Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) continued its hiring binge of high profile marketers on Monday with its hire of Musa Tariq, a noted British social media marketer with ties to Nike, Burberry, and an earlier Apple newcomer, Angela Ahrendts. Whether Ms. Ahrendts recommended Mr. Tariq due to her former working association with him at Burberry is unknown, but seems likely given that the two collaborated on Mr. Tariq’s successful “Tweetwalk” campaign.
Mr. Tariq celebrated his new position at Apple with a humorous tweet, in which he states “First day at school! Hope the other kids like me.” The tweet is marked as coming from Cupertino, California, indicating that the marketer is already present at Apple headquarters.
First day of school. Hope the other kids like me!
— Musa Tariq (@MusaTariq) August 4, 2014
His Twitter feed also shows that his last day at Nike was July 18th, 2014, and that he was present in New York City on July 20th. His posts between are vague, however, until he was pinpointed again today at Apple.
The British social media expert’s precise role at Apple (AAPL) has not yet been defined, but some speculate that his first task will to be establish an overall Facebook and Twitter presence for the entire brand.
Though individual Apple executives, and even certain departments of the company, maintain pages on these sites, the fruit-symbolized firm itself currently does not. It is also extremely suggestive that he worked at promoting Nike’s wearable Fuelband, perhaps indicating a link to the much-storied iWatch that Apple might release this autumn.
The reasons why Mr. Tariq left his Nike job are as obscure as the causes for Ms. Ahrendts’ migration to Apple. Lauren Indvik of Mashable, one of the world’s main social media news outlets, speculated that Ms. Ahrendts was either offered colossal compensation for her transfer, or was enthralled by the aura of Apple, or perhaps a bit of both.
Ms. Indvik went so far as to speculate that Ms. Ahrendts might be destined to replace Tim Cook as Apple’s CEO, in which case one might guess that Musa Tariq might be the successor to Jony Ive.
Regardless, it is clear that Apple is undergoing a massive executive restructuring as Tim Cook works to keep the company relevant in the second decade of the 21st century. Angela Ahrendts, Musa Tariq, Jimmy Iovine, Andre “Dr. Dre” Young, Swiss watch executive Patrick Pruniaux, and various medical technology executives are all part of an ensemble who will determine the “personality” and goals of Apple Inc. for at least another decade, and perhaps longer.
