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Part 1) Apple Events and Shredded White Booklets

Mark Gurman Aug 29 2014 - 8:34 am PT

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From Seeing Through the Illusion: Understanding Apple’s Mastery of the Media, a profile examining Apple’s PR strategy:

“The keynote is like a production. You have to have a special appreciation for it.”

You probably never knew that an audience member fainted during one of Steve Jobs’s keynotes. Quickly and without a pause, Apple PR representatives quickly guided paramedics to escort the ill man out of the venue, without causing even a blip in the presentation. As a member of Apple’s PR team recalled, preventing what would otherwise have been a show-stopping disruption was seamless, as potential hiccups in the event had been pre-considered “down to a science.” This anecdote demonstrates both Apple’s detailed approach to event planning and wider communications strategy: it has mastered the ability to control situations invisibly, without having its efforts noticed.

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Part 2) Introducing the Teams: How PR Is Organized at 3 Infinite Loop

Mark Gurman Aug 29 2014 - 8:32 am PT

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From Seeing Through the Illusion: Understanding Apple’s Mastery of the Media, a profile examining Apple’s PR strategy:

Unlike Microsoft, Samsung, Adobe, cellular carriers, or Wal-Mart-sized corporations, Apple handles its PR and Communications strategies wholly in-house, mirroring its control over its hardware and software strategies. While Apple still works with external agency Media Arts Lab of TBWA on print, digital, and TV marketing efforts, it is actively reducing its reliance on that firm by boosting its in-house marketing resources. According to sources, Apple is “aggressively” poaching select members of Media Arts Lab for its in-house team, but not undertaking a full-on corporate raid.

Though Apple is a gigantic and ever-growing company, its PR and Communications group is surprisingly tiny. There are only around over 30 PR employees in Apple’s Cupertino offices, with another few dozen-some individuals scattered around the world to organize events, translate press releases, and either answer or dodge questions from journalists in every time zone. The Cupertino-based office is a wing on the third floor of Apple’s Product Marketing building, 3 Infinite Loop. Framed posters of vintage Apple advertisements decorate the area, which otherwise consists of plain white hallways with offices on either side, and two small common areas.

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Part 3) Strategies: The “Art of Deep Background” and Controlling the Press

Mark Gurman Aug 29 2014 - 8:31 am PT

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From Seeing Through the Illusion: Understanding Apple’s Mastery of the Media, a profile examining Apple’s PR strategy:

Apple’s PR department presents a cool, measured public-facing image: it only responds to press inquiries when it wants to, doesn’t offer quotes unless they’ll be reprinted without criticism, and responds directly only when it determines that something needs to be said by “Apple” rather than “sources familiar with the matter.” You could picture Apple’s PR strategy as the work of a wise, wealthy, and not particularly friendly queen – one always too busy to be bothered, until for some reason, she’s not.

So it’s a surprise that Apple actually isn’t that detached from the media: it’s more like a teenage girl obsessively keeping her fingers on the pulse of coverage. Members of Apple PR seek tabloid photos of celebrities holding iPhones, while others read Apple-focused blogs actively, and keep tabs on prominent Apple beat writers using anonymized social media accounts. A former Apple PR employee notes that the team enjoys being an “overall watchdog,” monitoring what the media is saying about the company every day. This oversight is so important to Apple that a few times a week, top executives are sent a document detailing the company’s latest press coverage. When Apple is not pleased with coverage, it sometimes works to shift the narrative, even attempting to undermine giant news organizations.

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Part 4) The Departure of a “Tyrant”

Mark Gurman Aug 29 2014 - 8:30 am PT

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From Seeing Through the Illusion: Understanding Apple’s Mastery of the Media, a profile examining Apple’s PR strategy:

While Apple PR portrayed former VP of Worldwide Corporate Communications Katie Cotton’s departure as a way for the executive to spend more time with her children, the true reason for her departure more likely was Tim Cook’s different vision for Apple’s future public-facing appearances.

As a former member of Apple’s PR team recounted, Cotton was the company’s “ace in the hole” for journalists. Known to control all media access for Apple, Cotton’s power and attitude made some journalists fear that their access to Apple events and early product briefings would be cut off. These are two privileges that, if taken away, could negatively alter a writer’s career. Internally, Cotton was described by some Apple employees as a “tyrant.” One Apple employee called Cotton’s reign a “battle for the front facing image of the company” and said that the executive ran the group like a “fiefdom.”

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Part 5) Two Heads In Place Of One

Mark Gurman Aug 29 2014 - 8:29 am PT

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From Seeing Through the Illusion: Understanding Apple’s Mastery of the Media, a profile examining Apple’s PR strategy:

Two Heads In Place Of One

Months after announcing her departure, Katie Cotton has moved on from Apple, according to a person close to the former executive. She is no longer involved in the media strategy that she led for 18 years, and is not participating in recruiting a replacement. A source told us that “Cotton does not believe in searching for her own successor.” While Tim Cook is pondering the future of the department, Cotton left Apple PR in the hands of two longtime deputies: Steve Dowling and Natalie Kerris. The interim leaders (pictured left and top right, respectively) took over in May, and now both report directly to Cook.

Cotton’s “emotional” departure announcement in May indicated that Cook would oversee an internal and external search for a replacement, according to people briefed on the process. It’s somewhat surprising that an 18-year veteran of Apple would abruptly depart the firm with no successor in place, and have no obvious say in who her replacement may be. Considering that Cotton left Apple the work day before WWDC, Apple’s largest event of the year, and also that she technically remains an Apple employee (following Scott Forstall, who served as an “advisor” for a few months short of a year following his departure), evidence suggests that she did not leave entirely of her own accord.

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Part 6) Controversies: From Maps to Beats to Haunted Empires

Mark Gurman Aug 29 2014 - 8:28 am PT

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From Seeing Through the Illusion: Understanding Apple’s Mastery of the Media, a profile examining Apple’s PR strategy:

The number of major controversies in Apple’s recent history could be counted on a single hand, but because of the company’s size and history of PR dominance, each one has attracted global attention. Most Apple-watchers agree that the company’s largest debacle was the iPhone 4’s faulty antenna. Steve Jobs took an extended period of time before holding a press conference, simultaneously spinning the reports as overblown, and debuting a free case program. Before that Friday press conference in the summer of 2010, the iPhone 4’s negative press had spun out of control, resulting in viral YouTube videos and class action lawsuits. Although Apple downplayed the controversy publicly, it fired and quietly blamed a senior engineering executive for the issue, redesigning and then doing away with the antenna design in subsequent iPhones. Tim Cook hasn’t been perfect, but he has tended to respond quickly to controversies, suggesting that he is willing to handle controversies before they turn into crises.

Maps:

Asked to describe the iOS Maps debacle, a member of Apple PR told us that “it was certainly tough,” as “a lot of people were upset that Scott [Forstall] was not taking responsibility for his product.” The employee went on to say that that it felt internally like Forstall “was skirting the responsibility” and that it was becoming a “waiting game,” an “icky” situation. Cook did not wait too long to circumvent Forstall, however. Just a few days into iOS 6’s public launch, Cook “displayed real leadership” and “started to take Apple and make it the best company it could be both internally and externally.”

Cook wrote a Maps apology letter and decided to terminate Forstall, promoting executives such as Jony Ive, Eddy Cue, and Craig Federighi to take on Forstall’s responsibilities. “Tim played a huge personal role in writing the letter alongside the PR and Product Marketing teams,” according to the Apple employee.

After witnessing the iPhone 4 Antennagate situation, Cook knew that he had to do better than his predecessor at handling a real problem. Instead of simply watching as executives passed blame around a board room table, Cook took control of the situation and promised a solution. Whatever you may think of the decision, it was a giant moment in Apple leadership, given Forstall’s prior importance to the company; the detail-obsessed executive had been called Apple’s CEO in waiting. While Apple’s Maps team is still clouded by internal politics and incomplete features, Apple is clearly pushing forward and attempting to resolve the many problems with its Maps app. Since the apology was issued, Maps has expanded to OS X and been redesigned on iOS, but it has also gained distractions like Flyover Tours.

Beats:

Apple’s acquisition of Beats Electronics and Beats Music was not so much an issue of negative PR, but it demonstrates one of the current problems with Apple’s internal culture. When news broke of Apple being in late talks to acquire Beats on a Thursday afternoon, Apple PR had a difficult time responding to the situation because the team had no inside knowledge as to whether the claims were accurate, Apple employees told us. The company’s need-to-know culture restricts information to individuals who must know about an upcoming product, service, or announcement. In the case of the Beats leak, Apple PR could not act on the situation because they had no information beyond what had been published in media reports.

Normally, when a product leak occurs, Apple PR’s top brass typically meets with Product Managers from the respective groups to gauge how accurate the leak is. The PR team then meets to decide how to comment on the record, off the record, or when to say nothing at all. Leaks also offer Apple the opportunity to watch how consumers and other media outlets respond to particular upcoming products, and if there is time for the engineering and marketing teams to make changes, the groups now know which direction to move the products. Sometimes the leaks come from Apple itself; other times, they do not. But when an inadvertent leak is corporate- rather than product-related, the PR team’s only option is to climb high up the totem pole for assistance.

Haunted Empire:

Another low-point for Apple in recent years was the debut of former Wall Street Journal reporter Yukari Iwatani Kane’s book titled Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs. The book took a grim approach to detailing Apple under the leadership of Tim Cook, saying that the company’s best days are behind it, as Steve Jobs is no longer at the helm.

In a twist from the usual process, Apple PR did not respond to the book’s assertions via spokespeople; instead, Tim Cook and other Apple executives did so themselves. As a member of Apple’s PR team said, Apple’s executives were “personally affected” by the narrative and Cook “made the call” to respond himself. In an email sent to CNBC, Cook said:

“This nonsense belongs with some of the other books I’ve read about Apple. It fails to capture Apple, Steve, or anyone else in the company. Apple has over 85,000 employees that come to work each day to do their best work, to create the world’s best products, to put their mark in the universe and leave it better than they found it. This has been the heart of Apple from day one and will remain at the heart for decades to come. I am very confident about our future. We’ve always had many doubters in our history. They only make us stronger.”

In smaller jabs, Phil Schiller took to Twitter to dispute a comment from the book about his taste in cars, and Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue shot down a claim that Jobs had tossed a pen at Cue’s face. While Schiller and Cue disputing minor facts within the larger story may seem trivial, Apple executives rarely if ever personally respond to books and media reports publicly. The commentary from Cook, Cue, and Schiller represents Apple executives personally taking full control of the PR situation and not leaving it up to the PR team. Apple employees recall feeling that this was a very “Steve” move on Cook’s part.

Negative reviews of Haunted Empire quickly piled up on Apple-focused web sites. Whether Apple PR helped to coordinate some of those reviews remains a minor mystery.

— See Part 7) Product Reviews, Briefings, & Reviewer’s Guides

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Part 7) Product Reviews, Briefings, & Reviewer’s Guides

Mark Gurman Aug 29 2014 - 8:27 am PT

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From Seeing Through the Illusion: Understanding Apple’s Mastery of the Media, a profile examining Apple’s PR strategy:

Pogue, Baig, former <em>Newsweek</em> columnist Steven Levy, and Mossberg (left to right)

Product Reviews, Briefings, & Reviewer’s Guides

The attention that Apple’s PR and Communications group puts into events can even be seen in the packages that reviewers receive with new iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Apple’s review units are considered the holy grails of pre-release technology products, and only a small number of hand-selected, generally positive writers are granted the first shot at reviewing the new gear. Former Apple PR representatives recalled being instructed to specifically inspect individual iPhone and iPad boxes for scuff marks and minor scratches before handing the units off to reviewers such as Walt Mossberg, David Pogue, and Ed Baig. Every unit had to be perfect.

Mossberg was the Personal Technology Columnist for the Wall Street Journal and is now Co-Executive Editor of Re/code. Pogue was lead tech reviewer for The New York Times and is now the chief of Yahoo’s tech section. Ed Baig is a long-time columnist for USA Today. These writers not only have a common denominator of working at major publications, but are also the only three U.S. journalists to have been granted early access to every new iOS device (including the first iPhone and iPad) since 2007. According to a report, Apple’s concern over these writers was significant enough that an engineer was reportedly pulled off vacation to personally help Pogue when he experienced a problem with an Apple TV before its debut in stores. Two of them were mentioned in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs as the only journalists Apple really cares about.

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Part 8) Steve Jobs and the Process Behind Press Releases

Mark Gurman Aug 29 2014 - 8:26 am PT

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From Seeing Through the Illusion: Understanding Apple’s Mastery of the Media, a profile examining Apple’s PR strategy:

Steve Jobs and the Process Behind Press Releases

A former Apple PR member recalls that Steve Jobs once scrapped an entire Apple press release announcing a new partnership with another company solely because he did not like the name of the new partner. Apple ended up re-writing the entire press release to work around having to actually name the company. When Steve Jobs was at the helm, the buck stopped at his office for even the smallest PR minutiae. Even beyond the bigger picture deals like magazine covers and major interviews, Jobs was involved with Apple’s communications down to individual words in press releases.

It was Jobs who came up with the strategy of assigning an adjective to each Apple product for usage in press releases. For instance, the iPad is consistently referred to as “Magical,” while the App Store is “Legendary” and the iPhone is “Revolutionary.” These terms were not mentioned just once in a single press release, but are commonly used for those respective products across Apple’s marketing materials, internal presentations, and high-profile media events.

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Part 9) A Friendlier, More Transparent Future?

Mark Gurman Aug 29 2014 - 8:25 am PT

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From Seeing Through the Illusion: Understanding Apple’s Mastery of the Media, a profile examining Apple’s PR strategy:

Post-Katie Cotton, members of Apple’s PR and Communications team are said to be excited about the new opportunities and tactics they will be able to execute under a friendlier, more transparent leader. Current and former employees say that Cook is likely looking at candidates with ties to world governments, expansive knowledge of labor force regulations, a deep understanding of China’s economics, and, of course, expertise in consumer technology and social media.

Cook has already expanded Apple’s executive team over the past year, adding leaders who fit those characteristics. For example, Cook hired former Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa P. Jackson as an executive to run Environmental Initiatives. He has also hired a new retail executive with immense experience with China, Angela Ahrendts, as well as people like Musa Tariq with extensive knowledge of social media-based communication and marketing. Cook has also brought former Senate staffer Amber Cottle into the fold, and has met with government officials more frequently than his predecessor.

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Bloomberg corroborates Apple wearable to be announced at Sept. 9 event

Mike Beasley Aug 28 2014 - 2:12 pm PT

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As we reported earlier today, Apple has sent out invitations to the press for a September 9th media event. During that event the company will likely unveil the next-gen iPhone, but a report from Re/code also indicated that it may debut a wearable device at the same time. A new report from Bloomberg lends further credence to this claim:

Now the Cupertino, California-based company will attempt to repeat that feat [the success of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad] in wearables, an emerging group of devices that track people’s activity and health. Apple will introduce a wearable gadget along with new iPhones on Sept. 9, a person with knowledge of the plans said. Notices for the event, which will also take place in Cupertino, were sent out today.

As we’e exclusively reported in the past, Apple has been assembling a team of fashion and fitness experts to create a wearable device with a focus on health and fitness applications.

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Apple successfully patents iconic glass cube design of Fifth Avenue store in NYC

Ben Lovejoy Aug 28 2014 - 4:00 am PT

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A few weeks after Apple was granted a European trademark on the key design elements of its retail stores, the company has been awarded a U.S. patent on the iconic glass cube design of its Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan. Steve Jobs is one of those credited as an inventor.

Patently Apple reports that Apple also applied for a trademark for the design back in 2010, but no decision has yet been made on that.

Apple was granted a patent for the similarly iconic glass cylinder design for its Shanghai store back in 2012.

Apple has been renewing the interior design of its stores around the world, and creating a new organizational structure as Angela Ahrendts focuses on further international expansion. It is reportedly working on the largest Apple Store in the world in Dubai.