Practically a decade in the past, after taking the helm of Apple’s devoted company, TBWAMedia Arts Lab, world chief govt Katrien De Bauw and world chief artistic officer Brent Anderson went to lunch with the company’s founder and legendary artistic chief, Lee Clow.
Clow, who established TBWAMedia Arts Lab (MAL) in 2006, is most well-known for serving to to redefine Apple’s promoting with campaigns equivalent to “1984,” which launched Macintosh computer systems, and “Suppose Completely different” in 1997.
After listening to Clow’s tales of collaborating with the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, De Bauw left that assembly with a way of trepidation, telling Anderson, “‘We higher not f-ck this up.’”
“I might actually really feel the load,” she instructed ADWEEK. “You stroll in standing on the shoulders of giants. It comes with an enormous accountability.”
De Bauw and Anderson have led MAL for nearly half of its existence, having began on the company inside a day of one another in 2016. Over that interval, they’ve helped MAL develop each its world presence and the kind of work it does for Apple, whereas aiming to boost its artistic recreation. Earlier this 12 months, as proof of their achievements, Cannes Lions named Apple its Artistic Marketer of the Yr.
Nonetheless, the stress stays excessive to maintain tempo with Apple’s fixed evolution.
“The MAL group has modified to have the ability to ship what Apple wants at present, but in addition what we expect it could want tomorrow,” De Bauw stated. “In case you solely ship what the consumer’s asking, you then’re all the time a bit of behind. You’ve acquired to take some possibilities and dangers.”
A basis of belief
MAL’s origins will be traced again to the storied friendship and inventive partnership between Jobs and Clow, who was beforehand artistic director at Chiat/Day, the place he oversaw the “1984” advert.
Jobs, who was “unrelenting in his imaginative and prescient for Apple and his expectation for [its] promoting and advertising,” got here to rely on “Clow’s pure artistic expression and skill to simplify and cut back,” Anderson stated.
Clow proposed the thought of establishing a bespoke company for Apple because the model was getting ready for an enormous milestone: the launch of the primary iPhone in 2007.
“There was a necessity for a coordinated launch throughout a number of markets for the iPhone, the likes of which had by no means been seen earlier than,” Anderson stated. “It needed to be flawless.”
Jobs was receptive to the thought, with one stipulation: that he proceed to work with Clow and expertise from Chiat/Day. And so, MAL was born.
