February 21, 1981: ChiatDay Buys Regis McKenna (Apple Comes Along for the Ride)

Apple's relationship with Chiat\Day is well documented. Pundits ebb and flow about the efficacy of the commercials produced by Chiat\Day but Chiat\Day and Steve Jobs seem to be near inseparable. Surprisingly, there is a reason why Chiat\Day and Apple cuddle more closely than a mother and a six-month-old breastfeeding baby: Chiat\Day was the agency that bought the first marketer that believed in Apple.

Steve Jobs realized early on that Apple needed marketing help, and to that end he turned to Regis McKenna. The agency originally wanted to reject the Apple as a client but the person in charge of the Byte Shop account saw something in Woz's design of the Apple II and volunteered for the job. Several ads later the Apple II was a hit.

Regis McKenna was considered the agency in Silicon Valley and Chiat\Day realized this. They made the decision that buying the company would be better than trying to compete directly, so it was this month in 1981 that Chiat\Day bought the Regis McKenna agency and Apple came along for the ride.