TheRealMafoo said:
Domicinator said:
As always, Microsoft is in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation here.
They have long been criticized by PC users for not responding to Apple's false advertising. I started wondering myself if Microsoft even CARED that Apple was taking market share away from them. I am happy as hell that they're finally starting to make a move. If I had to live in a world where I was forced to use OSX instead of my Windows machines, I would probably just switch to Linux. But now that Microsoft is trying to advertise a little more, they're getting criticized as well. They're in a lose/lose situation.
The fact is that the ad agency behind some of the most successful ad campaigns ever created is also behind this particular campaign. And this is just the beginning. People are really talking about this and they're still trying to make some sense out of what these ads are all about. (Frankly, I can see if you don't quite understand the Jerry and Bill commercials, but if you don't get the ones in the OP, you're absolutely lost.) That, my friends, is the whole purpose of these ads. The internet is buzzing about it, people at my job are talking about it, all the tech websites are talking about it, hell there have been several threads about it on VGChartz!!
Whether or not you like the ads is immaterial. The very fact that you're even talking about them is proof that you're paying attention to them, and that's all that matters to the ad agency. In other words, the ads are doing their job. I guarantee you that down the road more in this I'm a PC campaign, you will start seeing some things more specifically targeted at the people who think you can't burn a CD on anything but a Mac (I've met several), or who think the only kind of MP3 player that exists is the iPod (which I categorize more as a hard drive with a GUI that puts DRM on all your music).
It's no longer a question: These ads are doing what they were intended to do. They're getting people talking. Because they're replacing the first couple ads with these I'm a PC ads, people think that they canned the Jerry and Bill stuff. If you had read any stories about this back when they first started running those, you would know that it was ALWAYS the intention to replace these with more straightforward ads. |
The problem with that approach, is every one knows who Microsoft is. Getting there name out there is not going to sell more units. What you need to do, is explain to people why they would want your product over your competitions product. In fact, avoiding that comparison, to me, shows you don't want to go down that road, as you will lose.
Don't come out with an ad that says "Go PC, everyone is doing it!". I am not in Jr High anymore.
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First of all, I didn't come out with the ad, Microsoft did.
Second of all, yes, it SHOULD be all about "Go PC, everyone is doing it!" IT IS THE EXACT SAME ADVERTISING TACTIC APPLE USES, AND IT WORKS VERY WELL ON MOST OF SOCIETY. Just because YOU aren't dumb enough to fall for that doesn't mean everyone else isn't. Hell, Apple's tactic takes it one step further. They spend all their ad time criticizing the competition instead of actually saying what their product does. In fact, they take it to the degree of leading you to believe that Windows can't do things that we all know full well it CAN DO. Are the ads funny? Yes. Are they true? Hardly ever. But the funny goes a long way.
While you may not find Microsoft's ads clever or funny in any way, I think they are taking the high road. They're talking about their own product, not making fun of the other ones and spreading total lies. And the commercials we've seen so far are just a small part of what it's going to develop into down the road.
Nobody has any right to crucify Microsoft for advertising. All companies do it. What do you want them to do, sit idly by and watch Apple continue to gain market share. Should they just wring their hands and not compete? People are only making it a point to criticize these ads because it's Microsoft. That's the ONLY reason this is such a big deal. I for one am not going to take them to task for trying to improve their image in a mature way instead of putting two bozos in front of a blank white screen and catering to the lowest common denominator of computer users.
