WordSmith › Apple Takes A Bite Out Of Negative PR, Nabs Golden Mic
“Pithy PRognostications from a recovering journalist …”
Words of the Day
“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” – English proverb
Company Whites Out Location-Tracking Buzz With New iPhone 4 Version
You got to give Apple a big ole PR hand! The venerable technology and computer innovator got ahead of the negative publicity tsunami caused by its location tracking “software glitch” by announcing the much-anticipated arrival of the white iPhone 4.
“Finally” is the headline on Apple’s homepage announcing the arrival of the white iPhone. It’s Apple poking fun at itself for this techno crisis, and indicates how it’s spun the affair into incredibly positive PR.
“By poking fun at itself with the ‘Finally’ remark, Apple looks a world away from the defensive company it appeared to be in 2007, when a few rogue questions caused an Apple spin doc to step in and halt an interview with British TV’s Channel 4 News,” Rich Leigh, a PR rep with 10 Yetis and a columnist for a top U.K. PR magazine, told Fast Company.
Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller gave a rare interview yesterday to deflate the location tracking furor that’s erupted recently, but they also were prepared to discuss the white iPhone. Schiller confirmed “it was challenging” to finally produce the device to satisfactory quality standards because “it’s not as simple as making something white.” Indeed, there’s actually “a lot more that goes into both the material science of it — how it holds up over time … but also in how it all works with the sensors.”
It’s Apple’s sleek, shiny PR at work again – pulling off the same sort of maneuvers that ended the “antennagate” affair (do you even remember the details of that now? Bet you don’t. And neither do millions of consumers who’ve bought the “flawed” iPhone 4 since).
But in Apple’s case, Leigh says, where “the white iPhone initially failed on the face of things, all it did is serve to whet the appetites of potential customers.” Apple is “simply put, a PR monster,” Leigh says, and its might and the brand popularity definitely helps because “this sort of about-turn isn’t easy to do.”
Apple’s swift “white out” has spun this image-tarnishing incident into pure gold!
Golden Mic
Each week, WordSmith will bestow a Golden Mic Award to the person, group or company in the court of public opinion that best exemplifies the tenets of solid PR, marketing and advertising – and those who don’t. Stay tuned … and step-up to the mic!
The WordSmith News Bureau is based at Deane Smith Media Innovations, a full-service PR, marketing and advertising agency. Got PR? Need marketing strategy? Ad consulting? Message WordSmithing? Creative & online initiatives? Reach the WordSmith at wordsmith@deanesmithmedia.com