https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_(slogan) Jump to content [ ] Main menu Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation * Main page * Contents * Current events * Random article * About Wikipedia * Contact us Contribute * Help * Learn to edit * Community portal * Recent changes * Upload file * Special pages [wikipe] Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia Search [ ] Search [ ] Appearance * Donate * Create account * Log in [ ] Personal tools * Donate * Create account * Log in Contents move to sidebar hide * (Top) * 1 History * 2 See also * 3 References * 4 External links [ ] Toggle the table of contents Think (slogan) [ ] 5 languages * hangugeo * Ri Ben Yu * Portugues * Romana * Zhong Wen Edit links * Article * Talk [ ] English * Read * Edit * View history [ ] Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions * Read * Edit * View history General * What links here * Related changes * Upload file * Permanent link * Page information * Cite this page * Get shortened URL * Download QR code Print/export * Download as PDF * Printable version In other projects * Wikimedia Commons * Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Slogan used by IBM For the annual business conference, see IBM Think conference. < The template Infobox advertising is being considered for merging. > THINK [250px-The_] IBM Think sign Product * Information technology Release date 1911 [60px-G] "THINK" Thomas J. Watson, who led IBM from 1914 to 1956, discussing the company's motto "THINK" [250px-Thomas_J_Watso] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Problems playing this file? See media help. "Think" (stylized as THINK) is a slogan associated with the American multinational technology company IBM. History [edit] The "THINK" slogan was first used by Thomas J. Watson in December 1911, while managing the sales and advertising departments at the National Cash Register Company.^[1] At an uninspiring sales meeting, Watson interrupted, saying "The trouble with every one of us is that we don't think enough. We don't get paid for working with our feet - we get paid for working with our heads". Watson then wrote THINK on the easel.^[2] Asked later what he meant by the slogan, Watson replied, "By THINK I mean take everything into consideration. I refuse to make the sign more specific. If a man just sees THINK, he'll find out what I mean. We're not interested in a logic course."^[3] In 1914, Watson took the slogan with him to the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) and its subsidiaries, all of which later became IBM.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] International Time Recording, one of the subsidiaries, published a magazine for employees and customers, named Time, which, in 1935, IBM would rename to THINK.^[8]^[9] IBM continues to use the slogan.^[10] THINK is also an IBM trademark; IBM named its laptop computers ThinkPads and named a line of business-oriented desktop computers ThinkCentre and the monitors ThinkVision. Since 2018, IBM's main conference is called IBM Think.^[11] The Apple slogan "Think different," meaning "Think differently", first used in 1997, has been widely taken as a response to IBM's THINK.^[12]^[13]^[14] * THINK signs in several languages THINK signs in several languages * IBM THINK sign at a punched card data processing facility using IBM equipment, c. 1960 IBM THINK sign at a punched card data processing facility using IBM equipment, c. 1960 * IBM Think-themed exhibit at Lincoln Center in 2011 IBM Think-themed exhibit at Lincoln Center in 2011 * A walking path at the IBM Poughkeepsie site, with the word "THINK" A walking path at the IBM Poughkeepsie site, with the word "THINK" * IBM Think sign IBM Think sign See also [edit] * History of IBM References [edit] 1. ^ Random House Webster's College Dictionary. Random House. 1999. p. 1237. ISBN 978-0-375-40741-3.slogan: a distinctive phrase or motto identified with a particular party, product, etc. 2. ^ Belden, Thomas; Belden, Marva (1962). The Lengthening Shadow: The Life of Thomas J. Watson. Little, Brown and Company. pp. 157-8. 3. ^ Belden (1962) p.158 4. ^ IBM Archives: THINK Sign 5. ^ Maney, Kevin (2003). The Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson Sr., and the Making of IBM. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-41463-8. 6. ^ Tedlow, Richard S. (2003). The Watson Dynasty. Harper Business. ISBN 0-06-001405-9. 7. ^ Engelbourg, Saul (1954). International Business Machines: A Business History (Ph.D.). Columbia University. pp. 103-105. Reprinted by Arno Press, 1976, from the best available copy. Some text is illegible. 8. ^ Aswad, Ed; Meredith, Suzanne M. (2005). IBM in Endicott. Arcadia. p. 18. 9. ^ Cousins, Robert, ed. (1957). The Will to THINK: A Treasury of Ideas and Ideals from the Pages of THINK. Farrar, Straus and Cudahy. The books introduction, The Thinking Man, was written by Thomas J. Watson. 10. ^ Think Exhibit 11. ^ "Introducing THINK 2018". IBM. 2017-11-01. Retrieved 2019-03-06 . 12. ^ Clifton, Rita; Ahmad, Sameena (2009). Brands and Branding. The Economist. Bloomberg Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-1576601471. 13. ^ Altstiel, Tom; Grow, Jean (2005). Advertising Strategy: Creative Tactics from the Outside/In. Sage Publications, Inc. p. 24. ISBN 978-1412917964. 14. ^ Sull, Donald Norman (2003). Revival of the Fittest: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Managers Remake Them. Harvard Business Review Press. p. 66. ISBN 978-1578519934. 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International Business Machines Corp. * Deep Blue * Deep Thought * Dynamic infrastructure Other * GlobalFoundries * GUIDE International * IBM and the Holocaust * International chess tournament * Lucifer cipher * Mathematica * IBM Plex * SHARE computing * ScicomP * Unions * # Commons * # Category * # Navigational boxes + FOSS + Midrange computers + Operating systems + Personal computers + System/360 + System/370 + Typewriters + Vacuum tube computers * Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Think_ (slogan)&oldid=1314387198" Categories: * IBM * American advertising slogans * 1910s neologisms * 1911 quotations Hidden categories: * Articles with short description * Short description is different from Wikidata * Articles with hAudio microformats * Commons category link is on Wikidata * This page was last edited on 1 October 2025, at 03:48 (UTC). * Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; additional terms may apply. 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