Homage to legendary Apple comms chief Katie Cotton who changed marketing forever

Katie Cotton, who ran communications during Steve Jobs’ second run as CEO, died last week at age 57. Way too soon. Her work made Apple legendary, and changed the way tech is marketed.

On her watch, which ran from the time Steve Jobs returned in 1997 to 2014, Apple reset how the game is played.

You know that eager anticipation of every Apple release because of zero advance information until flashy events show us how our worlds will change for the better?

Katie created all of that.

Katie (and her boss Steve Jobs) looked at a world obsessed with getting the word out on everything all the time and flipped it upside down.

Be secretive. Build the best products. And let eager anticipation build.

This is more than just great marketing strategy.

It’s why brands like Apple are beloved and become iconic.

All companies must choose one of these spots as a primary focus:

– Are they competitor focused?

– Are they business model focused?

– Are they product focused?

– Are they customer focused?

You could argue Apple is customer focused but Steve Jobs openly disagreed, famously saying:

Some people say give the customers what they want, but that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do. People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.

This approach makes Apple a product company, and Katie was more than just a disciplined steward of this product vision.

She was a maestro, and her timeless lessons will be worth studying decades into the future.

RIP Katie, and I offer my humble condolences to your family and friends.

Link below to some homages shared by the media world since her passing.

___
Reference:

– PR pros, tech journalists remember former Apple comms chief Katie Cotton