If there’s one thing we learned during the World Cup (other than ze Germans are relentlessly brilliant machines), it’s that Beats has some of the best damn marketing on the planet, and Apple really, really needs its help.

After getting tossed around by Samsung in the marketing ring the past few years, the NYPost reports that Apple is looking to Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine to help it reignite its marketing magic, even if it means cutting ties on its 30-year partnership with TBWA.



Madison Avenue executives are frothing at the mouth with excitement, as signs indicated that Apple is ready to put its entire account up for grabs after housing it at TBWA for the last three decades. Jimmy & Dre are viewed as marketing geniuses by Apple executives, who plan to use Iovine to strengthen Apple’s marketing, after Beats became the hit advertiser of the World Cup with its “Game Before the Game” ad.

Apple has been looking to build its own 1000-person ad team in-house by hiring creatives and buyers away from top agencies. TBWA has made changes of its own to bring fresh ideas to the table by tossing Tom Carroll out of the CEO chair last week, replacing him with Troy Ruhanen, but that might not be enough to keep the account.

Despite creating Apple’s iconic 1984 ad, the Get a Mac campaign, and all those dancing iPod commercials ingrained in your brain, TBWA’s relationship with Apple has been strained the last few years. Phil Schiller came close to firing the company completely, but Apple has instead decided to open up pitches to outside agencies and its internal team, for the time being.

A formal review of its account hasn’t been requested quite yet, but critics think it can’t come soon enough for Apple, after the latest Samsung ads lampooned iPhone users for being wall-hugging loners, while mocking the iPad’s multitasking in a follow-up.