According to a recent article in the Business Insider, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) big push to bring much of its advertising operations back in-house is moving very slowly. Sources say Apple is looking to hire more than 1000 advertising professionals of various stripes to rebuild an internal advertising division. The new division will supplement or even eventually replace TBWA/Media Arts Lab, the Apple-only ad-agency created for Steve Jobs.
However, Business Insider’s sources say that the iPhone maker is having great difficulty finding top-flight ad execs to join it’s new $1.1 billion annual ad spend organization.
Apple losing its mojo
Business Insider’s Jim Edwards says Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) can’t get the top ad execs it wants for a number of reasons, but most importantly, because people aren’t that excited about working for Apple any more
Edwards explains: “Apple’s problem is that many in the ad industry don’t want to work for Apple any more. Apple used to be the most prestigious brand in the world. But lately it has lost its marketing mojo. Google is now widely regarded as the better brand. Even Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller has admitted that Samsung is “feeling it” while Apple struggles to find direction on the iPhone brand.”
Another problem is that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s advertising has been a mixed bag lately. A few new Apple ads have been blockbusters, but many, including the recently canceled “Genius” campaign, have been been somewhere between uninspiring and terrible.
Bay Area too expensive
Another reason working for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is not considered such a plum gig anymore is the incredibly high home prices in the Bay Area. Several senior ad execs told Ad Age that they simply couldn’t afford to move to Cupertino even given the six-figure offers the firm was making.
Top ad firms already taken by rivals
The other major issue for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is that it has been working with TBWA for three decades now, which means nearly all the other major agencies are already working for by rival clients. For example, PJ Pereira, founder of San Francisco’s Pereira & O’Dell, said “We turned them down because we have relationships with both Intel/Toshiba and Skype.”
