In the advertising business, there's only one thing worse than the most prestigious account on the planet going horribly sour - and that's the most prestigious account on the planet going horribly sour and it all leaking out across the web.
So spare a thought for TBWA/Media Arts Lab. They handle Apple's marketing communications business and in January 2013 managed to turn that little peach into rotten egg, in a couple of emails. We know this because those emails are now visible for all to read on a range of interested websites. (I'm very aware of the litigious nature of large corporations, particularly those from America, so I'm not reproducing the emails here. A simple search should get you there.)
How is this possible? A creative agency of some renown, working with a company recognised as a giant of creative technology - what could possibly go wrong? Well, a reputation like Apple's is hard-won and jealously guarded. And when Samsung were perceived to be stealing a portion of their thunder, tensions rapidly built. Apple were keen to lay some of the blame at the door of their agency, TBWA/Media Arts Lab. Although revelations concerning the iPad maker's dicey labour practices in China, and sharp taxation practices, were giving the brand a battering, they also felt some lacklustre advertising had compounded the issue and Samsung were running away with the ball. A Wall Street Journal headline reading 'Has Apple Lost Its Cool To Samsung?' further excited the problem.
At this point, there was no nightmare. This sort of cut and thrust transpires between agency and client every day of the week. However, what happened next was a slow motion car crash. A highly placed creative executive at TBWA/MAL called James Vincent, attempted to apply some ointment to the wound, but instead, inflamed the situation to a whole new level of pain.
He sent an email which was notable for several reasons. First, it is very long - often a sign of desperation. It was also written entirely without capital letters (including the recipient's name) nor any real punctuation - for which I can find no sensible explanation. But most significantly, despite its rambling nature, it very specifically suggests to Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Apple, where his business is going wrong and what might be done to fix it.
'Something needs to change. Fast.'
The response was blunt and brutal. "I am shocked" wrote Schiller. "To come back and suggest that Apple needs to think dramatically about how we are running our company is a shocking response.”
James Vincent, in the original email from TBWA/MAL, had actually done more than that. One of his suggested solutions was for Apple to hand the agency more money and total creative freedom. What's more, he put it to Schiller that Apple was in the same position it faced in 1997 - a point in time when the company was close to folding.
On receiving the strong admonishment from Schiller, Vincent came back with an ingratiating apology (again, all in lower case) but the crisis rumbled on. "Something needs to change. Fast." Phil Schiller stated plainly.
When a key client expresses dissatisfaction with an agency, there's a range of recovery tactics one may deploy. An urgent face-to-face meeting to thrash it all out, maybe. Or a big old boozy lunch, with the agency picking up the tab. Whichever, it's obvious the client is in need of some full-on TLC if the business is to be recovered, so firing off an email explaining why they're not very good at what they do, is almost always unwise. As is asking for budget and hinting you think their firm is going down the pan. If that client is one of the world's most respected and envied brands, then the folly is amplified hundreds of times over.
The fact is, TBWA/MAL was created for one reason: to service Apple's marketing communications needs. The entire agency rests on that account, so this exchange is particularly chilling. In short, James Vincent bet the farm on a single rash communication - and almost lost it.
The morale of the story? Email in haste, repent at your leisure.
Magnus Shaw is a copywriter, blogger and consultant
