I’m sensing a trend here. Microsoft is working with a formula for its new advertising campaign, dubbed Laptop Hunter. The gist: A good-looking yet accessible actor goes into a mall. They look around, decide Macs are too expensive/cool/exciting for their down-to-earth lifestyles, and then buy an HP, in this case an HP with bad battery life. While I’m totally down with attractive people being happy, I wonder what, exactly, Microsoft is selling here? Design? Laptop quality? Even HP? It’s definitely not selling anything it makes.
First we saw the Seinfeld commercials. That hot mess took the PC totally out of the picture. It made Microsoft all about Bill Gates (much as Apple is about Steve Jobs) but because no one would want to drink beers with Bill they added Jerry for charm. Again, nothing about Windows.
Then they made people the PC. “I’m a PC” became the battle cry of a beleaguered majority of computer users who use Windows – well, a PC, really – because it happens to be in front of them. You could have put Linux on the box and they could have also said that they were PCs. No mention of Windows.
Finally, they’ve stripped the product out of the equation entirely. Lauren and Giampaolo (“a recent college grad and engineer,” which suggests a real person this time) hit the shops for a bit of hardware shopping. The laptops they bought – both from HP – could have been running BeOS for all they cared. They were shopping based on price. As Harry McCracken points out, again: this isn’t about Windows.
Maybe that’s the goal. With processing hitting the cloud, most of the apps that Windows users would fire up from the Start menu are now in their Bookmarks bar. Mail? On-line. Photo sharing? On-line. Gaming? On the XBox. The average Windows user doesn’t need to think about Windows – and should ignore Vista entirely – and maybe later Windows 7 will straighten things up. As Harry writes:
I keep coming back to variations on this metaphor, but it’s kind of as if Chevy ran ads showing economy-minded car shoppers choosing a Cobalt or Malibu over an Audi Q5 or A6. The folks in the ads would be making the right decisions for them. But you gotta wonder how many actual people in the real world there are whose buying decisions would be affected by the comparison.
Price is obviously important. We’re in a recession. As Giampaolo says, he doesn’t want to pay for the brand, he wants to pay for the computer. But are we saying that HP isn’t a brand? That Microsoft isn’t a brand? That Giampaolo isn’t getting paid by Microsoft to pick a Windows machine? What, if anything, is MS trying to say here?
Or perhaps we’re watching the rise of post-modern advertising, in which the point is that there is no point. Perhaps this is about reinforcement, especially considering most people bypass the Apple aisle anyway. Or maybe we’re watching Microsoft looking into itself, its mind scoured by madness, giving away thousands of its hard-earned dollars to handsome shills. We will never know, sadly. We’ll never know.
“hot mess”…? stop watching Bravo!
The ad makes a lot of sense to me. There are two major types of computers on the market today, those with Mac OS and those with Windows Vista. If you’re not buying Mac, it is quite obviously implied you are buying Windows.
Agreed. TC is being too harsh here. Aside from a Mac, I have never seen a computer running Unix/Linux being sold from a commercial retail location. In addition, Apple started the whole Mac/PC dichotomy, which centered around OS X versus Windows, not Mac hardware versus vendor hardware (not surprising, since everyone pretty much uses the same hardware these days).
Also, your spiel about the “cloud” is completely out of line. First, it is ridiculous to think that people spend most of their time using online productivity apps over desktop apps. Sorry guy, but that isn’t happening just yet. Second, even if the “cloud” was as important as you said, then the point that Windows isn’t important IS the point Windows should be making. After all, if both boxes have similar hardware, why should a person pay 2x the price for an OS they won’t use?
Yup agreed too. Their new ad strategy makes heaps of sense to me. Its shot guerilla style and communicates a very simple AND TRUE message: Heaps of Windows based machines offer MUCH BETTER VALUE than Apple machines.
More MS shills at work.
FYI- your block quote at the end has your last two paragraphs as if you are quoting Harry. They’re yours, right?
Your second to last paragraph cracks me up. You seem so confused. Is the message that really hard to understand? You really think people watch this and then scratch their head and say, “What, if anything, is MS trying to say here?”
The image problems of Microsoft won’t be solved by advertising alone.
Not to rain on the insight here, but replace “Microsoft” with any company name, and yeah, duh.
OMG, the entire brand of Apple is based on advertising alone.
I’m using Windows 7 on a 3 y/o laptop that cost 40% less than a Mac with a Safari browser that keeps crashing.
Safari’s not yet qualified to run on Win 7. There could be some compatibility issues. Use IE 8.
Microsoft only has image problems in the eyes of pubescent zit-faced twitterers, the kind of people who know what Ruby on Rails means. The rest of the world dont know and dont care.
Agree with Bob… The average joe that will watch this commercial will not question what microsoft is trying to say. They will only get the point that Macs are too expensive… and thats exactly the message
I agree. Plus they’ll get that what you are paying extra for is all pretentious image. I use both windows and OSX for development, and frankly the vista machine kicks ass.
Don’t feed the troll.
Like most tech bloggers commenting on this ad campaign, the point isn’t to take a professional look at the ads. It’s to jump to Apple’s defense criticize everything Microsoft does.
It’s obvious what they are selling here.. computers that run MS are about $1000 cheaper than a comparable Mac, and they do what the average consumer who doesn’t define themselves based on their gadgets needs them to do.
Derived demand. LIUOG.
Sounds like sour grapes to me…
The new Microsoft commercials are fantastic, sure I agree that the Seinfeld and “I’m a PC” were lame and non effective the new ones are genius.
Lets see here, we are in a recession and the commercial targets the consumers wallets with showing Macs grossly overpriced and underpowered hardware.
If anything Microsoft has finally wised up, rather it effects sales or not is another case altogether but I would say with these commercials they are on the right track.
Does it really take an ad from Microsoft for people with tight purses in a recession to be get that Macs are more expensive?
Maybe the guys at BestBuy are hiding the price tags.
No wonder they end up buying a HP…
…they probably went in for a smoothie maker.
“…but because no one would want to drink beers with Bill…” What???? I would love to share a beer with Billy to talk about the Gates Foundation’s and how I love what it is doing. But I am sure that the beer would chase the goodness from me. I most likely would turn the conversation to how (in my opinion) he ruined the tech world in the early 90’s and where the would would be without his company (again my opinion) squashing many many many technological advances. (note: brilliant business technique to squash any possible tech challengers before they get off the ground but bad for the tech world)
It would not be a pretty sight, thus… make mine a tea.
Couldn’t agree more. I’d do the exact same thing. I get so damn pissed every time I think about the dozens of promising technologies Microsoft has determinedly killed and the billions of dollars they’ve siphoned out of the industry as a whole.
It’s too bad these commercials are going to work IMHO. People have been ignorant long enough already.
OS X, Ubuntu, Android. I’m hoping these three can get us out of this rut.
“While I’m totally down with attractive people being happy, I wonder what, exactly, Microsoft is selling here? [sic]”
Perhaps they’re selling Windows. I understand that most non-Apple personal computers come with a copy installed.
“Perhaps” indeed. But, don’t you find it odd that Microsoft seems to be unable to say “Windows”???
I mean, how bad is the “Windows” brand that they can’t say it in their ads… they have to imply it.
Very sad, indeed.
Aww Safari crash on you again?
ROFL +1 This is exactly why I got rid of my mac, I was sick of it constantly crashing, safari always freezing etc I went straight out and bought windows Vista and now everything ‘just works’.
Idiot.
Good lord… you really want to get into a browser fight with IE??? IE is the most pathetic browser that’s ever been made.
Google chose WebKit for lots of reasons, you fool…
it was free????
well, they don’t say “windows” because the people in these ads aren’t out to buy an os, they are out to buy a computer. the last time i checked windows wasn’t a computer. get it now?
“But, don’t you find it odd that Microsoft seems to be unable to say “Windows”???”
Oddly enough, no. No, indeed. Indeed, no. Indeed.
For the same reason that Mac commercials never say “MacOS.”
Is it System7 or MacOS??? Who cares? It’s obviously implied.
Every Joe Blow consumer knows that for all intents and purposes, there’s Mac and PC/Windows.
You’re absolutely flat out wrong! Almost every single one of those “I’m a Mac…and I’m a PC” ads mentioned “Mac OS X”….nearly every single one.
Yappa: “Almost every single one of those “I’m a Mac…and I’m a PC” ads mentioned “Mac OS X”….nearly every single one.”
I just watched three of those ads selected at random on YouTube and … not one mention of an operating system. You are wrong.
I don’t think you’ve ever come across such a whiney article from Biggs.
Its an add campaign your conceeding that:
Oh wow, all companies use actors for adds,
Oh wow, ads tend to put the competition in a negative light
Lets move on I’m sure you can find better material to write about Biggs
Totally agree Prosercunus… and to add… MSFT is promoting the PC manufacturer by showcasing the diversity when you go for a PC (OS independent) vs. Mac. Whether it’s size, weight, look & field, integrated hardware (e.g. camera)… etc. it’s about having options that many users don’t realize are out there.
Don’t get me wrong, Mac’s are “pretty”… but there are some pretty slick PCs out there too… that just don’t get much coverage and aren’t stocked in stores but typically only sold online…. it’s safer for retailers to stock hardware that is more generic. The HP in this vid is OK… but there are some much cooler looking laptops with the same specs…
I’m surprised manufacturers aren’t doing more of this themselves to showcase all the awesome designed PCs that are out there…
I think that you have a point. All of the people on the Mac-side of the argument are not saying that there are competitive PC makers out there that can match hardware feature for hardware feature on the Mac. I think that is a valid argument, but that is not the honest argument that MS is having. The keep rolling out systems in these ads that are not better than Mac. They are just cheaper. DDR2 RAM , old grahics cards, huge and heavy, poor resolution for it size, and poor battery life. If I am not mistaken, the guy asks for power, portability, and battery life didn’t he? Explain to me where he got anything that he asked for considering the money he had.
The guy could have chosen a lot of different laptops that would have offered more value. This laptop doesn’t compete with my 15in Macbook Pro from Late 2006. I feel that this guy waste his money not because of he bought a PC, but because of the PC he bought. There are many options out there, and this is the best one they could find. Considering we know that this operation is staged with actors and actresses, we would think that MS could find better new PCs. The “Made for Vista” program failed at launch for many reasons, but one of the controversies was because of under powered hardware not meeting the demands of Vista. I make this point, Windows 7 is less intensive than Vista, but what happens to the next version of Windows. Microsoft relied too much on hardware updates to push out their OS. The adoption rate for the new OS is considerably low. When people want to upgrade on the Windows side, they just buy a new computer. Buying hardware like this makes it very difficult to upgrade, and the legacy support can bog down the system. Having current hardware with solid specs would make it a better argument. To say that Apple is all about style and not substance is just not a logical argument. They are top rate systems that last. The OS is light and flexible to many format from the Mac Pro to the iPhone and the Touch device.
It is true that most netbooks would service the needs of most current users (e-mail, youtube, Facebook, light editing of pictures, music through headphones, and webcam chats). Is that what Microsoft is pushing? Computers that do enough for you to get by, but say nothing about the future of use. Remember when a 40GB hard drive was huge? Who then could have predicted the shift from the CD to MP3s or the adoption rate of video editing by families? So I insist that it is best to be prepared for future uses of technology by investing in hardware ready to take that next step. It doesn’t have to be Mac, but it should be something in current generation. There is a statistic that I would like people to look out for. People who buy these cheap netbooks, how satisfied are they 3 months 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, til the life of the product. Netbooks are being used as primary use systems which I couldn’t suggest to anyone. There are those that could be happy like this, but they are not going to be people that use their computer for more than one task at a time.
Low margin appliance style hardware(POS), coupled with bloatware from vendors who are trying to push their software with trial versions. If I wanted TurboTax I would by it. The problem with MS Windows and PC makers in general is that they have figured out a bunch of cost cutting ways to get their product out, but have failed to improve the first experience of the OS. Anyone who knows what they are doing knows that they have to format the drives they get and do clean install to get rid of all the crapware. With that success, they have to buy a virus protection software that is not guarantee to protect people because it depends on its users to not do stupid things like downloading pirated versions of Photoshop, clicking blindly at tiny.url links, or constantly clicking okay on any dialogue box. I am not saying that Macs are less prone to stupid people doing stupid things, but that virus protection software is a racket. It can only help you with known viruses so there is always someone who must get infected and run a diagnostic to know they are infected. Many people prefer to do updates on their own time, so they turn off auto update. Conficker should not be a problem since it is a problem that has already be fixed, but because of the number of PCs out that that unpatched for a number of reasons the problem continues. Symantec’s response has been that in the future the worm will be harder to detect, so don’t worry.
I am just saying that Apple combines hardware and software to make a better user experience. No crapware you don’t want, less worries about viruses, and the software that it does come with iLife is valuable software(I have tried Moviemaker and it sucked), plus if you don’t like your Mac OS you can switch over to Windows. I would like to see Microsoft push a laptop system that could actually compete on features like battery life, power, and portability. There are real arguments there. That is an honest argument. Pitting a DDR2 system against a DDR3 system is pointless. A 17in screen with crap resolution against a 17in with HD resolution. Apple already have laptops that meet those needs, and they made them 3 years ago. MS suffers from this poor image impart because Microsoft doesn’t control the hardware it is on.
The idea that you’re paying extra for the Apple brand is entirely wrong. Sure, there are no low-end Macs, but Macs kick ass over other brands at similar price points.
A colleague just asked me how much I paid for my 2 yr old MBP 17″ since his 2yr old HP 17″ was giving him trouble. Turns out he paid $700 more. He’s now looking at Macs in a whole new light — especially since my MBP still runs for 3 hrs on battery (the HP runs for 45 min), mine compiles and runs Java much faster, my screen is way brighter and vibrant, and the machine looks so much better too.
Your friend is an idiot then. An equivalent Mac cheaper? LOL nice try.
For a 17″ to be more expensive? Not surprising. You pay out the nose for screen space on a laptop, especially if you have anything else in mind for the machine.
You drop your ideals to “15 or even “13 and things get much cheaper. And we’re not even counting netbooks.
Lol such sour grapes. These ads are brilliant.
And it’s sad that TC isn’t a more independent commenter on the the computer market.
The ads are Brilliant. For HP. The only issue that I still continue to have a problem with is the fact that Microsoft is the bigger, more popular product. They are number one. Why do they continue to waste their advertising dollars talking or even mentioning Apple. When your number 1, act like there is no number two. I just don’t seem to get it.
“When your number 1, act like there is no number two.”
That’s exactly what Coke used to tell themselves about Pepsi.
and then mountain dew came out… mmmm
The demographic target of these ads are, ultimately, elderly senior citizens.
8 out of 10 college students choose Apple and MS knows their inferior product can only make an in road if they show douche bags like Giampaolo choosing Windows. Grammy wants her douche bag grandson to be happy.
As soon as these ads hit broadcast TV, pay careful attention to when they air ( NBC nightly news, Wheel of Fortune, CSI ).
LOL more sour grapes. I love seeing Jobs’ pole-smoking fanboys get upset.
Hmm so where does Justin Long come into play? Oh he’s certainly not a queer-bag is he?
Lol, what is it with you Jobs pole-smoking fanboys?
Hmm Justin Long isn’t an ass-pirate?
Very nice, d4…
You are either incredibly immature…or you a prejudicial and ignorant moron.
Are you really that much of a Microsoft fan to resort to gay-jokes to support your arguments?
The very fact that you believe inane Microsoft advertising gimmicks was the first shot against your intelligence…
…but, resorting to hate and smearing is just shameful. What are you 12 years old?
Sour grapes here! Sour grapes, $2!
Here, here. My money is on Todd.
and I’m agree with d4, Todd, the only reason why college kids pick macs is because they are the age group that cares about what other people think not about the functionality of the computer. For what most college kids do a mac and a pc will do the EXACT same thing, just one is cheaper than the other, we all know which one that is.
yappa, quit whining, d4 is just making a point that if todd can call pc people Douche bags and have that be a legit argument than d4 can poke fun at justin long and all the other people that buy macs because they care about what others think.
Where, exactly, do you get these fabulous, and completely made up figures? 8 out of 10 college students? You do know that as of 2004 (the most recent credible figures I could find) there are about 16 million college students enrolled at any given time in America, don’t you? Seeing as how even the most optimistic numbers from any source put them selling below 8 million computers a year, that would mean that if the ONLY people who bought Macs were college students, then they still wouldn’t sell enough to support your 8 in 10 number!
Please, if you are going to make up figures, at least make them believable. If you had said something like 8 out of 10 USC film students buy a Mac, then it might have flown, but 8 out of 10 of all college students is a really big number of people. Far bigger than Apple’s entire market share.
John Biggs is your usual Cry Baby MacTard. Oh it was just so cute with the BS Mac vs PC ads that NEVER mentioned the weekly BUGGY OS X updates that kill hardware, major brand software and often Apple’s own cutsy iApps for retards; or never mentioned that decades of flaky Macs like the buggy G3/G4 iBooks and PowerBooks, the flaming G4 Power Mac, dead battery iPuds and flop products like the Apple TV and Apple Stereo speakers.
Oh but when MS hits where it hurts, the MAC PREMIUM and the Snob Design Effect, then the Juvenile MacTards get they panties in a bunch.
Go get em Microsoft, it’s time the 95% Big Dog bit the head off the little minority mouse that been bugging us.
Enjoy, MacTards, It’s OUR TURN!
fanboy alert!
Dude, you really feel like you are in a war. Go out and take a deep breath.
Ivan, you’re just the other side of the same war, you go out and take a deep breath..
The ads demonstrate a pretty straightforward cost/benefit sell (I assume that there is some co-marketing value associated with the role of HP). Where Apple sells simplicity on usability, MSFT is selling simplicity on affordability (and the timing is right). Both approaches target an audience that is overwhelmed by the selection/decision process (regardless of whether the purchasing party is the ultimate owner). The problem (IMHO) with the MSFT approach here is that selling affordability and simplicity may (if folks don’t buy the model mentioned in the commercial) simply direct consumers into a bewildering array of choices and features. Relying on retail programs to support the campaign, even with a single manufacturer, could be a disaster.
awwww, are you graduating as a marketing major soon? so cute.
A hackintosh w/monitor is $399
http://cgi.ebay.com/INTEL-ATOM-DUAL-CORE-MINI-PC-18-5-LCD-3-YR-WRNTY_W0QQitemZ280329192858QQihZ018QQcategoryZ111418QQcmdZViewItem
OSX sold seperately
Trying to play that video crashed my browser…
Yep, it crashed firefox twice, then played a blank video in Chrome…
somehow they never mention in these ads all the BSODs and viruses you’ll get.. and those are free, so part of the value prop.
Lol, yeah because I’ve had a BSOD since Windows ‘98…hmm nope. Viruses? Hmm nope. Not unless you surf the pr0n daily like you.
This video is completely pathetic. Any real geek would think that this video is completely pathetic.
This is as bad or worse than Bill Gates wearing a name badge of his own police mug shot when he was arrested on burning stop signs in New Mexico.
The Microsoft brand is forever tarnished. And with good reason.
The 2nd paragraph above of course refers to the 1rst Seinfeld video.
The 3rd refers to all the other bad stuff they did this past, oh say, 15 years.
The campaign is aimed at the mass market….
I can’t wait for Windows 7 Ads.
Does anybody remember the E3 conference from 3 years ago when the XBOX 360 was about to come out.
Microsoft had paid the audience to cross their arms in an X over their heads during the presentation. The good people such as Kevin Pereira at G4 caught them and reported them as having paid those people to do so.
I could have sworn I had remembered where I had seen that before. The other day I had watched the movie version of Orwell’s 1984 on Netflix streaming and low and behold:
http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/09-28-06/images/1984-movie-bb.jpg
YUP. That’s freaking the most messed up thing you could ever do as a software company.
John “the apple fan boy” seems to get confused quite easily.
my year-old dell that I got for $750 in March 2008 is still going strong. It’s 15″ and has a better screen resolution than the $2000 entry-level macbook pro. Screen resolution is still the most important thing for me. I think the macbook is 200mhz faster and now there is the nvidia 9600M instead of 8600GT-M…since I don’t play games on my laptop either video card is fine. I would prefer my year-old dell system to a new 15″ macbook pro before even considering the fact that the dell was half the price.
These commercials from microsoft are brilliant. Microsoft is clearly advertising that computers that come with windows can be had for far less money than those that come from apple.
So Microsoft finally found its competitive advantage and is trying to exploit it… Makes sense…
They are selling Vista, because by selling new PC’s, they are pushing copies of Vista that reside on those machines.
The thing that confuses me is they are basically calling themselves cheap…
If you ask someone if they prefer a Chevy Malibu (or Nova :)) or a Mercedes, they’ll probably all pick the Mercedes, but once you factor in price, they may buy the Malibu.
By marketing PC’s as the Malibu and Apple as the Mercedes, they are increasing the envy and exclusivity of the Apple brand while trying to promote their product. It may sell some PC’s in the short term, but I would be worried about eroding brand-image in the long term.
Actually if you want to use the car anaology, I think the Toyota Camry compared to the Lexus ES is a better comparison. They are both the exact same car, but the Lexus costs more and has a few superfluous feature that would not interest Camry owners.
Is this video working for anybody? It’s crashed my mac and pc’s browsers.
It’s microsoft, did you really expect it to work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VIZA0ZwY5k
You can say whatever you want, at least you can rely on Google products to actually work.
All hail the rise of the Google fanboy…
have you used Feeedburner lately?
Third ads will show a Japanesse choosing Vaio or Fujitshu sub-notebook for their beautifulness, quality and ligthweight with cheaper price than MAC. Can’t wait to see how Apple fanboi will get mad at this.
I used to use Apple, but got tired of paying extra high prices for upgrades and accessories, and not having much choice on actual hardware and software, having to wait for new stuff, and generally getting nickel and dimed to death. That makes the cool factor wear off quick. Apple should have used their momentum last year to launch some lower priced models or a netbook.
Haven’t regretted switching over one bit…and I use my pc’s for video production (Vegas Pro). Now my mission is to let people know they don’t have to pay up the @$$ to buy a MBP and FCP for professional video/digital cinema production. Most people are still surprised they have options…go figure. Apple has great marketing, but it seems Jobs did not see the recession factor coming into play with comments like “we can’t build a computer for 500 dollars that isn’t a piece of junk.” Others can and do. I just watched my 9 year old daughter download and plaster a Demi Lovato wallpaper on her ($340)Acer’s desktop background. Personalized netbook=stoked!
I don’t know why people always get so confused about Microsoft and Apple’s target market, this *is* Microsoft’s target market, your average consumer–it’s not Apples! Apple OS X and it’s associated hardware is targeted at power and professional users, not your average joe. It’s amazing people still haven’t figured that out.
And now for the short version;) Macs are for pretentious people.
Most everyone figured that out long ago:)
You guys just hate Microsoft, most posts (about Microsoft) on TechCrunch are anti MS. Mac commercials also have a lot of stupidities but you never mention them. Please stop being biased.
Umair, I don’t think Techcrunch is being biased here. MS really needs to hire someone from Apple advertising department; with this new ad i really don’t know what they are trying to sell here.
Lemon, if you don’t understand what Microsoft is selling in this ad, your stupid.
One day some of the creatures climbed the large tree to grab the fresh fruits instead of eating the rotten ones on the ground. Evolution continues.
I love my Mac, but you MS-haters are all too harsh. And my post here if you read it, is a waste of time, just like the commercial. Duh
I’d like to see a MS commercial featuring wealthy, attractive, tech-savvy people who loaded Vista on their Mac laptops. “I’m rich. And I’m a PC.”
That would be freaking hilarious! “I paid for a Mac, but I want a PC”
I love these ads… Microsoft might as well be selling Linux PCs! I love that it’s come to this…
I can’t quite find it in me to play the video for thosn one, but my first reaction to the Lauren one was that she’s a perfect candidate for Ubuntu. If you just want an OS for email, Web, music, video (that’s not Silverlight), and maybe an office productivity suite, then you should seriously consider it. It’s at least as user-friendly as Windows 95 was already, and improving at an incredible rate.
I’m a 15″ MacBook Pro who also runs Windows XP, Windows 7 Beta, and Ubuntu 8.10 in virtualization.
“I’m a PC because I’m really picky.”
Ouch. Also, “Macs are all about style” or something like that. This COULD double as a Mac ad btw.
ps: Video no longer available.
Until every product in the Mac product line was made flat grey with no lines. They are just sort of grey featureless blobs now…
after having used PCs for a number of years, i was thinking of going to look for a mac for my next computer, but now that I know they’re significantly more expensive, it’s less likely that I’ll even go and look (although I might) so the commercial did work for me a bit
HAHAHAHA all these Apple fanboy whiners are almost as great as reading some of the posts on macrumors.
LOL 3000+ replies for the 1st commercial and already 48 pages of replies for the 2nd commercial.
Brilliant commercials.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=680859
What do these PC or even Mac commercials have to do with TECH anyway? I wish TC would get off this kick, it’s pretty lame. Who cares? Most PC’s are less expensive than most Macs, what’s not true about that? People are going to spend what they want to spend on these things.
In turn the Mac ads perpetuates the idea that PCs are not used for creative thinking which is simply not true. There plenty of movies effects, video games, books and works of art are generated on PC’s everyday. I use PC and I’ve never felt I was forced into it and I don’t feel the need to switch from it.
Just because the buttons are shined and they do this nice little bounce doesn’t’ make my Photoshop run better. I’m not sure where this evangelical need comes from to turn everyone but really who cares? I wish more time was spent making these machine work together better than making the divide greater.
As far as the “cloud” is concerned it really is going to be a long time before all apps make that leap. Okay working on your blog, team project task list, or your fantasy football team yeah that data can be pushed around very easy in the cloud. But how would someone editing 100 gigs worth of video clips do that in the cloud? None of the heavy lifting I have to do with my Adobe Suite, and Autodesk products could live in the “cloud” yet. I’ve tried Aviary and other apps they are cool and fun to use but if you were publishing a real paper magazine instead of a digital one you would never be able to move around that amount of data easily.
In the end these are just commercials… Lets remember the ad agencies that started off most of these PC campaigns are all Mac “Artistic” types. You criticize Microsoft for coming up with these things but they didn’t the hired “experts” did. If they couldn’t send a creative message maybe it’s not the computer that makes you “creative”.
Not sure what the fuss is all about. Why would Microsoft need to advertise Windows?! Their goal is for people to choose PCs over Macs, and one strategy they have chosen in this campaign is stressing on the price difference, which is a simpler and easier sell than trying to compare Windows against Macs. I use both, and to be honest, a big part of why I continue to use a PC is price of the computer and availability/price of software.
The way I see the ad is reinforcing what people already know, and reminding those who are about to switch to Apple.
I thought it was a good commercial although I don’t think they needed to mention Macs at all. Why name your nearest competitor unless they are threatened by them?
As long as many Apple fans still call anyone who hates Apple Products “Microsoft Fanboys”, I think this commercial makes a lot of sense.
down to earth?
maybe……..
BUT until i have on my table two 17inch ACER PC laptop with dualcore proc with 4gb
for the price of one MAC try to sell me one………….MAC
come on my neck……..and try it
i don’t care if it is PC or MAC, i use anyway just adobe and firefox
two times 17inch, two times proc power, two extra screen what i can use…………………….all together four screen
and please live me alone with those battery and techinical problems, i fnd my way (i don’t go in the desert)
this article was written on a mac, wasn’t it?
I just feel so sorry for those poor people in the commercials. What no one told them is that they are going to boot up, get online and their first experience with their new machine will be a slow, painful download of a series of “essential” bug fixes and a huge Service Pack – being forced onto their machine (because they are not techies – they can’t figure out how to kill the download). Or perhaps they will be forced to register their machines before Vista disables their access. They are going to wonder why, after every single click, the OS is going to pester them and ask them if they are really sure that they want to do whatever it is they meant to do. They are going to waste $1500 dollars of their time watching fixes being applied, rebooting, watching a slow boot, watching a really really slow shutdown and setting up anti-spyware/anti-virus programs to protect their machines and generally having such a miserable time – not what they intended. The ads don’t matter. It’s the experience that counts. I bought a Mac for my wife over a year ago – and my ‘other’ job as the family IT administrator stopped. My children both have Ubuntu Linux on their 6 year old machines. Again – no administration. I’m the only one with a Windows machine (work) and I spend so much time carrying out non-productive tasks just to keep the thing running. Everyone knows that cost is only one factor; Even with a limited budget, people want quality. Quality goes beyond the purchase – and that’s where Microsoft falls short.
Good lord, are we going to have one of these articles to look forward to every time Microsoft puts a new ad on tv? The funny thing is I have a sneaking suspicion that when the PC fanboys were yelling and screaming about how unfair and untrue the initial “I’m a Mac” ads were, you were probably one of the first people to say “get a life, it’s just an ad. Don’t get so worked up about it.”
It is amazing to watch a supposedly grown adult sputtering and grasping for reasons to hate an ad. Are you now going to track this guy down and try to harass him into switching to a Mac like everyone did with the first girl in the ads? Or are you just going to try and find out personal information about him to publish to the Internet, because he dared to make a different computer choice than you would?
If you ever get frustrated and wonder why people talk about Macheads as though they were a crazy cult of unhinged lunatics, your article, or most specifically growing series of articles, on the subject of these ads would be a prime example. To everybody but you, these ads are amazingly straightforward. Person has a budget, and they buy a PC. It happens every day, and this ad is completely representative of how it plays out in about 90% of those cases.
Now I know that to the trust-fund technorati, it seems like you would have to be some kind of inbred trailer trash to ever do something as common as putting a dollar value on something as incredibly important to your lifestyle as a computer, but to that 90% of the population who doesn’t bring home mid six figures a year, EVERYTHING has a budget, because every penny they spend is a penny that can’t be spent on something else.
So quit trying to paint these ads as though it is some huge deception. The simple fact is that everyone knows they could buy a Mac, as years of unavoidable Mac ads have been telling us, and fewer than 10% of people (and fewer still every day this depression deepens) actually ever make that choice. If you think all these people are stupid or unsophisticated, or ignorant, or whatever, then fine, that is your opinion. Just quit whining about how unfair and confusing and pointless these ads are, because you just make yourself, and by proxy all Macheads, look out of touch and like a bit of an ass. We can all tell that you, and the whole Apple community, are doing everything you can to attack these ads specifically because you recognize how effective they will be. You aren’t fooling anyone.
You don’t like seeing Macs marginalized as fashion items for elitists, as the ads do. That is understandable. Unfortunately, the Machead response to these ads just reinforces that perception with all the talk of luxury cars, and how unimportant an extra grand is, and the like. When you’re in a hole, stop digging. You are never going to be able to both have your sense of superiority AND win a populist argument. You don’t get to croon about how you have the BMW of computers, AND avoid looking like one of those douchebags strutting around showing off his BMW. Apple and their fans have spend decades now telling PC users how stupid they are for using a PC. It was inevitable that Microsoft would eventually hit on the idea of showing these “stupid” people in a favorable light, thus making the people who call them stupid look bad. Live with it.
What does this have to do with tech news? It seems like it’s just a way for you to vent against Microsoft. I’m an Apple user, and this annoys me. I don’t care about your personal views against Microsoft… I care about real news. Besides, Microsoft and Apple are the same.. get over it. Use whats best for the job. Don’t impose your views on everyone, because frankly a Mac isn’t for everyone.
I think Microsoft has beat Apple to the punch on this one. Analysts have been saying for such a long time that Apple needs to come out with a sub-$1000 computer (more like sub $900) and that with the recession.
Also with the incredible popularity of the netbooks (sub $400), Apple is falling way behind because yes, I believe the general public is sold on that Apple is a “better brand” and “easier to use” (I’m saying sold as in because of the advertisements), it doesn’t mean that Apple will necessarily sell more computers in this economy.
At this point, people just want something that does what they need and at a good, cheap, price-point.
Mac’s are for simple people, with simple needs. Me and my roomate bought a couple Macbook Airs when they came out, now we joke about the days when we’ll be able to use them.
“I can’t wait till my life is so simple that I could get away with using only my Air.”
By simple I mean all you need to do is browse the web, send a few emails from your gmail/pop account and exchange, enterprise, and business use is no longer needed.
I’m a consultant that supports probably 150-200 users in the bay area, I’d say about 1/3 of them use Mac’s. I recieve twice as many calls from individuals who use OSX. How do I do this, how do I do that, how can I share this file with another user, how do I connect to the server, how come I have duplicate contacts on exchange, why’s my iphone calendar always screwing up, what do you mean I have to pay $19.99 for a piece of software that was free when I had a PC Laptop.. etc etc..
Keep buying into the Mac dream kiddies, you’re laptop that “never crashes” is making me a fortune.
In the early days [ the 1984 Super Bowl, "Think Different" ad ] Lee Clow [ TBWA Chiat Los Angeles] and Steve Jobs recreate the best of the breath Ads ever until today with the superb pieces of “I am a Mac”. Microsoft is still struggling with his ads.
Recently I fail to move one friend from HP to Mac. He was trying to buy a Mac Aire, but finally he change is mind to a cheaper PC. He bought a touch screen HP. He is a lawyer. In one week he was in the middle of a battle against Vista, the anti virus software and the firewall, and then he came again to talk about his new Laptop.
I just ask one question:
-”How many minutes per day you thinking about your laptop?”
. Many. -he respond me-
-You know? I do not think about the machine. I think about my work only. – was my simple response.
-Sure?!
Of course, we do not need thinking about the machine, and how to install programs, in the last upgrade. We need time. And Mac brings beauty, performance, elegance and TIME.
We pay more, I say to him to be more productive.
Of course I have Windows inside [in quarantine mode] in my Mac. And Linux too just for fun.