Reader DjCarbon pinged me this morning with an interesting bit of news. Above you see the first two entries for the search “i’m a PC” in Google – Apple has essentially hijacked the dialogue about personal computers, forcing Microsoft to take a stand through their new commercials. The “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” commercials are odd and insidious but, as we see here, Apple has distanced itself from the profit-averse desktop PC market and created a new category. It’s not a PC you’re buying, fanboi, it’s not a beige box with a keyboard and a crappy LCD. No, you’ll never have to open the case, Mac-lover. You’ll never have to upgrade the operating system. When you walk into the Apple store you aren’t shopping for a PC – a personal computer, to reengage that acronym’s original meaning. You’re buying something much cooler, right?
Now, however, Microsoft is attempting to wrest that concept back from Apple. Think about the advertising thus far. We began with the Mojave Project, a Folger’s Taste Test involving folks who probably know Windows as the program that boots up when they walk into the office in the morning. This made it clear that the original “Wow” tag-line Microsoft used for Vista was still applicable – clearly the “Wow” didn’t stick so they had to reinforce it – and reminded us that Vista still exists. The Mojave commercials attacked the first complaint about OS X vs. Windows: interface creativity. Whereas OS X has been using photo-realistic icons and sexy docks for years, Windows has been as attractive as the interface on a stud finder – press a button and something that you don’t understand causes the device to blink and beep, you drill, and 99% of the time you generally trust that you got the right outcome (but sometimes you hit a power line and blow everything up). While this is OK for power tools, this is sub-par for a computer operating system.
Vista was designed to inject some life into that tired old paradigm, to make the operating system as cool as the games that were being played on it and the applications it was running. In my mind, they succeed but clearly the majority – especially in IT – doesn’t think so so maybe they can’t talk up the technical points anymore. So where should they go next? Convince people that Vista is fun and quirky.
We then visit Jerry and Bill. OS X and Linux have faces – Jobs and Linus – and stories. Windows was spat out whole by a faceless organism, something like the afterbirth of robotic coding grubs hidden in the spire of the Space Needle. So you have a nebbishy little man and his goofy sidekick reframe the rhetoric of PCs. It’s not about the computer, it’s about Bill just as Apple isn’t really about the hardware but about the salesman.
Here’s Bill’s auto-reply:
this is an exciting time… wait, you know what? it’s always an exciting time. i am as excited and passionate about Microsoft as i was when we were Micro-soft. the goal never changes for us, so everyday seems like the first day, and the first day was really just about one thing: connecting people.
maybe this didn’t answer your question at all. but I wanted to say it anyway. i mean, this is an auto-response email. and i will try to answer a few of them, but they will all say the same exact thing…
this is an amazing company. and, yes, the future really is delicious.
Mmmmmm…
Bill
Vista, you see, is the cake. If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, you’re probably not the audience for this commercial but to everyone else the cake isn’t a lie – it’s just moist and delicious. So the face of Microsoft has been changed from buttons and windows to a nerd doing the robot. We’re on the way to anthropomorphizing this product in the consumer’s mind.
So now we have the “I’m a PC” commercials. All of the folks with a Windows.com email address are actual Microsoft employees. They’re separating Microsoft and Windows from the hardware on which it runs and pulling the image of a man in beige out from under Apple’s messaging. Once you see Deepak Chopra saying “I’m a PC,” the reasoning goes, you’re less likely to accept that the affable fool John Hodgman truly represents the Windows PC market. This sort of torsion – the spinning of concepts to achieve Microsoft’s end result – is probably the real goal. They don’t want to be a physical box anymore, they want to be the cool product that happens to come inside that box. With companies like HP and Dell installing Linux as an optional OS and Apple planning – as far as we can tell – a considerably cheaper MacBook, Microsoft needs to convince all of us that Windows and, most importantly, Windows Vista, is still a great product.
Will they succeed? Yes. Apple will phase out its commercials and Windows Vista will sell millions of copies on pre-loaded machines. The only downside at this point is what Apple and Linux will continue to do to erode Microsoft’s market share, not to mention Google and the entire Web 2.0 infrastructure. Microsoft will be with us long after we’re all dead and gone. It is an example of American ingenuity and reach, and it serves a global market in ways even the robber barons and colonizers couldn’t imagine. But Windows is essentially a commodity, something like water. It’s easy to convince people to buy water in cool new packages but in the end, if given the choice, it’s hard to convince people to stick to one brand of water or, if offered water for free, convince them to turn around and pay for it. Microsoft is turning from a software company to a “service.” They can’t become a verb like Google and they can’t become a lifestyle like Apple but they can be a cool guy in a fleece vest and they can be Deepak Chopra. They can be anything you want them to be, really, as long as it’s not an ugly box under your desk that you accept and on occasion hate.
Fear not John. Emperor Steve already has plans on how to destroy the Microsoft system with the new Death Star, I mean, iPhone.
Grow up!
Note the sponsored links section to the right
http://www.google.com/products?q=“leather+giraffe”
http://www.google.com/products?q=%22leather+giraffe%22
Interesting thought, and unfolding of a complecated ad :-)
I am still very much respect Bill Gates, but Microsoft itself, not so much.
While its true that Microsoft is going nowhere, I think that Apple will continue to erode Windows marketshare. There simply isn’t a good enough reason to use Windows over OSX. While some people are happy with Windows and thats great, when you go to buy a computer today, the question of if you should buy a Windows PC or OSX machine is no longer an obvious choice… Its become a toss up.
What will keep Microsoft from ultimate dominance, and the whole HTML/JavaScript mess in business is the 10 or 20% of non-Windows machines there are out there. 10-20% of the market is a huge swath of people (usually early adopters) to neglect, and unless Microsoft can come up with a viable cross-platform application framework, they will never be able to control the client as they once were able to.
Excellent post. I have said from the beginning that these commercials are succeeding because they are doing nothing. It is forcing people to talk about Microsoft as a brand. And that’s what they really want.
I’m not sure I’d say that these commercials are “succeeding.”
The Microsoft commericals have basically said to the world…’hey, the PC stereotype is wrong…don’t forget that PCs connect people around the world.”
I think most people are smart enough to realize that Macs do that too.
Not to mention that the whole point of the Apple ads are that Macs do everything PCs do… but they do it better..and they remind us that Vista sucks, btw.
Microsoft doesn’t seem to have an answer to that. They can’t do that because they would be acknowledging that point in the process if they did.
MSFT Seinfeld ads (already cancelled) are now followed by “MSFT as Victim” ads. How is that supposed to work for a 90%+ market share monopoly?
What is MSFT announcing over the last few weeks, other than: “Can’t you just like us anyway, even though we’ve done so little of use/value with all of the money you gave us for the past 13 years?”
That is the true problem with a monopolist: Not that they make boat-loads of money (I think it’s great that MSFT made plenty), but that they are holding back progress, that they are holding back everyone else and even themselves, that the money is ultimately not put to its highest and best uses.
But I digress, back to the marketing aspect of this:
It’s doubtful that Microsoft can shed the associations (archetypes, etc.) that have been forming in the consumers’ minds for about two decades.
Just ask IBM: They’ve had a lot of little humorous ads out over the last few years (most recently with Disney characters drawn into corporate server room live action!).
So ask yourself: Do you think of IBM as hip and funny?
Microsoft has tried in the past to bring in “The Loyalist” archetype in its marketing before (MS Office as your buddy brand at work, etc.), and it never really worked too well, because their association with “The Powerbroker” archetype is so entrenched. This latter fact BTW explains why they do so well in the B2B (Business-To-Business) realm, because “The Powerbroker” is something virtually every business person understands.
Get more branding details here:
http://businessmindhacks.com/post/microsofts-new-seinfeld-ads-can-they-turn-their-branding-on-a-dime
Actually, as it turns out, it isn’t so difficult to convince people to pay for water despite the fact that the same quality is widely available for free. Neither does the analogy hold when looking at productivity software where MS Office replacements (despite file compatibility, feature parity, and the price advantage) haven’t made a serious dent despite repeated attempts.
So basically after years of Apple beating MS in lifestyle marketing and branding, MS finally has a reply. Problem is that Apple will just come up with something new and better, and MS will lose more marketshare as they wait another 2 years to come up with a reponse.
Was that really your intro: if you quote an unique Apple ad campaign that’s been steadily and heavily running for two years and feed it into Google, you get the Apple web site = Apple’s hijacked the conversation?
I think they have, but ignoring the Microsoft commercials when have you ever heard “I’m” and “PC” together? Search for “PC” and there’s no Apple in sight.
and you didn’t mention that the 2nd link in google search is the youtube video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkZdkHylJ3w) for the windows ads. this is contagious. surprised to see the windows ad become so popular in a very short time
The ads insinuate that mean, nasty Apple is painting Windows users as members of a tweed-clad stereotype. Nice spin, MS, but no go. Apple’s ads make fun of Microsoft, not Microsoft users, and for a huge monopoly to paint itself as the hapless victim of a tongue-in-cheek campaign from the acknowledged underdog … please.
If you’re against me, then you’re against my users. Bush used the same line on critics of the war, calling them critics of the troops. Are the savvy, “influencer” computer users that blind to this tactic? We’ll see…
The ad agency behind “Windows. Life Without Walls” is Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Their principal tactic in a number of recent ad campaigns has been the notion of perception reversing.
[...]
Therein lies Microsoft’s problem. Perception reversing by appropriating your enemy’s words can work only if your insurgency has an identifiable goal. Witness Apple which effectively used its insurgent status to barge into the consumer desktop, digital music and cellphone businesses and changed them in alignment with users’ shared aspirations.
Microsoft, one of the most lucrative monopolies ever, however, is no insurgent. Its enemy is smaller, cooler, better liked, more nimble, more creative and more aligned with users. So Microsoft has to not only show “it’s OK to use Windows” but tell us why it’s better and show us a goal that we can all identify with that the enemy cannot provide.
Microsoft “I’m a PC” ads are channeling Apple’s “Crazy Ones”
http://counternotions.com/2008/09/19/crazy-ones/
The Mac-ad PC GUY is much more personable and like-able. We like him, we identify with him and we feel sorry for him because he is being abused by his operating system. Most well adjusted people like others and wish the best for them. We want to see others escape unnecessary grief. This makes the Mac-ad PC GUY a more warm and fuzzy persona, and much easier to relate to than the MS-ad PC GUY/User-Collage.
The Mac-ad PC GUY is a sweetheart that we all love and we all want the best for him, that is to say, we want him to have Mac OS X. He is kind, sweet and well dressed, all be it a little straight. The MS-ad PC GUY is rough and disheveled. This is done to present an anti-persona to the Mac-ad PC GUY. While this may work on some level, it would have been better to respect the positive image of the Mac-ad PC GUY and then simply expand the array of wonderful, PC using real people, for which he is a like-able poster child.
Great post. Microsoft is a colonial super-power, like the British Empire of the old days. As the author says, it’s very unlikely that we will ever see Microsoft collapse during our lifetime.
At the same time, if you compare the business model of Microsoft Vista vs. the Ubuntu one (for example), it’s too clear that sooner or later the Windows rule will come to an end.
I can’t believe I don’t read CG. Awesome read!
Microsoft is a company that hosts pioneers of this new technology age. If it wasn’t for MSFT, the world would not have been they way it is today! Let us face it, that’s the truth of the matter. Now it is true that other companies may have caught up with today’s technology trends, but rest assured, MSFT has something brewing that will surprise and shake the whole industry. Let us say it’s been over 10 years in the working!
Microsoft has been reduced to the level of a special interest demagogue. The ‘I’m a PC’ ad has the arc of a political smear.
First establish that the identity of your audience is in question. “I’ve been made into a stereotype.” While this is just untrue, Hodgeman’s character is an anthropomorphism not a stereotype, the lie is needed to shift the context from criticism of an inanimate object to a question of personal identity; the users’.
Second establish the vulnerable point in the targets self-esteem. “I am not what most people would call hip.” While I have no idea what that objectively has to do with being a ‘PC’, it focuses attention on the insecurity many feel about how socially accepted they are, and lays the groundwork for suggesting a source of attack on that vulnerability.
Third insinuate specific, concrete attacks on personal self worth. “I wear glasses” from three different ‘PC’s’. Now nowhere have PC users been attacked for wearing spectacles, but the implication is clear, your perceived worth is under assault. “People like us wear glasses, people like us are stereotyped as not hip.”
The “I wear jeans” (’I'm cool, no really’) and “I have a beard” (just bizarre) elements aren’t as strong but lead into the next phase.
Fourth present a palliative associated with PCs. “I have three rings” and “I have one ring” seem ridiculously unrelated to any advantage to be gained by using a PC. Did the PC bat for the baseball player, did the woman in the lounge chair get her husband on an internet dating service? But wait, they are PCs and you as the target audience, you use PCs, you can feel validated by their accomplishments!
Finally present yourself as the champion of the injured identity. Poor fools buy Windows boxes and give money to Microsoft to feel better about themselves. “Take that Apple! Microsoft doesn’t hate me because I am nearsighted! Here $51 billion company take my discretionary income!”
@Frank, basic parasitology, the host is the one the parasite leeches off. You must have meant “Microsoft was hosted by pioneers of this new technology age.” But you are right about the world being the way it is today because of Microsoft.
You hit the nail on the head when you said we are moving to services. Windows is just a service and hardly anyone buys it as a boxed product any more and the sales of Vista in a box could be counted on the fingers of a one handed leper.
There are so many free (Linux, Google Docs)or cheaper (Max OS)or better (XP) services that Vista only gets taken up when it is bundled as monopoly with new PCs.
The price of windows relative to the hardware of a new PC is now way too high. I recently bought a new 2 Gig PC tower for $350 and XP was an additional $130 ie nearly half the price of the hardware. Vista was even more expensive so I gave it short shrift (lets not even go into its shortcomings). Even in software you can now buy the entire Corel Office suite for $99 which makes Windows and especially MS Office look outrageously overpriced.
If MS want to stay competitive they will need to sell Vista and Office bundled together for $99 which is a huge price and profit margin drop. But if they don’t within a couple of years free services like Linux and Google Docs will soon eat them alive and even sooner if Windows 7 is not a vast improvement over Vista and much cheaper.
More on the Seinfeld & Gates ad http://www.squareoak.com/blog/microsoft-seinfeld-fail/
first up im a mac user. BUT i hate those mac ads im a mac im a pc, they just seem like cheap shots to me. Great post, I agree whole heartedly, too many people are talking about the end of microsoft, im pretty sure theyve still got a 90+% marketshare. But yeah, i think googles web 2.0 stuff will put a spanner in the works when all you need to run is chrome, with gmail, google docs, igoogle, etc etc.
Personally i see myself switching to linux in the not too distant future…i mean its free.
Advertising is about lying to you and making you believe it and like it. So the only real question to ask is, do you believe what they said? Second is, where you entertained?
Also remember that Apple sells computers but Microsoft sells software. Similar but different. (Think Different:)
Personally I use both Windows software and Apple hardware/software.
The Mac Pro hardware is the best designed computer hardware I’ve ever used. It’s physical construction reminds me of the military avionics hardware I worked on when I was a technician in the USAF.
On the other hand, last week I finally broke down and bought an iPod Nano. Now I’m locked into the straight jacket that is called iTunes and have to jump though hoops to get the podcasts loaded onto the Nano because their not listed on iTunes.
OSX beats Windows, hands down in reliability and ease of use but XP is really not too bad. I’ve resisted any upgrade to Vista so far.
I don’t like the business practices of either Apple or Microsoft. Neither do I care for what I’ve read about Gates and Jobs.
So I only watch the advertising for its entertainment value. It has no influence on my buying decisions.
I am a Mac and I can think.