Kevin Bostic
A new report paints Apple as preparing to double the size of its advertising and marketing team as the Cupertino giant continues to move more of its marketing work in-house.
Sources familiar with Apple's plans say that the iPhone maker will expand its in-house design and marketing group from its current level of about 300 to between 500 and 600 staffers, reports AdAge. Until recently, Apple had been content to keep its marketing team around 300, because co-founder Steve Jobs wanted the firm to be known, according to one executive, "as a products company, not a marketing company."
Now, though, Apple is reportedly more interested in keeping intellectual property within its own operations and keeping more ownership of its creative work. To that end, Apple has been bringing on personnel to work on its own brand, including a number of senior creatives, high-level creative directors, and heads of innovation.
Apple has also been hiring on ad execs with experience in guiding brands and agencies. Those hires are meant in part to help create better ads for Apple's iAd network.
Normally one of the company's more celebrated aspects, Apple's ad operations have experienced some hiccups of late. A high-energy "Genius campaign rolled out earlier this year to considerable disdain. Apple pulled the campaign shortly after its debut.
Later campaigns featured similarly high-energy spots for the iPad, with a focus on the device's wide-ranging capabilities enabled by its App Store catalog. Those spots soon gave way to ads like the quieter "Photos Every Day," and "Designed by Apple in California," which have received mixed reviews.
Earlier this year, reports emerged that there was dissent in Apple's camp, with its advertising teams chafing under the leadership of marketing head Phillip Schiller. How exactly the reported marketing team expansion could relate to that in-house dissension is uncertain.
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
William Gallagher
Amber Neely
40 Comments
For those of you who read this article and are wondering, "What's the difference between sales and marketing??" If you go out and get the order, you were doing "sales." If you don't get the sale, you were "marketing."
Phil Schiller's handling of Apple's advertising has been shoddy. I've noticed some of their billboards are nonsensical, and most of the tv ads have been awful.
Your post is opinion with no reasons why.
Phil Schiller's handling of Apple's advertising has been shoddy. I've noticed some of their billboards are nonsensical, and most of the tv ads have been awful.
[quote name="sog35" url="/t/159421/apple-said-to-double-advertising-and-marketing-team#post_2392156"] Watch out Google. You should have been content staying in your own lane. Apple was happy staying out of the ad business but you were greedy and wanted a piece of the mobile OS/ mobile device sector. Thermonuclear. [/quote] No, they still only want a big piece of mobile ads for the most part. Having a mobile OS that helps ensure they're a big player in mobile ads is just a piece of their puzzle. Google never intended to compete with their own hardware which is why the OS is so widely licensed. I suppose if push comes to shove and there's too much intrusion on their core revenue stream they might be forced to go the hardware route. Here's something rarely mentioned. It was Apple who first signaled an intent to compete directly with Google by bidding on AdMob. If Apple had no intention of eventually pushing Google off of their platform as the ad provider why would Apple have gone after AdMob in the middle of 2009? That was long before Steve Jobs showed his displeasure and threatened to go thermonuclear. If you were Google how would you have read it? IMO it was obviously Apple throwing down the first gauntlet, not Google. You expected Google wouldn't react to an unexpected competitor they thought was a partner? While even DED will agree that Microsoft was the original target of Android, this little move from Apple no doubt got Google's attention and may have been the impetus behind today's cooler relationship. http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/104782/apple-met-with-admob-weeks-before-acquisition-by-google
Apple's commercials shouldn't acknowledge the existence of any products made by any companies except Apple.