Hey everybody. Good to be back to the Experience.com Marketing Blog, my digital home away from home. A lot has happened since the last blogging cycle ended. I officially made the move to Cal-ee-for-nee-a, as our esteemed Governator pronounces it, and I am now gainfully employed in my first post-collegiate job. What's more, said job does not involve part-time employment at the local outlet mall or food establishment. Huzzah! Of course, this blog isn't all about me, only like 94.6 percent, so I'll fill in the details on my first impressions of Cali for a later post.
In the meantime, I'd like to share my impressions of Microsoft's new ad campaign. The spots, themed after the tagline "Life Without Walls", are a direct response to those increasingly smarmy "I'm a Mac" ads. Drawing on the testimony of some of the millions of PC users worldwide, with a handful of celebrities thrown in for good measure, the ads show that PCs are not necessarily the stuff of pocket protecting number crunchers.
Though I personally use a Mac, and honestly consider that they're superior computers, I'm glad to see Microsoft assert themselves in these ads. For too long, Apple has acted like that smug kid in the back of the class. You know the type, really smart, but he goofs off anyway to impress the girls. Sure, he's funny for a little while, but it doesn't take long for the shtick to wear off. So Microsoft doesn't make super intuitive products that are sleek in design and phenomenally productive. So what? People still use the things and stereotyping PC users as chubby out of touch losers was an arrogant move by Mac.
The best thing Mac can do to demonstrate their superiority is...well, demonstrate their superiority. Think about those simple iPhone commercials. The iPhone is all alone against a plain background. Simple pleasant narration explains all the cool features. The ad ends with a nice little flourish and the universally recognized Apple logo. Clean and effective. Those are the type of ads that Mac should stick to if they really want to win over PC users.
I'm a Mac, but I like PC's New Commercials
Labels:
Apple,
arnold schwarzenegger,
California,
life without walls,
Mac,
Microsoft,
PC
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6 comments:
ehh... i'm a Mac fan and refuse to use windows at all costs. i'm a marking major and while i do appreciate and admire this new campaign of ads by microsoft, not impressed. its giving microsoft an updated personality but really... not all that original... taking Apple's concept of "I'm a Mac" and twisting a bit and cluttering it. on another note, i do believe they used Macs to make the ads... funny how they are trying to show us what else a pc can do besides office work yet they use a Mac.
I agree with the first comment. In my opinion, the new Microsoft ads just lend further support that everything Windows is doing right now is a reaction to what Apple is doing (e.g., Vista a la Tiger). As a side note, the first people I thought of when I saw the "PC" and "Mac" characters on the Apple commercials were Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Think about way they dress, etc. for big conferences/announcements. Tell me you don't see the similarities. I don't think the PC character is supposed to be a stereotype of all PC users.
I am a PC fan. I have started out using the PC when I first moved into this country 10 years ago. When I entered liberal education 2 years ago I was constantly forced to us Macs. Having experienced with both, I think PCs are more user-friendly. We need this trait; not many computer users graduated from tech institutions. I like this new ad not because PC has a new character(it already has all these) but it allows users to be aware of the stereotype.
Another thought, we shouldn't compare Microsoft and Apple when comparing Macs and PCs. MS is mainly a software giant, where as the Apple's sole purpose is only its mac and softwares to run the mac.
I hate Macs, because I spend most of my time fixing them for people who have no clue how to use a computer. For as user friendly as a mac is supposed to be, 'idiot-proof' as I like to call it, people seem to freeze up or screw up their macs far too easily. I'm a PC user with extensive time spent on macs. I've never gotten Window's famous 'blue screen of death' and I attribute that to the fact that I'm not a moron tinkering with things I don't understand or downloading everything I can find on the internet. I think that mac is good at what it does, which is art... but I also own a 9x12 WACOM tablet and I have no trouble rendering or creating on my PC... Mac's claim to fame is ease of use, and it's ability to perform design... I hate how a mac works, and I can do great art on my PC, so to me, I think mac is useless. I love the new commercials, I think they're a good representation of the diversity of people who use computers as a whole, and I like the lack of stereotyping elitism that I see in the pseudo-witty mac commercials.
-Female programmer and graphic artist.
IA with the last comment. I have used Macs and PCs and I fail to see how Macs are so user friendly. Everytime I use a mac, I find them more difficult to use for even simple tasks like surfing the net. I will always use PCs.
The new MS commercials are great because they show reality. Most people still use PCs not Macs.
I use PC and I'm always fixing my brother's new MAC laptop that he bought from Best Buy. So I do use both. All I have to say for the marketing gurus that think MS just "twisted" "Mac's concept" around and made it their own, go back to watching TV and school kiddies. You will learn there, that they are not the first ones to use that concept of marketing.
And by the way, on note of the commercial ad - MAC just got schooled.
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