52 years ago, Apple’s 1984 ad ran on the Super Bowl. Once. It’s generally considered the most effective ad of its kind, creating a legend and also a trap.

Was this ad the reason the Mac is still around?

Or was it Regis McKenna’s work in getting Steve on the cover of more than 20 magazines the month it launched?

After all, they say that getting the word out is the key to marketing.

That’s not what did it.

It was Guy Kawasaki’s tireless year of evangelizing the platform to software developers, creating an ecosystem that made the Mac useful from the start.

And it was Susan Kare’s and Bill Atkinson’s unreasonable standards that made the experience of using the Mac unlike its alternatives–an advantage that has lasted half a century.

Hype is a trap. Better is better.