Apple should allow Lauren Fry to be more active in the industry than its other execs, advertisers say

Some advertisers hope Lauren Fry—a TV and digital video advertising executive Apple hired to help build its Apple TV+ video ad business—will be more public-facing than the tech company has allowed its other execs to be. Fry’s exact title is not clear, The Information first reported last week, but her appointment signals that the tech giant plans to invest more of its revenue in paying for a wider array of programming for its streamer. Ad Age spoke to four industry executives who know Fry to varying degrees but spoke on condition of anonymity, who said she’ll report to Todd Teresi, Apple’s VP of advertising platforms. The execs said Fry has a difficult job in front of her, not only in building an ad-supported tier for the Apple TV+ streaming service in an increasingly competitive space but also building relationships with advertisers. Fry joins Apple from Simulmedia, a cross-channel TV platform, and has held sales roles at AT&T and Comcast. “One of the reasons [Fry is] a great hire is she’s a known entity in our industry and is seen in public and at industry events,” one of the execs said. “She’s someone who is more familiar than most of the other current execs at Apple, so it’s a smart move.” Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs That person also criticized Teresi as not being very active in the ad industry outside of taking some private meetings at tentpole events such as the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and CES. Still, a second of the four execs doubted Apple, which has historically been media shy, will put Fry too much in the limelight. “Todd [Teresi] loves the spotlight and the fact that he’s not out there says a lot about Apple’s [policies],” that exec said, acknowledging the positives of that. “Too much of our industry is about posturing and not putting up the work and that’s not how companies like Apple have done business. Lauren will do really well in that role. She always follows the rules.” Fry, Teresi and Apple did not return requests for comment. Fry’s appointment also comes as Apple has drawn the ire of many advertisers with its privacy changes, including App Tracking Transparency, which forced all apps to ask consumers for permission to use their identifying data, hampering their ability to track and collect customer data. IAB CEO David Cohen called out Apple for its “hypocrisy” over its privacy policies in his opening remarks at the digital ad industry trade group’s annual leadership meeting in January. “While there are no shortage of extremists attacking our industry from the outside, there are some attacking it from the inside out,” Cohen had said. “Most notably, Apple exemplifies the cynicism and hypocrisy that underpins the prevailing extremist view.” Ad Age Leading Women and Rising Stars Last call for the annual awards Enter here A rising star The execs interviewed for this story described Fry as a rising star within the industry. They said she’s relatively young, hardworking, smart and has the right omnichannel expertise across digital and TV to handle the role at Apple. “What makes a successful sales leader these days is to understand the whole omnichannel environment, which she does,” said Barry Frey, president and CEO of DPAA, the global digital out-of-home trade and marketing association, who knows Fry. “There are a lot of people whose experience exists solely in one sector or another and that is far from ideal in today’s omnichannel world. Consumers engage with multiple media and brands are consistently evaluating all of these choices to reach their customers. That’s her strong suit. She’s smart, personable, has good relationships; just what the [Apple] business needs.” Fry was the chief revenue officer of Simulmedia before she left last October. She served two stints with Simulmedia, starting there as an account executive in 2013, and rising through the ranks. She left from 2016 to 2018 to work for AT&T, where she oversaw the growth of its entertainment vertical, and brought to market its data-driven and addressable video solutions, according to her LinkedIn bio. “I had the amazing experience of working with Lauren for probably eight years,” said Dave Morgan, Simulmedia CEO and founder, to whom Fry reported. “I’ve had a couple thousand people work for me over 30 years and she’s certainly one of the most talented executives I’ve ever worked with. I’m confident she’s going to do really well at Apple.” Fry is also a member of Chief, a private network of female leaders designed to drive more women into positions of power. One media buyer at a large agency said that they’d like to see Apple forge better relationships with the agencies themselves, as it has been known to work directly with brand marketers. “I would think that is a necessary next step for Apple, at least on the video side of things as they continue to stretch out into that space,” the person said. But this exec criticized Simulmedia as having a history of working directly with brands and cutting out agencies so they were unsure whether Fry would take a similar approach at Apple. Fry, working alongside boss Teresi, will have to build out the video ad sales team with several hires including heads of research and operations. It’s unclear who she might hire. The second executive and a third one, who knows Fry, said they anticipate Fry will surround herself with people of similar backgrounds in digital and TV. “I would assume she’s probably received 100 plus applications in the last one business day,” the third executive said. The media agency executive said they have not had any meetings with Apple leadership on its proposed streaming TV ad business. With the addition of the ad-supported tiers of Netflix and Disney+, Apple TV+ became the only streamer with no advertising on its entertainment programming.Related: Ad Age's upfronts and newfronts calendar Like Netflix, Disney+ and others, Apple TV+ will likely debut its ad-supported tier with high CPMs, or the cost per 1,000 impressions. Netflix launched its ad-supported tier with $65 CPMs and Disney+ with $50 CPMs. “When they do go there, I would expect high CPMs,” the media buyer said. “All streamers start that way due to limited scale, so they can charge higher CPMs and it comes down over time. Apple, I’m sure, considers themselves extremely premium, so they’d likely ask for top of market.” Premium content or not, Apple is up against some stiff competition, with the streaming advertising space becoming increasingly crowded. Some industry execs reiterated that building relationships, which will ultimately fall on the shoulders of Fry, will be key. “Apple has been quiet in not only their advertising but in a lot of [business-to-business] stuff,” the third executive said. “How much will they wave the flag? I don’t know if I see that in Apple’s DNA at the moment.”

Apple should allow Lauren Fry to be more active in the industry than its other execs, advertisers say

Featured Stories