Apple is changing the way it continues to work with it’s long-time global advertising partner TBWA\Media Arts Lab via a shift away from broader globally focused TV ads and toward regionally-focused digital and social media campaigns. This has led to a number of layoffs, particularly within the agency’s translation and transcreation teams alongside an expansion of certain departments such as digital and social media to allow it to keep up to date with important platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat Facebook and YouTube.
“TBWA\Media Arts Lab is reorganizing and introducing a new operating model to keep pace with the way people consume media and content,” an agency spokesperson told Adweek. “This will result in a reduction in areas such as localization and further investment in areas such as digital, social, data analytics, content creation and a more diverse set of strategic skills. We will also have greater integration with media partners at OMD.”
Media Arts Lab will still have an impacting role when it comes to Apple’s global advertisements, but in recent years this type of work has tended to shift to the in-house team in an attempt to cut spending on marketing. Despite this, Media Arts Lab have instructed local teams in cities including London and Tokyo to focus more on regional marketing.
Strangely, last year, Apple did not disclose how much they spent on advertising, stating in the annual report that “advertising costs are expensed as incurred and included in selling, general and administrative expenses” and although it is not required for companies to state their annual spending when it comes to marketing, many found it unusual that Apple did so.
One example of Apple’s efforts in regional work is ‘Meu Bloco na Rua’, a carnival-themed ad that aims to promote sales of the iPhone 7 plus in Brazil. Apple released this ad on its YouTube account in Brazil last week, ahead of the beginning of the Carnival on February 24th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG-9SXdDWmE
The company has also promoted a series of 15 second ads on YouTube for products including the iPhone, airpods, Apple Watch and iPad Pro. Apple have long been praised for their advertisements, particularly the ‘Get a Mac’ campaign that ran from 2006 to 2009 and the famous iPod silhouette ads that ran from 2001-2011. Some of their most recent attempts, however, have been met with mixed reactions. Watch their new ad (below) and see what you think.
https://youtu.be/INs_bnk4yJQ
