. The process was not at all like what you find in most big companies today (including Apple).įans of 2001 trivia know that the computer HAL was born in Urbana, Illinois, in 1992.

Read on if you’re interested in learning how ads were often born in Steve Jobs’s Apple. That, as you know, was the follow-up to the previous year’s amazing 1984 commercial - arguably the greatest commercial of all time. HAL became Apple’s first Super Bowl appearance since 1985, when the ill-conceived Lemmings commercial ran. What follows is the tale of HAL: Apple’s 1999 Super Bowl commercial starring the malevolent computer from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. So - how about a little story from Apple’s Super Bowl past? That said, I refuse to lose my Big Game spirit. I used to devote hours to feverishly writing up my annual Super Bowl ad review. And then, one day, the thrill was gone.īetween the lack of surprise (so many spots are released early now) and the general mediocrity, it became more chore than fun.

Hal 9000 eye