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Public relations

Seven 'Public relations' stories February 2013 - October 2014
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Apple names Steve Dowling as interim PR head following Katie Cotton’s retirement

Avatar for Zac Hall Oct 2 2014 - 10:09 am PT
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Tim Cook <a href="http://9to5mac.com/community/tim-cook-iphone-6-launch-video/" target="_blank">recently visited Palo Alto Apple Store</a> alongside Steve Dowling

Re/code reports today that Apple has chosen longtime Apple PR deputy Steve Dowling to lead Apple’s public relations efforts as interim PR chief. The report notes that Dowling’s role as head of Apple PR is not yet permanent as Apple continues to look for candidates outside of the company.

Sources close to Apple tell Code/red that Dowling was tapped as interim head of public relations last week by CEO Tim Cook. […] Dowling’s appointment has been framed to employees as an interim one and I’m told Apple will continue to evaluate worthy outside candidates if one should pop up. That said, the fact that Cook has officially put Dowling at the top of Apple’s PR organization suggests he could remain there.


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Founder Anand Shimpi latest Apple hire from hardware review site AnandTech

Avatar for Mike Beasley Aug 31 2014 - 3:29 pm PT
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AnandTech founder and EiC Anand Shimpi announced last night via a post on the site that he had decided to retire from technology journalism, but didn’t specify what he’d be doing instead. Today, Re/code reports that Shimpi will be going to Apple, as confirmed by the tech firm’s representative, though his exact role is still unknown.

Earlier this year AnandTech’s Brian Klug also left the site for a role at Apple with a focus on building mobile processors for the company’s iOS lineup. It’s possible and perhaps likely that Shimpi will be taking up a similar role in quality assurance or marketing.


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Seeing Through the Illusion: Understanding Apple’s Mastery of the Media

Avatar for Mark Gurman Aug 29 2014 - 8:37 am PT
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Apple CEO Tim Cook with former VP of Worldwide Communications Katie Cotton

“Beautifully, unapologetically plastic.”

“Feature for feature, it’s identical to iPad Air in every way.”

“Just avoid holding it in that way.”

Apple’s public relations (PR) department is probably the best in the world — certainly more impressive at shaping and controlling the discussion of its products than any other technology company. Before customers get their first chance to see or touch a new Apple product, the company has carefully orchestrated almost every one of its public appearances: controlled leaks and advance briefings for favored writers, an invite-only media debut, and a special early review process for a group of pre-screened, known-positive writers. 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.

Except for a few big exceptions, such as the memorably off-pitch quotes above, 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. The company’s long-time head of PR, Katie Cotton, left the company earlier this year as CEO Tim Cook openly sought to make a major change in the way Apple interacted with the press and its customers. As the hunt for Cotton’s replacement is still in progress, and the depth of Apple’s commitment to change remains unclear, we look today at the techniques Apple has used to quietly manipulate its coverage over the years.

You can navigate between the chapters, below:

– Part 1) Apple Events and Shredded White Booklets

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

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

– Part 4) The Departure of a “Tyrant”

– Part 5) Two Heads In Place Of One

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

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

– Part 8) Steve Jobs and the Process Behind Press Releases

– Part 9) A Friendlier, More Transparent Future?

Two months in the making, this article is the product of over a dozen interviews with journalists, bloggers, and PR professionals, including many who have worked at Apple.


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Apple looking to externally hire ‘friendlier, more approachable’ PR chief after Katie Cotton’s retirement

Avatar for Zac Hall Jun 9 2014 - 10:52 am PT
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(Tim Cook in China with Katie Cotton)

Now that Apple’s PR chief and VP of Corporate Communications Katie Cotton has officially joined the growing group of retiring Apple leadership, Tim Cook is searching for the company’s next VP of Communications. Re/code reports that Apple is looking outside the company, however, rather than promoting someone internally to permanently fill the role.

And though there are at least two well-qualified internal candidates for the job — comms veterans Steve Dowling and Nat Kerris — Apple is also looking outside the company for Cotton’s replacement. Sources in position to know tell Code/red that CEO Tim Cook is overseeing the search, aiming to find some high-profile external candidates for consideration. And he’s paying particular attention to those he believes could put a friendlier, more approachable face on Apple’s public relations efforts.


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Katie Cotton finishes up at Apple just ahead of WWDC

Avatar for Mark Gurman May 30 2014 - 4:51 pm PT
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Following up on their earlier report, Re/code is reporting that Katie Cotton’s last day at Apple is today. Cotton has been Apple’s PR chief and Vice President of Corporate Communications since the return of Steve Jobs in the 1990s. Her departure comes just days ahead of Apple’s developer conference, but you can bet Cotton was heavily involved in decisions surrounding the event. Kara Swisher has a great tribute to Cotton’s career that is well worth a read. 


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Apple drops outside French PR firm Rumeur Publique, moves public relations in-house

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Aug 30 2013 - 8:38 am PT
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According to a report from French Apple blog Mac4Ever, Apple has just dropped the outside public relations company, Rumeur Publique, that it has used in recent years to handle communications with journalists in France. Instead Apple will now be moving its public relations in the country in-house as it does in the US and most other countries. A separate report from Macg.co notes that Rumeur Publique tells them Apple’s decision to move its press relations to an internal team was “not a surprise”, hinting that the transition has been in place while Apple beefs up its internal PR teams in the country. Apple already has its public relations teams located within the company for most countries, but the report notes that PRFection still handles Apple’s PR in Germany.

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WSJ says Apple’s PR goes on offensive as competition heats up

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Feb 5 2013 - 12:42 pm PT
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The Wall Street Journal is out with a report today that claimed Apple’s press relations team has tried “a little harder to get its message out” by sending members of the press an increasing number of positive third-party reports about the company. The Wall Street Journal described one of the reports Apple PR sent out as a “study predicting that by 2014, Apple will be as accepted in the enterprise as Microsoft is today.” According to article, Apple has sent out five reports in a month since the starting of 2013, representing quite an increase compared to the past.

Apple issued a press release last month for the minor iOS 6.1 release, as well as the 128GB iPad released today ahead of Microsoft’s new 128GB Surface product. The Wall Street Journal said a person familiar with the matter claimed it’s a “recognition that competition is heating up.”

Apple, and indeed virtually all its competitors, send reporters favorable studies from time to time. But the five reports Apple has sent since the start of the year, mostly related to mobile market share, represent more than recent months… Apple has long been willing to sing its own praises when it needs to, issuing press releases about major milestones, products and sales. So rather than a big shift, the latest moves represent a recognition that competition is heating up, a person familiar with the matter says. Apple also has more to cheer internationally, with growth in countries like China very strong.

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