Adidas, the athletic apparel giant, has effectively left the mobile marketing party – at least, in terms of the party taking place in Cupertino, California, home to Apple and its mobile marketing platform dubbed “iAds.”
According to a report published this week by Business Insider, Adidas is believed to have pulled its $10 million ad campaign from Apple as a result of the tech company’s overbearing “control issues.”
For Adidas, the “last straw” was Apple’s third consecutive rejection of an ad concept.
In addition to Apple’s unusual control over the ad creation process, advertisers complain about the lack of control over and visibility into where their ads appear, lack of third-party ad serving tools, and other issues. Apple plans to open up the process once it’s more comfortable with the program, but it appears some advertisers have lost their patience.
If the reports about Adidas are true (and for now both Adidas and Apple are keeping quiet on the matter) they wouldn’t be alone as advertisers who simply lost their patience with Apple. In August, Chanel (according to the Wall Street Journal) is believed to have similarly withdrawn from an iAds deal on grounds of similar “control issues.”
