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Apple PR – A Review (9to5Mac)
Mark Gurman writes a broad and interesting review of the ideology and approach Apple uses in “shaping and controlling the discussion of its products”.
“Nothing is left to chance, and in the rare case where Apple doesn’t control the initial message, it remedies that by using proxies to deliver carefully crafted, off-the-record responses. … Apple’s “tell them what to believe” PR strategy has worked incredibly well for years. But it has also created tensions between the company and the people who cover it, as well as within Apple itself.”Franz.
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27 Replies
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[Franz Bieberkopf] “… “shaping and controlling the discussion of its products”.”
Interesting read. The quote above is pretty much a textbook definition of marketing. Most companies wish they were as good at it as Apple. 🙂
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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~ -
If any of this surprises anyone, THAT should be the surprise. Apple is a business. As such, it’s primary mission is to do anything and everything to encourage and protect the success of that business.
I’ve brushed up against the described PR “manipulation” in the past personally. And coming away from the experience, my gut told me that while sure I was being manipulated – I wasn’t being manipulated towards a falsehood, but rather towards something real that I just didn’t fully understand. And over time, that’s how it’s played out. At the Apple launch of FCP X, sure the PR team wanted the message that X was the heir to Legacy rather than just iMovie Pro. And here we are, years later, and that initial “spin” mirrors reality pretty well, IMO. IF Apple had left X as a “prosumer” app – and we didn’t have Multicam and Libraries and even the database approach (which honestly, very few consumers have any use for) then the “it’s all cynical manipulation, pure and simple” charge might have legs. But that’s not what evolved. What Apple delivered was precisely what they promised. A wholesale re-thinking of a professional editing platform for the changing landscape of an evolving industry. At some point during a product intro or corporate press release, you get to the “I buy into this thinking or not” point. I did, not because of the way the story was being spun, but rather because the story being told but the PR team made fundamental sense. And I think it still does.
FWIW.Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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[Bill Davis] “If any of this surprises anyone, THAT should be the surprise.”
Bill,
I’m not sure where you were set up for “surprises” (I introduced it as “broad” and “interesting”) but maybe you knew it all before reading.
Since you’ve raised the issue, here’s some of the things I found surprising (or didn’t know):
– “There are only around over [sic] 30 PR employees in Apple’s Cupertino offices, with another few dozen-some individuals scattered around the world …”
– “Inside the [Product Marketing building] are the following separate teams of employees: Momentum, Mac, Corporate Communications, iPhone, iPad, iTunes, and Events. …. The Mac team is led by longtime PR executive Bill Evans, and is one of the larger PR groups. Mac covers all Mac hardware and software including OS X, consumer Mac apps, and professional apps. […] and Bill Evans works with Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller.”
– “When Steve Jobs was at the helm, the buck stopped at his office for even the smallest PR minutiae.”
– “There was an “exodus” in Apple PR after Jobs died in late-2011, explained multiple current and former Apple employees, mirroring departures that made bigger headlines in other departments. … When Tim Cook officially took the reins at Apple in late 2011, “he started informing the PR group that Apple needs to become a friendlier company.””
– “While Apple still works with external agency Media Arts Lab of TBWA on print, digital, and TV marketing efforts, … Apple is “aggressively” poaching select members of Media Arts Lab for its in-house team, but not undertaking a full-on corporate raid.”
– “Over the years, Apple has expanded early product review opportunities to technology websites. … Just as the chart shows Apple expanding review hardware access, it also shows Apple subsequently taking away access. […] Macworld … has not received early hardware since the launch of the first Retina iPad. Speculation suggests that less than entirely positive interactions between the publications and Apple’s PR team led to the loss of early product access.”
Franz.
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[Franz Bieberkopf] “Since you’ve raised the issue, here’s some of the things I found surprising (or didn’t know):
“Saying that “Apple is a business” implies that all businesses do it this way, or all successful business do it this way, or all businesses should do it this way…or something similar….
…none of which is true. None. There are as many different approaches as there are businesses. Apple has been typically described as closed, verging on hostile. Hearing specifics of Tim Cook’s view of such things — that that HAD been the case, and is increasingly no longer the case — is the definition of news.
Learning how much of their PR is handled in-house, I was also struck by how small their PR team is. That TC took a machete to that group is, once again, the definition of news.
Of course, another definition of “news” is that somebody knew this, because it actually happened — but I’ve certainly not seen it mentioned here, or anywhere else on the web.
So please, no poo-pooing this as non-news without discussing what of this has been previously reported, and not just surmised. I see a bunch in this article that not only flies in the face of previous assumptions, but also provides details that I sincerely doubt have ever been published before. I invite anyone to please point to specifics where this isn’t the case.
I think this article is a big deal: an unprecedented look at one of the most distinctively characteristic dynamics within an uncharacteristically distinctive organization.
I know that facts are considered to have virtually no value these days, especially with regards to news. But I’d like to think that actual newsgathering could still be acknowledged as such, and not dismissed without an equivalent amount of actual research, and a relevant weight of actual facts to the contrary.
Not that any of it intended to change anything you do with regards to Apple in your life, or how you feel about it. Maybe it’s my bizarre and increasingly out of step attachment to facts, but I think there’s value to knowledge for its own sake, apart from actions or feelings. I like knowing stuff, and I learned some stuff from this.
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Perhaps it’s because I’ve spent a large part of my career in corporate video working often with senior executives. But the stuff you called out is precisely what I would have expected.
Corporate cultures are very real. And EVERYTHING a corporation does is typically a reflection of that culture.
I learned that very early in my career where I was doing a video project for a huge beef and pork products supplier with international operations. They had a script that included some scenes where outhouses were knocked over revealing employees in their skivvies. I questioned the “tastefulness” of the approach. And the response from the company guys was “Bill, you’ve got to understand that our audience is guys who stand in the line and kill cows all day long. Trust me, they’ll think it’s hilarious.”
And they were right and I was wrong. (even tho I determined soon after that this particular client wasn’t a good fit for me and I only did the one project with them)
Corporate culture is a big deal. Apple’s is extremely effective. And as the article points out – it’s often a very serious reflection of the personalities of the folks at the very top.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that those who haven’t spent much time in the corporate corridors might be surprised. But those of us who have, honestly probably aren’t.
FWIW.
Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.
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[Bill Davis] “At the Apple launch of FCP X, sure the PR team wanted the message that X was the heir to Legacy rather than just iMovie Pro. “
surely isn’t the point that apple finally decided to do exactly what they intellectually wanted to do in media editing and organisation. They seem to have had a tendency towards globally altering basic computing reality lately.
any spin they’re doing is to present the validity of their argument. that’s fine – but all that said, and granted X is complex use case software – but if iOS demonstrated the periodical and sustained bugs X presents, half the monied west would be losing their minds.
as in I’m thinking ‘keep the inspector closed there for god’s sake‘ is the equivalent of being asked not to open iOS settings while you’re in itunes on your iphone.
that’s not really likely to happen and you’d think iOS is pretty complex itself. And in this thought experiment – apple haven’t even formally said there was a problem performing that action.
there seem to be sustained habitual frailties in X that persists from release to release. PR and all aside – apple seem quite OK with it occasionally hobbling along – as it did with major plugins like bullet for a period of months.
you’d think their best PR has an easy game with what are somewhat surreally perfect products. the iPhone might as well be a 21C wheel pulled out of the ground. my only gripe left is that I can’t kick it unharmed into the trees.
still: what’s the deal with that inspector issue?
*edit* i haven’t even read the article yet. jesus that’s gigantic.
https://vimeo.com/user1590967/videos http://www.ogallchoir.net promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics
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“One day someone could be the star, the next day that person could be at the bottom of the pile,” a former Apple PR employee said. “A lot of people would leave after a year or two under Katie; it was like walking on eggshells,” added that person. She “struck fear in hearts and took years off my life,” another person said. “But it was good for you, it was a real baptism for me,” that person added.
that in no way sounds like an 80’s machined jobs avatar. mad read.
does anyone remember the account of the meeting he took with fox on the ipad intro where he turned up in a top hat for rupert murdoch?
barnum zelig oz.https://vimeo.com/user1590967/videos http://www.ogallchoir.net promo producer/editor.grading/motion graphics
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[Bill Davis] “… the stuff you called out is precisely what I would have expected.”
Bill,
30 people seems tiny to me; what is it about Apple lead you to expect such a small cohort?
What is it about Jobs gave you insight into “Momentum” as one of 8 teams? You didn’t expect other areas of focus?
What is it about Tim Cook made you know he’d be poaching PR people where Jobs didn’t?
I don’t read Macworld much, but did you expect they’d been cut off from preview units?
Franz.
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[Aindreas Gallagher] “there seem to be sustained habitual frailties in X that persists from release to release. PR and all aside – apple seem quite OK with it occasionally hobbling along – as it did with major plugins like bullet for a period of months.”
Given the surprising (to me at least) news that Apple’s in-house PR is only 30 people, how many people do you think Apple has working on specialty software that accounts for less than 1% of their yearly revenue? It’s no surprise fixes to X happen at the current pace. I’m actually impressed with their progress all things considered.
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David Lawrence
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[Aindreas Gallagher] “still: what’s the deal with that inspector issue?”
I’m not sure it’s an issue for many, I hardly ever close it.
No sig on my posts as it’s apparently very old fashioned
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