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Branding Agency CEO Karl Heiselman to Join Apple's Marketing Team

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Karl Heiselman, Global CEO of branding agency Wolff Olins is set to leave his position to join Apple in a marketing communications role, reports Ad Age. The move comes as Apple works to double the size of its in-house creative design team as competition from Samsung and Android heats up.
Mr. Heiselman confirmed by email that he accepted "an exciting new role at Apple after 14 fantastic years at Wolff Olins," but referred further questions to Apple. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
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Wolff Olins describes itself as a "brand and innovation firm for the future," specializing in helping leaders reinvent their business or category. The company claims multiple high-profile clients, including AOL, Mercedes-Benz, Target, DoCoMo, and Apple's charity partner (Product) RED.

Heiselman's expertise in brand innovation could come in handy at a time when Apple is aiming to bolster its brand image. The company began working to boost its in-house design team numbers back in September and has also recently partnered with four new advertising agencies.

Apple has faced increasing pressure from competitors like Samsung over the course of 2013, with the company reportedly being unhappy with Samsung's "The Next Big Thing" advertising campaign. Its growing in-house design team and its new partnerships come as it prepares to release a multitude of new products later in 2014, including the iPhone 6, the iWatch, revamped MacBooks including a new ultrathin 12-inch MacBook Air, a lower-cost iMac, updated iPads, and a new Apple TV set-top box.

Heiselman previously worked for Apple as a design contractor in the early 1990s, before Steve Jobs took over the company. It's unclear what his exact role will be at Apple after his return.

Article Link: Branding Agency CEO Karl Heiselman to Join Apple's Marketing Team
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/04/11/branding-agency-ceo-karl-heiselman-to-join-apple/
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ferdinandcc

macrumors member
Jun 8, 2011
43
64
Caloocan City, Philippines
This could be interesting. Wolff Olins is anything but “safe.”

In a good way, I think—they produce a lot of the most interesting identities, love them or hate them.

I wonder if he’ll bring with him a touch of that Wolff Olins weirdness.
 
R

Ryth

macrumors 68000
Apr 21, 2011
1,591
157
Apple has faced increasing pressure from competitors like Samsung over the course of 2013...
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I mean really? Pressure? As shown in the court documents today, Samsung is LYING about their sales.

Samsung's internal documents indicate that the company's own public representation of its competitive position in the tablet market was not true, and that the company appears to have intentionally misled its own investors and the analysts covering its business with false statements about the health of its tablet sales.
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I think everything Samsung has done is all smoke and mirrors...it's a shame the majority of analysts don't care about integrity.
 
Z

Zxxv

macrumors 68040
Nov 13, 2011
3,558
1,104
UK
So what can we expect? an apple blowing a samsung...out of the water?

this guy was responsible for the 2012 UK olympics symbol that is almost universally accepted as Lisa Simpson giving a blow job. The others believe it to be a ZIONist sign. Does anyone at apple know what they're doing anymore?
 

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notrack

macrumors 6502
Feb 19, 2012
439
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Hmmm, hope none of this will come to the Apple brand. I understand that they want to further develop the brand and maybe make a bigger step at once. But I hope it won't go towards neon/grafitti/childish/cheap/80s.
 

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iolinux333

macrumors 68000
Feb 9, 2014
1,798
73
notrack said:
Hmmm, hope none of this will come to the Apple brand. I understand that they want to further develop the brand and maybe make a bigger step at once. But I hope it won't go towards neon/grafitti/childish/cheap/80s.
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The colors in that pic are NOT 80s, not even close. The late 80s colors were horrible, and all started with Benetton. The colors in your pic, above, came out of the late 90s-00s rave scene and weren't generated by some icky ad agency.
 
Lesser Evets

Lesser Evets

macrumors 68040
Jan 7, 2006
3,527
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Zxxv said:
Does anyone at apple know what they're doing anymore?
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I've been wondering that since this year began.

It's not getting better.

Products are stalling, except for iProducts, and a lot of bizarre decisions and behavior are coming from the top. Apple could take a giant slide over the next few years.
 
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notrack

macrumors 6502
Feb 19, 2012
439
88
iolinux333 said:
The colors in that pic are NOT 80s, not even close. The late 80s colors were horrible, and all started with Benetton. The colors in your pic, above, came out of the late 90s-00s rave scene and weren't generated by some icky ad agency.
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You are right, these colours show up in the 90s. However, it initially reminded me of the 80s pop culture with random bright colours and chaotic shapes.


Lesser Evets said:
I've been wondering that since this year began.

...
Apple could take a giant slide over the next few years.
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I think so, too. But whoever is CEO of Apple, he has no other choice than positioning/shaping the brand the way that he thinks is the right way.
 
A

albusseverus

macrumors 6502a
Nov 28, 2007
744
154
Judging by the discussion, somebody needs to spell this out—Brand is a public relations fiction in service of one purpose only—the PR company's first priority—to convince a customer that they need PR.

"Consultants" convinced gullible companies that they could reproduce Apple's "cool and success", not by developing deeply thought-out products (ingeniously against the conventional wisdom), but by buying more PR to get themselves a "brand"?

If this hire means we're in for another year of being told we are 'holding it wrong', I'm starting to feel sick to my stomach.

If you have the right products, word of mouth speaks for itself and you don't need to create BRAND.
 
I

iolinux333

macrumors 68000
Feb 9, 2014
1,798
73
Lesser Evets said:
I've been wondering that since this year began.

It's not getting better.

Products are stalling, except for iProducts, and a lot of bizarre decisions and behavior are coming from the top. Apple could take a giant slide over the next few years.
Click to expand...

Well lots of the people that made apple what it was under Jobs, have retired, moved on, quit, been fired, or died. It's really a completely different group of people now.

I'm OK with that for the moment. Jobs was at the head of a design studio creating works of art, and underlying them was rock solid software. Unfortunately, as artists, they had a tendency to try to give me what THEY knew was best, instead of what *I* thought was best.

I compare to Android, that underlies a capable pocket computer that should be what I want, except it has spaghetti software and cheap parts.

Now that Apple isn't really run by artists any more, I'm hoping they give me a capable pocket computer, with rock solid software and hardware. To make it a capable computer, they're going to have to make it easier to manipulate files, and let programmers get at the hardware a little more as well, so long as the rocksolidness of the platform, and the security of the platform is not affected.

I don't really care much what the home screen looks like. All operating systems are to the end user, in the end, just a bunch of buttons to launch applications. I just want the most solid, bug free experience, that DOES WHAT *I* want, rather than what some artist wants. I don't think Android will ever be that. Apple may. Or maybe there's something in the wings I'll be using in two years I haven't even heard of. Jolla?
 
richman555

richman555

macrumors 6502
Jan 23, 2010
450
214
Collegeville, PA
Honestly marketing at Apple hasnt been good lately. Its like they all went on vacation enjoying thier success. "What is your verse?" has got to be their worst marketing idea in years. Its neither fresh or new and quite honestly is like ok we are ready for middle age and retirement. Its more like what do you want written on your tombstone.
 
mdelvecchio

mdelvecchio

macrumors 68040
Sep 3, 2010
3,151
1,149
Lesser Evets said:
I've been wondering that since this year began.

It's not getting better.

Products are stalling, except for iProducts, and a lot of bizarre decisions and behavior are coming from the top. Apple could take a giant slide over the next few years.
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doom! dooooom! apple is SO DOOMED!! any year now. yep, aaaany year...

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albusseverus said:
If this hire means we're in for another year of being told we are 'holding it wrong', I'm starting to feel sick to my stomach.
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the iPhone 4 antenna issue was fiction. they still sell it and it continues to work just fine. any phone gripped hard enough over its antenna will register signal degradation, and the YouTube vids of it happening to all phones are easy to locate.

If you have the right products, word of mouth speaks for itself and you don't need to create BRAND.
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not so. building a greet product is the first step. advertising and marketing are very real needs. consumer spending habits don't change themselves.

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iolinux333 said:
Well lots of the people that made apple what it was under Jobs, have retired, moved on, quit, been fired, or died. It's really a completely different group of people now.
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actually you have no idea what you're talking about -- unless you work in apple and can produce a comprehensive staffing report. but you don't, and you can't.

Unfortunately, as artists, they had a tendency to try to give me what THEY knew was best, instead of what *I* thought was best.
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it's called product design. they have to make a million decisions because no product is magic and must be clearly defined prior to production. if you want something that you think is best, then get into painting.


Now that Apple isn't really run by artists any more,
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oh dear lord.

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mdridwan47 said:
Is Apple really this nervous ?
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no. it's just your narrative to believe they are. I'm not sure why...apple is the biggest, most successful, most profitable tech firm in the history of the human race.
 
T

TC03

macrumors 65816
Aug 17, 2008
1,272
356
These days, Apple hiring some marketing dude is already enough to make people drop the "Apple is doomed!"-narrative.

Seriously guys, STOP IT.
 
E

everything-i

macrumors 6502a
Jun 20, 2012
827
2
London, UK
Zxxv said:
So what can we expect? an apple blowing a samsung...out of the water?

this guy was responsible for the 2012 UK olympics symbol that is almost universally accepted as Lisa Simpson giving a blow job. The others believe it to be a ZIONist sign. Does anyone at apple know what they're doing anymore?
Click to expand...

While I would totally agree that the London 2012 branding was an epic mess I would say that is probably as much the fault of the client as Wolf Olins. Its typical of what gets produced when a committee people with no clue try to commission something 'cool and trendy' for 'the kids'. After all WO have a lot of other clients that they produce very good work for.
 
the8thark

the8thark

macrumors 601
Apr 18, 2011
4,628
1,735
iolinux333 said:
I'm OK with that for the moment. Jobs was at the head of a design studio creating works of art, and underlying them was rock solid software. Unfortunately, as artists, they had a tendency to try to give me what THEY knew was best, instead of what *I* thought was best.
Click to expand...

And that is a great thing. Those experts know what is best much better than the average person does. The average person thinks a lot about what they want now. While Apple mostly thinks about what we need a few years in the future and works towards that.
 
L

louisjonathan

macrumors newbie
Jul 9, 2023
4
-1
Karl Heiselman leaving Wolff Olins to join Apple in a marketing communications role indicated Apple's commitment to enhancing its brand image and design capabilities amidst stiff competition.
 
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