Ken Segall, former Apple creative director, advertising veteran, and one-time ally of Steve Jobs, is worried that Apple is losing some of its personality under CEO Tim Cook.

Segall, who was responsible for some of Apple’s definitive campaigns such as “Think Different” as well as the name iMac, reveals how Steve Jobs was obsessed with creating an aura that made people “lust” for his products in a new interview with The Telegraph.
Segall believes that this feeling has been waining under Tim Cook’s leadership over the past several years. He believes that Apple’s failure to take advantage of customer loyalty through “emotional marketing campaigns” will soon become an issue for the Cupertino company as it readies itself for a cooling market.
“These days, Apple does a different campaign for a different phone which I always thought was a lost opportunity,” says Segall. “They should be building a personality for the phone, a thing that people might want to be part of because it rises above the features of the moment.
“That is the challenge, when you are in a more mature category and the feature differences are significantly less, how do you advertise something like that? That is where the skill of the marketer comes into play,” continues Segall.
Segall suggests that Apple’s current CEO might be playing it safe in terms of marketing strategy. “Tim Cook goes by recommendation of the people around him,” he said, adding that those people were “a little vanilla.” Segall continued: “In a big company environment people tend to get safer … In the old days, Apple used to do things that get a lot of attention.”
Segall mentions that Apple’s loyal iPhone following might begin to “think twice” about purchasing the next model. Apple has recently focused its marketing campaigns on single features, such as the “Shot on iPhone” series.
“They should be building a personality for the phone,” he said, “a thing that people might want to be part of because it rises above the features of the moment.” Segall believes this would help Apple rise above the competition at a time when smartphone sales are slowing.
Other articles in the category: News
Tweetbot Creators Release ‘Ivory’ Mastodon App for iOS
Tapbots, creators of the award-winning Tweetbot for Twitter, have just released their new 'Ivory’ app for Mastodon, which is now available to download for iPhone and iPad. "We obsess over every detail and put good design and experience first,” note the developers. " If you liked Tweetbot, you’ll love Ivory!" The app offers a gorgeous visual...
U.S. DOJ Files New Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google
In a little over 2 years, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed its second antitrust lawsuit against Google, this time targeting the search engine giant's advertising business (via CNBC). The new lawsuit is focused on the company’s online advertising business and seeks to make Google divest parts of the business. This antitrust suit, the news of...
Apple Releases tvOS 16.3, HomePod Software 16.3 Unlocks Temperature/Humidity Sensor
After releasing iOS 16.3, iPadOS 16.3, macOS 13.2 and watchOS 9.3 yesterday, Apple has now made tvOS 16.3 available, along with HomePod Software 16.3. With HomePod Software 16.3, the update unlocks the temperature and humidity sensor in your HomePod mini and HomePod (2nd gen). The original HomePod does not have this sensor. Once you update […]