04/16, 10:29am
Public assumed to be worried about Apple's prospects
Samsung decided to launch its "Next Big Thing" campaign -- parodying Apple -- in the wake of the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, according to an email trail exposed during the ongoing Apple v. Samsung patent trial. Samsung America's VP of US sales, Mike Pennington, described Jobs' death as "the best opportunity" to run a campaign targeting Apple, since people would be worried about whether Apple could continue to come up with great ideas minus Jobs' influence. "Sorry to continue to push this issue, but I have seen this far too long and I know this is our best opportunity to attack iPhone," Pennington is quoted as saying.
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04/11, 3:07pm
Internet ads exceeded TV dollars by $2.7 billion in 2013
US Internet advertising revenues for 2013 hit an all-time high of $42.8 billion, exceeding broadcast television advertising revenues of $40.1 billion. The full-year results mark the first time that Internet ad spending has eclipsed television commercial sales. Of particular note is mobile advertising -- for the third year in a row, mobile achieved triple-digit growth year-over-year, rising to $7.1 billion during 2013, a 110 percent boost from the prior year total of $3.4 billion.
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04/11, 12:36pm
Apple says move in keeping with official policies
UK-based streaming service Bloom.fm has been banned from advertising on Apple's iAd network due to it being competition with iTunes Radio, according to Bloom PR representatives. Until recently, Bloom was spending £2,000 per month on iAd spots. In rejecting the advertising, Apple is quoted as telling Bloom that it constituted "a competitive service to iTunes Radio and it is against Apple policy."
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04/09, 7:52pm
New hires won't impact existing relationships, unrelated to 2012 dispute
According to venerable industry trade magazine Ad Age, Apple is again expanding and diversifying its advertising firms and staff. The iPhone maker is said to be adding as many as four digital-advertising agencies to its roster, presumably in an effort to beef up its mobile and online advertising efforts. Apple will continue its longstanding relationship with TBWA/Media Arts Lab as its main partner, despite some now well-publicized spats in late 2012 and early 2013.
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04/08, 12:40pm
Tries to bounce back from successful Samsung efforts
The gap between Apple and Samsung's US advertising budgets narrowed during 2013, according to new data from Kantar Media. Apple's budget is said to have increased 5 percent year-over-year to $351 million. Samsung, conversely, actually cut its spending by 10 percent, but still ended spending more with a budget of $363 million. Most of Apple's cash is said to have gone toward TV commercials.
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04/07, 4:04pm
Marketing head rejected suggestions company needed scrutiny
In a series of early 2013 emails, Apple's marketing lead Phil Schiller delivered angry words to long-time Apple advertising partner TBWAChiatDay, and specifically its Apple-dedicated Media Arts Lab, according to documents exposed through the ongoing Apple v. Samsung trial. As was mentioned in court, Schiller was upset with a Wall Street Journal piece arguing that Apple had "lost its cool" to Samsung. He forwarded the story to TBWA, simply commenting that "we have a lot of work to do to turn this around."
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04/02, 9:34am
Samsung attorney claims Apple's Phil Schiller was 'obsessed'
During Monday's opening statements in the second Apple v. Samsung trial, attorney John Quinn -- representing Samsung -- revealed that Apple marketing head Phil Schiller was deeply concerned about Samsung's "Next Big Thing" ad campaign. One email from Schiller to his team specifically addressed a January 2013 Wall Street Journal story with the headline "Has Apple Lost Its Cool to Samsung?" Schiller commented that "We have a lot of work to do to turn this around."
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04/01, 3:47pm
New spots can direct people to websites, iTunes content
Apple has today significantly opened up iAd Workbench, the tool used to submit and manage iAd campaigns. Ad Age notes that Workbench is now accessible to anyone with an Apple ID, where previously accounts were restricted to registered app developers. That should expose iAd to a more Google-like advertising base, in which anyone can participate; when it was originally introduced in 2010, iAd was targeted exclusively at major corporations able to afford the then-minimum buy-in of $1 million. New ad buyers can choose to operate on a cost-per-click or cost-per-thousand impressions basis.
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03/25, 10:59am
Apple, Times still deciding when and where to return banner
Apple and the New York Times mutually agreed to pull an iPad Air ad from the Times' website yesterday after an unfortunate headline pairing, according to Advertising Age. The ad is another take on Apple's Your Verse campaign, and features a still of a scuba diver using an iPad, with the slogan "See the unique ways people are using iPad around the world." On Tuesday, though, that ad was paired alongside a headline reading "Malaysia Says Jet Went Down in Ocean."
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03/14, 9:47am
Tech could be rolled into iAd
Apple-owned Burstly has started sending out notices to customers of its SkyRocket monetization service, saying the product's publishing and SDK license agreements will end in 90 days. SkyRocket is meant to simplify advertising for developers by hooking apps into multiple ad partners, reward systems, cross-promotions, and demographic targeting. The company isn't saying why it's terminating licenses, but the reason is believed to be connected to Apple's general policy towards acquisitions, which is to shut off services to outside parties.
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03/05, 3:21pm
Breaks down another distinction of iAd
Beginning sometime this year, companies advertising via iAd will be able to use fullscreen, auto-playing interstitial video ads on the iPhone/iPod touch as well as the iPad, according to Advertising Age sources. At the moment, a person has to tap an iAd banner to get a video to play. As interstitials the videos will likely play after certain in-app actions have finished, such as reading an article or finishing a game level.
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03/03, 9:52pm
Could be playground for new campaign, effort to capture youth demographic
The advertising agency behind many of Apple's campaigns appears to have launched an official iPhone 5c Tumblr page, using the multi-media blogging space to showcase and promote the colors of Apple's iPhone 5c, called "ISee5c." While the junior of Apple's two current top phones is actually doing better than the iPhone 5 did at the same point in its history, reports have claimed that the fashionable phone is losing ground to the more advanced iPhone 5s.
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03/02, 2:25pm
Ten percent will go to non-profit charities decided by Reddit users
Reddit announced on its blog that it will be donating a portion of its 2014 advertising revenue receipts to non-profit charities at the end of the year. Users will be able to decide which charities receive funding after the company closes out its books.
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02/21, 1:00pm
Main Apple agency partners gathering under unified ownership
One of Apple's long-standing advertising partners, Rosetta, appears to have relaunched its Level Studios brand as an Apple-exclusive division. Advertising Age notes that the brand has a new website, which simply shows an Apple logo under its "Client List" section. Rosetta acquired the original Level Studios in 2010, and while the new site doesn't mention Rosetta by name, contact details point to Rosetta's offices.
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02/18, 12:53pm
Apple allegedly missing out on sales
Apple is losing out on iAd sales because the company is too "slow, cocky and downright stingy," a new Advertising Age report suggests. The assertion is attributed to Madison Avenue media buyers. One person -- GroupM's chief innovation officer, Cary Tilds -- comments that Apple doesn't have a large sales team for iAd. An anonymous executive notes that Apple doesn't even have sales targets, which may reflect the low priority iAd has.
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02/14, 4:54pm
Says 'reasonable consumer' wouldn't expect Siri to work perfectly
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California, Claudia Wilken, has dismissed a lawsuit claiming that Apple ads for the iPhone 4S were deceptive about the capabilities of Siri. In her ruling Wilken writes that the plaintiffs' claims depended on "non-actionable puffery," and failed to show evidence of fraud. A "reasonable consumer," she says, would not expect Siri to work perfectly all the time; the plaintiffs charged that Apple gave the impression Siri could handle any request instantly.
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02/12, 5:40am
Advertising would appear for new users on empty New Tab page
Mozilla plans to add advertisements to the Firefox browser, the company announced at a recent Interactive Advertising Bureau meeting. The new advertisements will take the form of "Directory Tiles," items on a page when a user opens a new, empty tab, and will apparently only affect new users of the browser rather than those who have used it for some time.
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01/26, 2:25pm
Customers could get free travel to business locations
Online advertising could offer viewers free travel to businesses in the future, based on a recently-granted patent. The filing, titled "Transportation-aware physical advertising conversions," suggests a way for a system that can provide free or discounted transit of a customer to a physical location, in order for the customer to buy products or to try out a service.
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01/22, 11:21am
Spots based on recent 'Your Verse' commercial
Apple has begun airing two new TV ads for the iPad Air. Dubbed "Light Verse" and "Sound Verse," the spots are shortened, 30-second versions of "Your Verse," a 90-second ad that premiered last week. Intermixed with the earlier ad's content is some original imagery.
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01/20, 7:33am
Two Chrome extensions pulled under new Chrome Web Store rules
Less than one month after it introduced a number of Chrome Web Store rule changes, Google has removed two Chrome extensions from its store for spamming. Add to Feedly and Tweet This Page were both excluded from the store after complaints emerged that they were serving up unwanted advertising to their users, shortly after the extensions were sold by their original developers to another company.
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01/17, 10:53pm
Apple technology could deliver information, advertising during event
A advertising and marketing trade publication has reported that soft drink giant Coca-Cola is looking into Apple's iBeacon, a short-range Bluetooth-powered messaging technology, as part of its major sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup. The iBeacon is a small, Bluetooth Low Energy-powered device usually planted on a wall that detects smartphone proximity and, with permission, can broadcast a message or alert -- be it informational or advertising -- as a notification on the device.
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01/17, 11:48am
Ad removals up by 59 percent
Google has published its yearly report on "Busting Bad Advertising Practices," noting that ad removals have surged by 59 percent to reach 350 million in 2013. The search company suggests improvements to detection systems and growth of online advertising overall have contributed to the rise in harmful and deceptive ads.
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01/13, 1:19pm
'One Microsoft' strategy credited with shift
Microsoft has become a more trusted brand than Apple, according to a new Forrester survey. The research group polled 4,551 people, and ranked companies according to its "TRUE" criteria: trusted, remarkable, unmistakable, and essential. Microsoft was the only company to gain "trailblazer" status, with Forrester describing it as "at the forefront of brand building with a unique and distinct brand identity that sets it apart from other brands."
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01/12, 8:54pm
Facebook user claims not to have endorsed company, seeks $750
Facebook is being sued over apparent false "likes" being used in advertising on the social network. Anthony Ditirro has filed a class-action suit against Facebook in San Jose, for allegedly showing that users are endorsing products on the service to friends and acquaintances linked to the user, even if the claimed endorser did not actually "like" the associated Facebook page.
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01/10, 11:42am
Developers can create Android games with asynchronous multiplayer
The latest update to Google Play Services has started rolling out to users, including a number of small changes to the software platform. Changes to the way the mobile operating system works with Google Drive, in-app advertising, and mobile games are included in the update, along with a claimed improvement to battery life through alterations in Google Location Reporting.
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12/30, 12:13pm
Could influence direction of Apple marketing
Apple has hired Arem Duplessis to serve as a creative director at the company beginning in February, an interview reveals. Duplessis is generally unknown to the public, but has worked as the design director for The New York Times Magazine for almost 10 years. Before that, he was a design director with the magazines Spin and GQ.
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12/17, 7:19am
Video ads on Facebook will automatically play silently
Facebook will be rolling out video advertisements to the News Feed of its users this week. A statement from the social network about the new ads effectively confirms an earlier report from the Wall Street Journal, with both desktop users and mobile device owners expected to see the new advertising units with automatically-playing video on their screens in the coming days.
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12/10, 12:37pm
Hire hints at further push into streaming audio
Apple has reportedly poached an advertising executive, Michael Pallad, from Cumulus Media, unnamed sources have told Ad Age. After serving as executive VP of sales at the second-largest owner of FM radio stations, Pallad now is said to be tasked with overseeing international ad sales for Apple's iTunes Radio service.
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11/13, 3:00am
Lets developers create their own banners, offers more targets and stats
Apple's iAd Workbench, which debuted this past June, allows developers a simple way to promote their own apps through iAd with campaigns starting at just $50, and giving them tools to better target potential buyers and find out how effective the advertising is. The program, part of the developer portal iTunes Connect, has now been expanded to countries outside the US. The tool is now available in nine additional countries.
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11/03, 7:54pm
JetBlue, Delta allow passengers to use devices at takeoff
Airlines JetBlue and Delta have announced that they will be allowing passengers to use electronic devices between the departure and arrivals gates, including at takeoff, according to Bloomberg. Shortly after the FAA changed the rules governing the use of such devices in a plane, JetBlue corporate communications manager Morgan Johnson posted an image of passengers armed with smartphones to Facebook, claiming its first flight under the new policy has flown successfully.
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10/31, 11:37am
Company exercising tight controls on visual marketing
Apple is curiously deterring app developers from using images of the gold iPhone 5s in product marketing, reports note. "Feature only the most current Apple products in the following finishes or colors: iPhone 5s in silver or space gray, iPhone 5c in white or blue, iPad Air in silver or space gray, and iPad mini in silver or space gray," the company writes in a new addition to its marketing guidelines. Accordingly, official image templates -- into which people can insert screenshots -- exclude the gold 5s.
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10/30, 3:08pm
Company's physical footprint sprawls to 19.1 million square feet
More information has been gleaned from Apple's 10K filing with the SEC. In addition to research budgets, the document also reveals that Apple's workforce is now up to 80,300 full-time employees, a jump from 72,800 at the end of FY2012. Most of the growth came from outside Apple Stores, which added only 400 full-time jobs for a total of 42,800. Apple typically prefers cheaper part-time workers at retail.
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10/11, 10:37am
Search giant updates terms of service
Google appears to be preparing a new advertising program that will publish users' personal information in online endorsements. In its latest terms-of-service update, the company outlines how profile information can be used for Shared Endorsements based on the user's +1 clicks, ratings, reviews and comments posted to Google+ or YouTube.
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09/30, 6:29am
Advertising to reach Android app in future version 4.6 update
Google could be adding advertisements to its Gmail app for Android in the future, bringing it in line with the browser-based equivalent which already displays marketing messages. An examination of the APK for version 4.6 of the app appears to show lines of code relating to the display and storage of advertisements, among a number of other feature updates.
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09/24, 5:02pm
Deal to last at least through 2013
Nissan has signed a deal with Apple to be an exclusive automotive advertiser on iTunes Radio, according to an official announcement by the carmaker. The exclusivity will hold through the end of 2013. The company adds that it plans to treat iTunes Radio as a priority platform for advertising new vehicles, beginning with the latest Rogue, Leaf, and Versa Note models. Some form of agreement was rumored prior to iTunes Radio's September launch.
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09/12, 5:44am
App in testing could lead to pop-ups from advertisers in future
Owners of smart televisions may soon have to contend with interactive pop-up advertising, if one company succeeds. Software created by interactive advertising specialist Visible World for LG smart TVs displays selectable reminders on top of other content, reminding them of when TV shows are about to be broadcast, even if they are playing a game or streaming movies.
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09/09, 1:10pm
Team expected to work on web design, video tutorials
Apple is working on greatly increasing the size of its internal ad design team, sources say. For years the company has reportedly kept the team capped at about 300 people. An executive described as familiar with Apple, however, claims that the team could soon grow to as large as 500 or 600 people.
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09/04, 2:39pm
Some hires meant to help outside parties produce more effective ads
Apple has been searching for dozens of new people to boost its iAd team in preparation for iTunes Radio, according to Ad Age. The publication notes that in August, Apple posted just five iAd jobs on its own website, but another 35 on LinkedIn. The company is hunting for people such as account coordinators, ad design managers, and project managers and engineers.
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08/20, 3:31pm
Ads to eventually become device-specific
A number of major advertisers have lined up to advertise on Apple's upcoming iTunes Radio service. According to Ad Age, the list so far includes "McDonald’s, Nissan, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble and possibly one or two more brands," all of whom have reportedly signed 12-month contracts. Targeting will initially be device-agnostic, but in 2014 advertisers will get the option to direct spots at specific devices, with costs varying proportionately. An ad will be cheap on the iPhone, for instance, but more expensive on an iPad, and even more costly on an Apple TV.
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08/07, 9:51am
Adap.tv doubled revenues yearly prior to purchase
AOL has revealed it is acquiring video advertising marketplace Adap.tv, in what has been called its biggest purchase since Tim Armstrong became chief executive of the company. Said to be worth $405 million in combined cash and stock, the deal is higher than the $315 million paid out for the Huffington Post two years ago.
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08/06, 9:48am
Hammers home emotional themes of recent campaign
Apple has started airing a new TV spot for the iPhone (below), "FaceTime Every Day." The commercial continues the tone of its "Designed by Apple" and "Music Every Day" ads, trying to forge an emotional connection instead of concentrating on feature details or prices. The clip meshes together a series of vignettes of people using FaceTime in emotional circumstances, such as touring a new home or coping with the aftermath of a fight. At the end of the ad, Apple claims that more people do video calls on the iPhone than on any other phone.
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08/05, 2:29pm
Follows Android release last week
Google has posted a native iPhone version of its AdSense app. The release follows a week after the launch of the Android app, which was the first official client for AdSense users. On the iOS App Store, some third parties have already been offering their own clients, paid and free.
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07/30, 5:11pm
Would wedge TV-style spots into news feeds
Facebook is planning to start selling 15-second video ads to marketers, sources tell Bloomberg. The clips would be inserted directly into a person's news feed, and at least initially sold on a full-day day basis, with targeting based solely on a person's age and gender. A video would show no more than three times per person, per day, and cost marketers between $1 million and $2.5 million each day.
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06/27, 12:33pm
Continues trend started with recent iPhone ads
Apple's "Designed by Apple" TV ad isn't scoring well with test audiences, says consulting firm Ace Metrix. The spot scored just 489 on an Ace Metrix scale, the lowest among 26 Apple ads aired during the last year, and below even a 542-point industry average. In the past, some Apple campaigns have scored over 700. Each Ace Metrix survey is based on at least 500 TV viewers.
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06/25, 12:11pm
iPhone maker saturates different media
Apple is starting to run prints ads as part of its Designed by Apple in California marketing campaign. The company has taken out a two-page ad (below) in prominent Canadian newspaper the Toronto Star, using text echoing a TV ad that premiered earlier this month at WWDC 2013. Both spots are focused on corporate branding rather than selling any specific Apple product.
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06/12, 10:30am
Allows app developers to spend as little as $50 on iAd campaigns
Apple has added a new section to its iTunes Connect developer portal, iAd Workbench. The tool lets app developers promoting their titles via iAd to exercise more control over ads and campaign budgets. The minimum spend for such campaigns is now just $50, and developers can ask to pay on a cost-per-acquisition (CPA) or cost-per-click (CPC) basis. Apple provides estimates for the reach of a given campaign, including statistics for impressions, taps, and downloads.
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06/11, 12:33pm
Switch to pushing brand over products
Apple's "Designed by Apple/Our Signature" TV ad is just the start of a new marketing campaign in association with long-time partner TBWA\Chiat\Day, say sources. The people tell Bloomberg that the campaign will focus on the touted quality and reliability of Apple's products and hosted content, instead of just the products themselves. More such ads will reportedly follow in the next few months.
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06/10, 4:50pm
First solid glimpse at new iOS
Apple has posted several videos on its website in the wake of today's WWDC keynote. These include the keynote itself, designer Jonathan Ive's introduction to iOS 7, and the "Designed by Apple" corporate branding ad narrated by Ben Affleck. The keynote video is roughly two hours long.
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06/08, 12:02am
Talk includes insight on naming Apple, 'Think Different,' more
At a recent entrepreneurial summit known as the PTTOW! conference, TBWA Global Director and Chairman Lee Clow -- an advertising legend in part due to his long history behind many of the iconic ads for Apple -- gave a short talk on his memories of Steve Jobs and the 30-year relationship that they shared. In a video of the talk (seen below), Clow describes meeting Jobs in his mid-twenties; shares Jobs' passion for "democratizing" computer technology to consumers; adds his belief on how Jobs arrived at the "Apple" brand name, and more.
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06/06, 10:40pm
250 million global users view YouTube content on mobile apps
Advertising revenue generated specifically by YouTube has tripled on mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets -- giving nearly $350 million to parent company Google's coffers. According to the search engine, about 250 million global users view content on handheld devices, forcing a shift in ad purchases to reach that audience.
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