Apple crowds out AT&T in iPhone advertising pick

[AppleInsider]

Demonstrating the level of influence it has in the final days before the iPhone rollout, Apple will see its favorite advertising firm TBWAChiatDay take control of marketing the device, pushing aside AT&T's regular choice.

Those connected to the iPhone account have claimed that TBWA has won out in the contest for the rights to design Apple's marketing strategy for the highly anticipated handset, defeating its sister company BBDO. TBWA's Media Arts Lab will have the challenge of crafting TV ads, posters, and other creative elements.

While the precise reason for the victory remained elusive, a potentially decisive blow was said to be the firm's "Hello" ad during this year's Academy Awards, which garnered the iPhone ample attention despite a release date at least three months away.

The choice likely also has its roots in Apple's historical choices. TBWA was rehired to lead Apple's ad campaigns just as Steve Jobs returned to his company in 1997, and has been used to direct the advertising ever since -- including the Think Different campaign and the now-iconic silhouette iPod ads. Jobs is said to be a personal friend of Lee Clow, chair of TBWA and the creator of the legendary "1984" ad.

Whichever factor had played into the decision, the selection of TBWA is said to reveal the sheer extent to which Apple's opinion has swayed AT&T in the iPhone launch. Although BBDO is AT&T's preferred advertiser for its phones and services, the ad agency's connection to the cellular provider was reportedly not enough to avoid the switch to a different contractor. The company's chances may have been soured by the lackluster sales of the Motorola ROKR iTunes phone, whose ad efforts were run by BBDO.

In spite of the defeat, BBDO is still said to be vying for secondary advertising deals to fill gaps that might be left in TBWA's strategy in the wake of the iPhone's June release.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[kisin]

First!

[backtomac]

Just as long as we don't have the ' I'm an iPhone and I'm a moto q phone' adds with two doofus actors. Those pc/mac adds never struck a chord with me and I'm quite tired of them.

[DeaPeaJay]

If Cingular is now AT&T, why does my cell phone have cingular on the screen as the network it's connected to?

[TednDi]

Steve Puts the A in AT&T!

[Slewis]

This makes me happy, if given a choice between Apple's legendary Ad Agency and AT&T's favorite "Cingular is now the new AT&T" I'd take Steve's pick any day of the week. Their Ads are brilliant, inspired, well designed, and otherwise don't suck.

I always considered Advertisers among the worlds most evil people, but these guys are the exception to that rule.

Sebastian

[anantksundaram]

Odd 'news' item.

What exactly is it saying? That Apple's favorite ad agency will run Apple's ads for the Apple phone? That Apple has already used them before, and are happy with them? That the manufacturer of the phone will tout it more effectively than a dealer? (See., e.g., Samsung, LG, Motorola, Nokia........)

Am I missing something, or is this 'news' item merely stating the obvious?

[Ireland]

More hype.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by DeaPeaJay

If Cingular is now AT&T, why does my cell phone have cingular on the screen as the network it's connected to?

I think that would mean a firmware update. It might be possible to do. Lately, the brand on my Internet router's management console changed to the new logo/name of the service provider.

[w00master]

Originally Posted by Slewis

This makes me happy, if given a choice between Apple's legendary Ad Agency and AT&T's favorite "Cingular is now the new AT&T" I'd take Steve's pick any day of the week. Their Ads are brilliant, inspired, well designed, and otherwise don't suck.

I always considered Advertisers among the worlds most evil people, but these guys are the exception to that rule.

Sebastian

Love how you generalize. Guess you must think I'm evil. I work in Advertising.

Bwahahahha. Evil? (Dr. Evil pose)
w00master

[daijones]

It's an apple phone, not an AT&T phone. It's being advertised by apple's ad agency, not AT&T's. Anyone else completely and utterly underwhelmed? By all means report it, but why bother speculate that it means anything? Anything DIFFERENT to this would be news; this is common sense.

D

[bdkennedy1]

BBDO isn't even in the same league as TBWAChiatDay. When has anyone seen an AT&T ad as good as an Apple ad?

[josephwinters]

... My mouth says wow, but my head says ...how?

[Slewis]

Originally Posted by w00master

Love how you generalize. Guess you must think I'm evil. I work in Advertising.

Bwahahahha. Evil? (Dr. Evil pose)
w00master

Holy crap the Evil Advertising Monkey in my Closet signed up for Apple Insider!! *screams*

My problem with ads is this, it's useful, but it's everywhere. I don't watch TV because even if I subscribe to Cable/Satellite, the majority of the channels I watch would still be filled with Ads. I don't use Webmail because it's generally filled with Ads, so with Gmail I use Mail (the Ads can't get to me there) and of course I have .Mac mail which is Ad free. When I was on a PC I loaded Firefox with every possible tool I could to remove Ads from my eyes and whenever I have the chance, I skip Video Ads. I'm very careful to avoid clicking an Advertisement on any site, and the only reason I haven't got an Ad Free Firefox loaded is because I generally find Safari far more stable and I went Extension crazy once and don't wish to repeat the experience. In other words, I'm an advertisers worst nightmare.

I don't think the Ad industry is creative enough, especially those Head On commercials (they were so bad they did their own parody on it with some guy saying "I hate your commercials but I love your product" which turned out to be even worse than repeating "Head On Apply directly to your Forehead" 3 times. Just because I don't watch TV doesn't mean others in the same room do not -_-) and any service that has me paying and still getting Ads is quickly dropped. I love Apple's commercials, especially their Mac vs PC commercials.

Instead of doing a simple Inanimate Object Ad with Human voices expressing frustration through a mouth-less voice, they did almost the exact opposite. They have human beings representing inanimate objects and you can see what they are thinking and feeling (in the context of the commercial) using very funny scripts that shows the frustrating world that a PC user lives in and an alternative to that world. It's no coincidence that people generally like the PC guy more, it's made like that. The Mac is generally off to the side while the commercial focuses on the PC showing PC users what they have to continue to deal with if they don't switch, usually followed up by what the Mac has to offer as an alternative (although some recent commercials don't focus enough on the Mac, like the Wheel of Vista).

The iPod ads that were presented at Macworld this year were absolutely brilliant. They reworked the silhouettes so they appeared more realistic with generally a better theme showing an abstract world made up of translucent colors and music, and it's not just advertising the iPod and iTunes, it's advertising the actual music as well and providing enough photos to fill up half of San Francisco's Bus Stops (and not just San Francisco) driving that image of this abstract world made up of Music into the minds of the entire city.

These are the types of Ads that make me rethink what advertising is, and every time I hear that annoying TV Commercial voice saying something along the lines of "Call Now and Save" I want to shove my foot through the TV. Every time I run into an Ad on the internet written in Flash that blinks, makes noises, or annoys me in some other way I want to throw my Macbook across the room. I even hate Google's non obtrusive Text based Ads because all they are is extra text that gets in my way anyways. The greatest invention after the Internet came along has been the Pop Up blocker. The single most indispensable tool after the browser when it comes to actually using the Internet. Now I just need a way to disable those twice underlined links that create a small JavaScript Pop Up in Safari. There is nothing more annoying than reading an article, moving my cursor without thinking and seeing an Ad for Windows Live.

This is the story of my hatred for ads.

Originally Posted by daijones

It's an apple phone, not an AT&T phone. It's being advertised by apple's ad agency, not AT&T's. Anyone else completely and utterly underwhelmed? By all means report it, but why bother speculate that it means anything? Anything DIFFERENT to this would be news; this is common sense.

D

Carriers generally advertise the phone themselves.

Sebastian

[tundraboy]

Given how much they're banking on iPhone to be their next billion dollar baby, they pick the ad agency one month from product launch?

[Slewis]

Originally Posted by bdkennedy1

BBDO isn't even in the same league as TBWAChiatDay. When has anyone seen an AT&T ad as good as an Apple ad?

I have on the following days:

January, 32nd 2005
February, 30th Y2K
March 8th, 1992 11:38 PM (1 minute before I was born)
April 0th, 1984
May 1st in the Nevada Desert in the 51st Year of AT&T
6/6/6 AD
7/7/7 AD
August 7th, 1983
11th Day of the 9th Month 1 year after 1000
October 31st, 1971
November 2600th, 1988
December 31st, 1874

Sebastian

[jawzzy]

Originally Posted by Slewis

Now I just need a way to disable those twice underlined links that create a small JavaScript Pop Up in Safari. There is nothing more annoying than reading an article, moving my cursor without thinking and seeing an Ad for Windows Live.

Yes! I absolutely, utterly, completely, hate and despise those little bubbles!

(And also the bigger, "normal" flash ads along the top and sides that expand into the webpage when you roll over them and block what you were TRYING to read!)

[melgross]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

Odd 'news' item.

What exactly is it saying? That Apple's favorite ad agency will run Apple's ads for the Apple phone? That Apple has already used them before, and are happy with them? That the manufacturer of the phone will tout it more effectively than a dealer? (See., e.g., Samsung, LG, Motorola, Nokia........)

Am I missing something, or is this 'news' item merely stating the obvious?

The advertising is usually given over to the phone company for its own ads for the product, and their service for it. This is apparently not going to happen here.

Instead of Apple's agency just covering some iPhone ads for Apple, they will be covering the entire project. Most unusual.

I don't ever remembering such a thing happening in my years in advertising, though that was in the '70's.

[nvidia2008]

Originally Posted by anantksundaram

Odd 'news' item.

What exactly is it saying? That Apple's favorite ad agency will run Apple's ads for the Apple phone? That Apple has already used them before, and are happy with them? That the manufacturer of the phone will tout it more effectively than a dealer? (See., e.g., Samsung, LG, Motorola, Nokia........)

Am I missing something, or is this 'news' item merely stating the obvious?

The point is that Apple is calling the shots on this iPhone stuff not AT&T, despite how absolutely critical AT&T as a USA exclusive partner is. Not suprising, but not trivial either.

[macslut]

Interesting that Jobs left Apple in 1985. In 1986 Apple axes TBWAChiatDay and contracts BBDO. Jobs returns in 1997 and BBDO is let go and TBWAChiatDay is contracted again.

And now this?

Wow.

[Slewis]

Originally Posted by macslut

Interesting that Jobs left Apple in 1985. In 1986 Apple axes TBWAChiatDay and contracts BBDO. Jobs returns in 1997 and BBDO is let go and TBWAChiatDay is contracted again.

And now this?

Wow.

This is the "not surprising" part of the article. Depending on how you look at it, Apple was probably planning to do the advertising all along which means they would give the contract to their favorite agency. I wouldn't be surprised if AT&T advertises it themselves with BBDO along with Apple, but this is Apple's show and on the stage filled with RDF Amplifiers, BBDO isn't allowed.

Sebastian

[Rot'nApple]

Originally Posted by w00master

Love how you generalize. Guess you must think I'm evil. I work in Advertising.

Bwahahahha. Evil? (Dr. Evil pose)
w00master

I work in Ad Specialties...

(mute silence)... (Mini-Me pose)

[iPeon]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Demonstrating the level of influence it has in the final days before the iPhone rollout, Apple will see its favorite advertising firm TBWAChiatDay take control of marketing the device, pushing aside AT&T's regular choice.

Huh? AppleInsider, are you saying that AT&T will be using TBWAChiatDay because Apple asked them to? Otherwise this story makes no sense.

[iPeon]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

...Apple's opinion has swayed AT&T in the iPhone launch. Although BBDO is AT&T's preferred advertiser for its phones and services, the ad agency's connection to the cellular provider was reportedly not enough to avoid the switch to a different contractor.

Yup, that's what you are saying. OK, that is indeed a surprise.

[the Beatles]

"...Apple's opinion has swayed AT&T in the iPhone launch. Although BBDO is AT&T's preferred advertiser for its phones and services, the ad agency's connection to the cellular provider was reportedly not enough to avoid the switch to a different contractor."


this story seems a little obvious. why would apple change agencies just because APPLES phone needs to be marketed. its not AT&T's call, its Apples ball, AT&T just got invited to the game. this story is like reporting on who takes what in their coffee.

well actually, that would of been more of a story back in steves experimental days. "excuse me, can i get a cup of coffee and two drops of liquid acid, hold the cream and sugar".

[admactanium]

this is really not news at all. i think this is more of an announcement that apple isn't going to do any co-op ads with at&t and is instead choosing to use all the money themselves to control the ads. apple can't control what at&t does with its ad dollars. if at&t wants to put money against a campaign for the iphone, i'm sure they could.

for the record, bbdo is also a good agency. the "what's on your powerbook" and original "get a macintosh" campaigns were both created by bbdo.

[bignumbers]

For Apple it's a smart move. They get the agency they're used to, and will craft a message consistent with other Apple products.

For AT&T it's a smart move. If Apple wants to pay the $Millions$ for an ad campaign, why not let them? I'm sure AT&T is paying for a small part, but doubt it's much. This is obviously Apple's baby and AT&T is just letting them run with it.

Makes sense all around.

[dhaknin]

http://article15.150m.com/fzi2.html

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by dhaknin

http://article15.150m.com/fzi2.html

Yo, Admins, can you ban this user, please?

[piot]

Sorry Appleinsider but that's a poorly written, and slightly misleading post, considering the AdAge article.

"Demonstrating the level of influence it has in the final days before the iPhone rollout"
"has won out in the contest"
"a potentially decisive blow was said to be the firm's "Hello" ad

Were we reading the same site?

[JeffDM]

I'm not sure why the choice of ad agency is of interest. To me, that's about as interesting as knowing who supplies the copper for the circuit boards. I know there's more to it than that, the ads are a lot higher profile. I'm not sure if Apple's recent string of ads are all that great anyway. In some respects, the ads with Hodgeman/Long kind of backfired for a lot of people and lowered Apple's reputation in some countries. Someone didn't account for cultural differences here, it looked like an attack ad series to some cultures.

[IHateRegistering]

Seriously. I want to murder spammers. Spam is the worst thing ever invented. If I ever run into someone who tells me their job is to make spam, I think I'd kill them right then and there. I'd just start strangling them.

Why should my, my grandma, or daughter's email accounts be subjected to hundreds of porn, hair loss, penile drug, etc ads to nobody wants?

I also want to kill the people who post fake profiles on MySpace, Yahoo Personals, etc.

[MacCentric]

There was never a contest, Jobs wanted TBWA/Chiat/Day, and he got what he wanted as always. There was a quote along the lines of "Steve Jobs believes market research is looking in the mirror and asking himself what he wants." I guarantee you that if there was a "contest" it was only in the minds of AT&T execs, not Jobs. You are talking about a guy who will physically take a contract and throw it in the trash if he doesn't like it. When he wanted to work for Atari, he sat there and told them to hire him or call the police because he wasn't leaving. This is part of what makes him great. I think that people who deal with him already realize the strength of his convictions and would rather just give up rather than fight against him and lose anyway.

Other than that, some of the best ads of all time have been made by TBWA/Chiat/Day, and definitely the best computer/electronics ads. From 1984 to Think Different to the iPod ads, these ads are amazing and have created huge amounts of secondary buzz around the products.

[Feynman]

Originally Posted by TednDi

Steve Puts the A in AT&T!

Actually that would be the Fonze

[Slewis]

Originally Posted by MacCentric

There was never a contest, Jobs wanted TBWA/Chiat/Day, and he got what he wanted as always. There was a quote along the lines of "Steve Jobs believes market research is looking in the mirror and asking himself what he wants." I guarantee you that if there was a "contest" it was only in the minds of AT&T execs, not Jobs. You are talking about a guy who will physically take a contract and throw it in the trash if he doesn't like it. When he wanted to work for Atari, he sat there and told them to hire him or call the police because he wasn't leaving. This is part of what makes him great. I think that people who deal with him already realize the strength of his convictions and would rather just give up rather than fight against him and lose anyway.

Other than that, some of the best ads of all time have been made by TBWA/Chiat/Day, and definitely the best computer/electronics ads. From 1984 to Think Different to the iPod ads, these ads are amazing and have created huge amounts of secondary buzz around the products.

If IBM had handed me 100+ Pages of Lawyerese I'd toss it too.

Fortunately his market research these days amounts to more than just looking in the mirror every day, he's changed since the exile.

Sebastian

[melgross]

Originally Posted by the Beatles

this story seems a little obvious. why would apple change agencies just because APPLES phone needs to be marketed. its not AT&T's call, its Apples ball, AT&T just got invited to the game. this story is like reporting on who takes what in their coffee.

No, it should be ATT's call.

We've already been through this. Why don't you go back and read some of the posts?

[Porchland]

Originally Posted by tundraboy

Given how much they're banking on iPhone to be their next billion dollar baby, they pick the ad agency one month from product launch?

I suspect this decision was made months ago and is just now coming to light.

[JupiterOne]

Originally Posted by melgross

No, it should be ATT's call.

We've already been through this. Why don't you go back and read some of the posts?

Ah, OK. I read the posts. Why "should" it be AT&T's call again?

Because that's the way it's always been? This is Apple's product and a HUGE product. Steve Jobs isn't going to give up control of the advertising, just because it may have typically been done that way in the past....or with other phones.

The article clearly says that they will be advertising the device. What did you mean by "the entire project"?

[melgross]

Originally Posted by JupiterOne

Ah, OK. I read the posts. Why "should" it be AT&T's call again?

Because that's the way it's always been? This is Apple's product and a HUGE product. Steve Jobs isn't going to give up control of the advertising, just because it may have typically been done that way in the past....or with other phones.

The article clearly says that they will be advertising the device. What did you mean by "the entire project"?

Despite all of the hoopla, phones are just meant to get one to sign on with a service.

The concept has always been for good reason, for the cell provider to advertise that they have a "hot" phone to go with that service.

Normally, most phones have been available for most providers, though not always at first. So the provider advertises that they have that "hot" phone, and look at the advantages you will get by coming with us.

At the same time, the phone maker, if it has a "hot" phone, advertises that phone in tandem, to keep the phone in people's face.

You must remember the "Only With Moto" ads? Samsung did the same thing when they first came out with the i300 Palmphone.

BUT, it's the carriers that sell 90% of these phones, and so they do the heavy lifting.

Most people don't change carriers for a phone, except for unusual circumstances.

This time it's different. ONLY ATT will be carrying the phone, so one would expect that they would certainly heft the expense, and direction, for the ads. Then Apple would do some of their own as well.

But, Apple is apparently insisting that it's the phone that will sell, not the provider, and so they won the right to control the ads—so far.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by melgross

This time it's different. ONLY ATT will be carrying the phone, so one would expect that they would certainly heft the expense, and direction, for the ads. Then Apple would do some of their own as well.

Don't forget about the Apple retail stores. I expect they will be storing and selling a much higher quantity than the AT&T retail outlets.