“There are few companies as admired, beloved and dominant in their industries as Amazon and Apple. So when the two ventured into the ad business (Amazon in 2008 and Apple in 2010), Madison Avenue took notice,” Kate Kaye reports or Advertising Age. “Advertising sales are a tough slog for both — and for a lot of the same reasons. Media buyers say they are slow, cocky and downright stingy. Both take too long to develop ad products. Amazon’s sales approach is too pushy; Apple is too reticent to foster relationships. Most frustrating: Neither is willing to cough up enough of the consumer data that attracts advertisers to them in the first place.”
“Perhaps the biggest issue hindering their ad growth is that advertising is an afterthought, a blip on the balance sheet. It’s still viewed by some as immaterial and potentially detrimental to the cash cows — an ad is an impediment if it distracts a consumer from the ‘buy’ button or mucks up a beautiful mobile app,” Kaye reports. “One exec told Ad Age that Apple doesn’t even have official sales targets for its ad business.”
“Cary Tilds, chief innovation officer for GroupM, said that Apple doesn’t have a big sales team. ‘It’s not their main focus to tell everyone in the world how amazing advertising in iAd is,’ she said. ‘It’s just not as loud,’ Kaye reports. “Since launch, both have rebooted their ad-selling efforts several times. Apple added iTunes Radio to its arsenal. And the two have also loosened up a bit on the data, though it’s nothing like what advertisers have come to expect from, say, Yahoo, which provides lots more data and metrics… One person familiar with the situation exec said Apple’s refusal to share data makes it the best-looking girl at the party, forced to wear a bag over her head.”
Much more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “OccasionalPoster1” for the heads up.]
Thank God there’s Google and Yahoo! If it weren’t for them, I’m not sure my private info would ever get shared with advertisers. Apple sure won’t do it…
Jobs said that Apple created iAds for developers, not for itself to earn the money. Along the way, Apple made it not as annoying as other advertisement systems, and with more respect to users’ privacy.
Expecting advertisers to respect consumers’ privacy is like expecting a roaring fire to respect combustible fuel.
Compared to Google, which gladly shares as much information as advertisers would like.
Therein lies the fundamental difference between Apple and Google: Apple is “the best looking girl at the party, wearing chastity belt, bullet-proof vest and guarded by five older brothers, all active Marines”, while Google is “an every-day Jane in slutty outfit, ready to give it up to anyone who will buy her a drink.”
Predrag, very well put.
And with Google’s Jane the Slut, you don’t even have to buy her a drink. Just look her way and you will catch something you don’t want.
And Janes’ older brother makes you unexpectantly walk funny for a few days…
Ha what an analogy
You mean five older brothers all part of SEAL TEAM 6
I won’t object to your insulting depiction of women in your analogy, but only because it has become so much easier to make one’s point using gender stereotypes than through almost any other metaphorical construct.
Indeed, it’s clear that it isn’t even necessary to hide one’s unconscious bias in forums such as this, as it is clear most posters are male, and therefore presumably heartily misogynistic. But I thought you were better than that.
Hannah, I have nothing to say in my defense, so please accept my apology. It is a lame excuse to pick up on the quote from the original article (which seems to be anonymous: “one person familiar with the situation said…”) and elaborate the unfortunate metaphor further.
Middle-aged men (such as myself) grew up in a different world and all those stereotypes form our childhood and youth still lurk somewhere in our minds.
You are a dear to respond so gallantly.
I love Apple for this, and many other reasons.
I am only too glad Apple doesn’t give out our information. Ads are very much a sideline for them unlike Facebook and Google which are in fact ad companies.
Also Apple gives you an easy way to turn off iAds and data collection.
I was afraid ’s “consumer first” approach would go when Steve Jobs did. Glad it didn’t.
BooHoo, listen to the Marketing Morons WHINE.
Q: “Why won’t Apple let us ABUSE their users?
*sobity*sob*sob*” 😥 😥
A: Because Apple has INTEGRITY and Apple RESPECTS THEIR USERS.
Go whine and leak all over Yahoo and Google, witless parasites.
Meanwhile: I’m so sick of marketing abuse on the Internet that I:
1) FILTER OUT ALL TRACKING COOKIES. Munch on that, Marketing Morons.
2) Use AD BLOCKING extensions in my browsers. If only you’d treated me with respect, I’d have respected your ads, dummies.
3) Use JavaScript BLOCKING extensions in all my browsers. Darned, you can’t nail me that way either. Tears tears tears.
4) Use a REVERSE FIREWALL. So no secret phoning home surveillance of my computers via any browsers OR other software. Haha.
5) Write free public blog articles to warn Mac users about ADWARE INFLICTION from the likes of CNET. Doesn’t that make your nuts ache?
http://macsmarticles.blogspot.com/2013/10/attack-of-adware-cnet-has-ruined.html
IOW: Retribution against Marketing Moron customer abuse is a joy forever. \(^_^)/
Thank you Apple and Marketing Mavens for not giving in.
hmmm reverse firewall… sounds interesting. can you tell us more? like a source for more info or where to find downloads so we can put up another line of defense against these malignant parasites who seek to worm information out of us?
There are two ‘reverse firewalls’ that I own. The first is Little Snitch. The second is the one built into Intego’s NetBarrier. Both are excellent. But I’m a big fan of Little Snitch, find it to be the most versatile, and I am entirely used to its user interface such that it never bothers me. Instead I’ve learned to appreciate its features, such as immediately being able to look up the DNS name of any obscure IP address any application is attempting to use to phone home.
That’s the short version. Both of them have a learning curve and initially will be interruptive of your browsing habits. But I love them and never surf without them.