[dWSOj26H]

Has anyone seen MS's latest ad of "You find it, you keep it?"

So a woman who is into film editing, has $2,000 to spend on a new laptop, and she's apparently a film editor. She looks at the Mac pro (2.4ghz Core2Duo, 2GBs of 1066Mhz DDR3 RAM, 15" screen (1440x900)).

What does she choose? HP's 16-inch HDX 16t... which has 4GBs of slower RAM (667mhz DDR2), a 2.13ghz C2D and a shitty 1366x768 display.

Now I know this forum is not exactly 'Mac Friendly' as we're all gamers... right? But this ad really makes MS's marketing people look stupid.

Even the ad where the guy is looking for "performance, portability and battery life" and chooses and 8lb brick, with 2 hours battery life and 533mhz RAM (slower than a 2006 MacBook) is not as bad as this latest classic.

MS are making PCs look even worse than they actually are. There are lots of nice PC laptops, so why do this?

[Proodustommor]

Yeah, I have to admit it, even being a HUGE Vista fanboy, the Microsoft commercials have been kind of on the " wtf...why did they make this commercial" side of things. Especially the CONSTANT commercials about windows picture gallery or whatever. Believe me, my HTPC is a media machine and we have hundreds upon hundreds of pictures on it, and while the picture thing built into vista is a nice little "quicky" thingamagig, I still use Photoshop to do "real" editing. I just dont understand how ONE feature, thats not even that great anyways, should be thier selling point. And the "find the best computer for $xxxx" are pretty stupid too, because the average person knows NOTHING about what hardware they SHOULD get, or even which hardware is better compared to others. In reality the hardware is the "same" across macs and pc's now, therefore if OS brand isnt an issue, then just choose the one with the best specs for the lowest price...I dont see how OS comes into the play. Most people are either MAC or PC people anyways and stick to the corresponding sections of the store.

However, the Apple commericals are far worse IMO. I literally turn off the tv or walk out of the room when the guy in the brown suit and they guy wearing clothes from the gap shows up...yet again. Spewing lies about how bad pc's are and not quite ever putting across why macs are better....hmmm, WUT?

I mean most commercials are just downright awfull to begin with, when they arent downright lying, they are distracting you with stuff to where most of the time you dont even know what they were trying to sell. Its quite funny how innefective most commercials really are. Generically I only like the humurous ones and most of the time I couldnt tell you what they are trying to sell.

[Peptobismol]

Has anyone seen MS's latest ad of "You find it, you keep it?"

So a woman who is into film editing, has $2,000 to spend on a new laptop, and she's apparently a film editor. She looks at the Mac pro (2.4ghz Core2Duo, 2GBs of 1066Mhz DDR3 RAM, 15" screen (1440x900)).

What does she choose? HP's 16-inch HDX 16t... which has 4GBs of slower RAM (667mhz DDR2), a 2.13ghz C2D and a shitty 1366x768 display.

Now I know this forum is not exactly 'Mac Friendly' as we're all gamers... right? But this ad really makes MS's marketing people look stupid.

Even the ad where the guy is looking for "performance, portability and battery life" and chooses and 8lb brick, with 2 hours battery life and 533mhz RAM (slower than a 2006 MacBook) is not as bad as this latest classic.

MS are making PCs look even worse than they actually are. There are lots of nice PC laptops, so why do this?

Simple. Microsoft is trying to appeal to the market that Apple is trying to reach. The non technical person. Microsoft doesnt need to convince us. To us the commercials on both sides are just stupid and misleading.
Now is this the best way to reach those people? ehhhhh
I highly doubt the people they are targeting even bother researching the model picked. Most non technical people don't want to bother understanding the technical specs. All they do is watch a commercial get sold go to the store and then get manipulated by the sales person. Done.

To me the Apple commercials are far worse just as the previous poster explained. Apple talks trash about PCs but never states why apple is better. My fav apple commercial is the old one where a guy said he was tired of "trying to get sound" out of the pc. If your that ****ing stupid then go buy a mac.

1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2-UuIEOcss
You are to blame if your too stupid to not back up or set word to keep backing up for you.

2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tq7y...eature=related
You are all idiots.

[vTLWqa1l]

I'm a PC guy, but even I'll admit that's retarded. Mac's have their place. And being a film editor? That's Mac territory IMO. Mac's excel at the a/v editing type of stuff.

They're great machines for what they do. Some of them are overpriced, but there are some machines that are fairly priced.


However, the Apple commericals are far worse IMO. I literally turn off the tv or walk out of the room when the guy in the brown suit and they guy wearing clothes from the gap shows up...yet again. Spewing lies about how bad pc's are and not quite ever putting across why macs are better....hmmm, WUT? That's probably my biggest beef with apple at this point. Their ad's are HORRIBLE. Those mac v.s. pc commercials are sometimes slightly funny, but overall completely worthless.

[dWSOj26H]

To me the Apple commercials are far worse just as the previous poster explained. Apple talks trash about PCs but never states why apple is better. My fav apple commercial is the old one where a guy said he was tired of "trying to get sound" out of the pc. If your that ****ing stupid then go buy a mac.

From a purely marketing perspective, Apple's commercials are better. If Apple was to do what MS just did, they'd say

"We gave $2,000 to Susan to buy the best gaming rig she could find, and she chose the iMac 24" screen with it's 'amazing' nVidia 9600GT..." blah blah. It would be BS, same as the MS ones where people end up buying machines that don't do what they say they do.

If I was marketing PCs and Windows, I'd emphasise gaming, variety of software, the fact you can use either iTunes or Windows Media, and the huge speed advantages of MS Office for Windows Vs Mac, and also about expressing individuality through different models of PC and Windows customization.

I would not try and convince anyone that a 533mhz HP brick was actually a better machine than an Alum MacBook - especially when there are HP machines that are worth buying.

[T5qYkHWQ]

nevermiiiiind

[toksenveste]

From a purely marketing perspective, Apple's commercials are better. If Apple was to do what MS just did, they'd say

"We gave $2,000 to Susan to buy the best gaming rig she could find, and she chose the iMac 24" screen with it's 'amazing' nVidia 9600GT..." blah blah. It would be BS, same as the MS ones where people end up buying machines that don't do what they say they do.

If I was marketing PCs and Windows, I'd emphasise gaming, variety of software, the fact you can use either iTunes or Windows Media, and the huge speed advantages of MS Office for Windows Vs Mac, and also about expressing individuality through different models of PC and Windows customization.

I would not try and convince anyone that a 533mhz HP brick was actually a better machine than an Alum MacBook - especially when there are HP machines that are worth buying.

I would purposely buy the schittiest HP laptop in the world if it meant I didn't have to look like a right bender using a mac book in public [yes]

if you buy a Mac and your not a professional you might as well hang around the gents toilets offering reach a rounds to the local cottaging community [rofl]

[expabsPapsgag]

I would not try and convince anyone that a 533mhz HP brick was actually a better machine than an Alum MacBook - especially when there are HP machines that are worth buying.

They're not trying to do that at all. MS is simply attempting to make PCs look like a better bang-for-the-buck option than Macs.

In the current economic climate, it's a very wise move. And it's really one of the only options MS has. They know they can't compete with Apple on image ("coolness" factor), so they have to try to reinforce the dollar value. The ad with the parent shopping for her kid has the potential to very effective, as parents on a budget don't care about cool--they care about the bottom line.


Look at it this way: Imagine that a car company produced an inexpensive, sporty car model. If they produced an ad that opened with a guy thinking about a Ferrari and realizing it would be forever out of reach, and then demonstrated that their $15,000 car could provide a similar level of excitement, it would provide a positive association with the inexpensive car.

The only way to intelligently declare whether or not an ad is truly "bad" is to evaluate the impact that it has on a company's sales. And that is yet to be seen.

[BGThomasis]

i wouldnt hire either of them, the guy in the suit looks like hes on day release from a mental instution and the other guy just looks like he needs a slap.

[VIAGRA-]

The best thing MS can do is not to waste money on paid advertising, the Win 7 beta has created so much word of mouth advertising and media response for almost no costs.

That demotivator is one of the best ever.

[dWSOj26H]

The only way to intelligently declare whether or not an ad is truly "bad" is to evaluate the impact that it has on a company's sales. And that is yet to be seen.

Well that's the bottom line, I completely agree. I think MS is in danger of aligning itself with 'cheap and nasty' during a time when people are beung more considerate about how they spend their dollars.

When you consider all factors, such as maintenance, cost of additional software, anti-cirus subscriptions and most of all, resale value, the Mac isn't actually more expensive. How much do you think you'd get for a 3 year old Dell laptop? I could get 50% of my MacBook value in 2 mins on Cragslist or eBay.

[expabsPapsgag]

Just found this:

http://marketing-has-changed.com/wha...vs-apples-mac/

Ad Age just reported that the latest BrandIndex survey shows the PC has extended its lead on value perception relative the the Apple Mac. After an extended period of being pummeled by Apple and its brilliant attack campaign, Microsoft came to the defense of the PC with a campaign of its own. While the work done by Crispin Porter & Bogusky is not likely to win any traditional creative awards, it does remind us of what makes advertising effective. That is: the clear expression of a strong value proposition. Too many marketers (and far too many agencies) lose sight of this in the quest to be creative.


Not so stupid after all, then?

[VIAGRA-]

Someone mark the points of the 7 beta releases on that chart!


Also that variation seems to be huge, shouldn't that be more consistent?

[oraltyrap]

Well that's the bottom line, I completely agree. I think MS is in danger of aligning itself with 'cheap and nasty' during a time when people are beung more considerate about how they spend their dollars.

When you consider all factors, such as maintenance, cost of additional software, anti-cirus subscriptions and most of all, resale value, the Mac isn't actually more expensive. How much do you think you'd get for a 3 year old Dell laptop? I could get 50% of my MacBook value in 2 mins on Cragslist or eBay.

Three spelling/grammatical errors in this post. Are you okay, Zoolook?

[dr-eavealer]

When you consider all factors, such as maintenance, cost of additional software, anti-cirus subscriptions and most of all, resale value, the Mac isn't actually more expensive. How much do you think you'd get for a 3 year old Dell laptop? I could get 50% of my MacBook value in 2 mins on Cragslist or eBay.

That's the thing though, not many people consider those factors, they consider the basic price tag.

[tarmpriopay]

When you consider all factors, such as maintenance, cost of additional software, anti-virus subscriptions and most of all, resale value, the Mac isn't actually more expensive. How much do you think you'd get for a 3 year old Dell laptop? I could get 50% of my MacBook value in 2 mins on Cragslist or eBay.

Maintenance? Can do it myself.

Additional software? Torrents.

Anti-virus? AVG.

Resale value? It works the other way around. The price of used PC parts and laptops can be a goldmine for smart shoppers.

[dWSOj26H]

Three spelling/grammatical errors in this post. Are you okay, Zoolook?

I was having a bad few weeks as it happens, although I just nailed a year long, $900,000 project today... signed off. I am happier than a pig in ****!

[Gubocang]

I personally think microsoft would bundle allot more software with windows, but it would all end in tears in the courtroom. For some reason, Apple can do what it likes, and nobody will even bat an eyelid!

[dWSOj26H]

Maintenance? Can do it myself.

Additional software? Torrents.

Anti-virus? AVG.

Resale value? It works the other way around. The price of used PC parts and laptops can be a goldmine for smart shoppers.

Do you think the target audience in the MS ads are going to service their own laptops? I doubt it. AVG... er, if you say so, but I am not a fan and most average users would probably not think of it. Torrents... not sure MS would be advertising this and the last one, well if you were going to cobble together a PC from spare parts, you're not really a target for the ad, are you?

Look, your points are fair enough, for you and perhaps many others, but in the context of the MS ad campaign, I don't see the relevance.

[dWSOj26H]

I personally think microsoft would bundle allot more software with windows, but it would all end in tears in the courtroom. For some reason, Apple can do what it likes, and nobody will even bat an eyelid!

It's amazing what you can get away with when you have 6% market share, and what you can't when you have 92% market share.