Adidas kills $10M iAd deal

Business Insider is reporting that Adidas has dropped its plans for a $10 million iAds account. The reason? Apple’s demand for near total control.

Citing two unnamed inside sources, Business Insider claims that Apple rejected three consecutive proposals from Adidas. After the third rejection, the company pulled out. Intent on making the best mobile advertising experience possible, Apple oversees nearly every aspect of an advertiser’s campaign, and even designs the ads.

Adidas isn’t the first to complain, but this story highlights the first big money pull out we’ve come across. In August, the Wall Street Journal reported that other potential advertisers had grown frustrated with Apple’s hands-on approach. At that time, only four of the 17 partners revealed at the program’s start — Unilever PLC, J.C. Penny, Disney and Nissan Co. — had launched ads.

Personally, I’ve only seen one ad for the Nissan Leaf. We think John Gruber’s advice for potential advertisers is best: Get used to it.

[Via AppleInsider]

TUAWAdidas kills $10M iAd deal originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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