Apple is one of the greatest marketers of all time, but even it can stumble. Apple’s consistent marketing excellence is built on some core disciplines, which others would benefit from learning from and applying. At the same time, as in so many other parts of management, strengths can easily become weaknesses or points of vulnerability.Marketers who aspire to reach Apple’s heights need to look closely at the reasons for Apple’s consistent reign at the top. But it’s not enough to simply try to copy Apple. Each of these marketing practices can backfire without careful attention and top-notch execution, as Apple is seeing right now. Apple was voted the overall winner of the 2017 CMO Survey Award for Marketing Excellence . . . for the 10th consecutive year. Given the controversy over slowing phones seems largely like a self-inflicted wound on Apple’s part—the disclosure was handled in what is arguably the worst possible way—these two bits of information can be hard to square.