Apple drops Bite in major UK PR shake-up

Apple's, Bite's 14-year relationship comes to an end

Nick Spence

Apple and PR may not be two words you often see in the same sentence, but after a 14-year relationship Apple is dropping communications firm Bite in the UK and taking all promotional activities in house.

Advertising Age once called the PR role at Apple the easiest job in marketing: "The job is simply to sit at a desk," but the move will be a major blow to Bite.

"The relationship has been fantastic for us and for Apple - in many ways, it was the account that put us on the map," Bite CEO Clive Armitage told PRWeek.

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

"Apple is going to accelerate its process of taking activity in-house and operating its in-house department," added Bite's CEO.

Armitage told PRWeek that Bite’s recent merger with Inferno Communications had acted as a "catalyst" for Apple’s decision, due to Inferno’s conflicting business with Apple’s major competitor Microsoft.

Bite, a subsidiary of the Next Fifteen Communications Group, is a 180-strong communications consultancy with offices in London, Beijing, Hong Kong, Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Stockholm.

Currently Bite's Web site still lists Apple amongst a prestigious client list that includes AMD, Facebook, Sun Microsystems, Sybase and Symantec.

Macworld editor Karen Haslam was previously employed by Bite working on the Apple account. Read her comments on the story here.

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