Apple overhauls UK comms and splits with Bite agency

Arun Sudhaman, prweek.com, 17 June 2009, 2:22pm

Apple has secretly begun a major shake-up of its PR operation that will see the iconic brand taking all its UK comms in-house.

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The surprise decision is a serious blow to Bite Communications, which has enjoyed a prestigious 14-year relationship with the brand.

Confirming the news, Bite CEO Clive Armitage said: ‘Apple is going to accelerate its process of taking activity in-house and operating its in-house department.

‘The relationship has been fantastic for us and for Apple – in many ways, it was the account that put us on the map.’

Apple’s rethink means Bite will lose the anchor client (hence its name) for which it began working in 1995, when it spun off from Next Fifteen sister agency Text 100.

Sources told PRWeek the account’s financial value to Bite had dwindled in recent years and now amounted to less than £100k per annum.

Armitage said Bite’s recent merger with Inferno Communications (PRWeek, 22 April) had acted as a ‘catalyst’ for Apple’s decision, because of Inferno’s conflicting business with Apple’s bitter rival Microsoft.

An industry source added that the relationship between the two parties had ‘morphed’ in recent years.

‘The Apple account has become very secretive,’ said the source. ‘Bite’s activity has become less strategic and more press office, and Apple has been building its in-house team.’

Others noted Apple’s ‘unique’ status within the PR landscape made it less reliant on agency counsel. ‘It doesn’t want an intermediary working on its behalf,’ said a senior tech agency source.

PRWeek can also reveal that Sheryl Seitz, a senior figure in Apple’s European PR team, has left the company. Seitz was originally poached from Bite in 2005.

Apple comms news

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2006 Tech bloggers reveal Apple is increasingly asking them to contact the company direct, rather than going through Bite

2005 Apple hires Bite consumer MD Sheryl Seitz and ex-staffer Tanya Ridd

All Comments

Matthew Ravden - 18 June 2009

As Bite's original MD, I can honestly say that the Bite brand, whilst conveniently relevant to Apple when we pitched, was less to do with bites out of apples and more to do with the tenacious approach we intended to take to work with all our future clients. Hence no apples on our original business cards, just teeth marks!

I left Bite in 1998, and I have to say it is quite remarkable that the Apple account has remained with Bite for so long. It's a relationship that survived Apple's lowest moments, when staff were all joking about being bought by Canon, through to the incredible iPod-led resurgence under Jobs. And in all of that time, Apple has become more and more committed to an in-house PR model around the world. This move was inevitable. The only surprise is it didn't happen until now.