After doing cartwheels down hallway, Kevin Turner quietly changes Microsoft Ads to reflect new Apple pricing
According to Adage, Microsoft did, in fact change the advertising after getting the call from Apple legal. Kevin Turner famously told people gathered at a Microsoft conference last week the Laptop Hunter ads were working:
And you know why I know they’re working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey — this is a true story — saying, “Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.” They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business. (Applause.) I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, “Is this a joke? Who are you?” Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we’re just going to keep running them and running them and running them.
In the original version, Lauren at one point comes upon an Apple computer and pouts: "This Mac is $2,000, and that's before adding anything."
"Why would you pay twice the price?" asks Lauren's mom. "I wouldn't," says Lauren, who ends up leaving with a $972 Dell laptop she suspiciously found later in the spot.
In the latest version of the ad, that portion has been edited out. The original ad has been removed from YouTube and other sites by Microsoft, and replaced with a version (below) in which Lauren doesn't talk about how much the Mac costs, but she does say: "It seems like you're paying a lot for the brand."
NPD data this week revealed that of the $1000+ retail computer market in the US, Apple gets 91% of the revenue. That's up from 66% in 2008 when the Laptop Hunter Ads started running.
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Comments (41)
Obviously the price attack won't work. Mac's have always been more expensive and yet they are still thriving. I don't understand why Microsoft doesn't promote what their machines do, rather than focusing solely on price.
@9to5Mac Noob the same reason Apple focuses on attacking Microsoft.
"I don't understand why Microsoft doesn't promote what their machines do, rather than focusing solely on price."
Well, apart from the fact that MS don't actually *make* any machines... (you are keeping up with this computer industry thingy, right?) you've kind of answered your own question.. why *don't* Microsoft promote what their products do rather than how much they cost?
... hmm...
There must be an answer... I'm sure of it...
Think.
Think think think...
Ooh! That's right, because they're soul-less pieces of crap designed by committees for frigtards!
Knew it would come to me eventually.
ROFLMAOOO so true !! :-D
... Why "doesn't" Microsoft.
It is 'a' company.
You don't say 'the United Kingdm ARE, do you?
"United Kingdom". NOT United Kingdm. It is 'a' country. You don't say "Amrica", do you ? Fag.
I don't smoke.
I liked that post.
what do cigarettes have to do with it!!
what do cigarettes have to do with it!!
...but I would probably spell Kingdom correctly.
Jeez, who let the grammar Nazi in? I'm all for stamping out lazy 'text-speak' (u r 2 gud 4 me!) but you want to argue about whether I used the correct contraction of a verb conjugation or not?
I haven't had the time or the inclination to Google it, but while you may be technically correct, I'm not straying outside of commonly accepted conventions to refer to a company (i.e. Microsoft) not as a single entity, but as a plural in terms of the people who make it up.
on which side of the Atlantic you are on. I've gotten used to British people saying things like "Microsoft have released ..." while Americans would say "Microsoft has released ..." As you say, it depends on viewing Microsoft as a group of people or a business entity. Both make perfect sense. He was being very rude and showing ignorance.
I view them as a bunch of halfwits.
I hope your parents are dead, so they don't have to be embarrassed for you.
The nesting of comments on this page suggests that you are replying to me, but even if you're not, that is an inexcusable thing to say.
I was talking to your mom
Your unsurprising need to hide behind anonymity while spouting such uncalled-for, juvenile nastiness speaks volumes about the kind of spineless, quarter-witted little person you truly must be.
Shut it, "Mad Dog".
You're disturbing your dead mom.
Not very good at this, are you?
Damaged registry entries, web hijacks, vulnerabilities and unpredictable results with millions of combinations of hardware probably just aren't good selling points.
:>D
Where do you get this crap?
Seriously, outside of the macosphere, I never hear of anyone discussing registry entries being damaged, or crashes, or how windows sucks so bad.
I have a fucking dell laptop. yes, Dell.
Never had a problem.
Except for that time I was editing the registry, and removed the battery. Just after I clicked the link in the Get A Bigger Penis email, and had disabled AVG Free, and was on crack.
Yes, maybe this could cause some kind of pressure on Apple as they see their sales decrease....but what Microsoft could end up with is Apple lowering their prices even more making their products even more competitive.....Im actually crossing my fingers for Apple to lower their prices a little bit more. I already have a Macbook Pro, now i want a iMac for home.
BLYAAAAA dell my vomit wants to vomit on it !!
http://www.macworld.com/article/140068/2009/04/satisfaction.html
If he thinks the ads are working he is delusional and should seek professional help. After seeing Microsoft's numbers the "facts" show that netbooks, also known as cheap laptops are killing off Microsoft's profits. I will also point out they aren't doing much for Dell either as Apple's market cap is now 5.5 times higher!
While all that people seem to be buying in a bad economy is money losing low end laptops, Microsoft's innovation is to run Laptop Hunter ads! Keep up the good work Redmond. What will you do next, add a $50-$100 premium to those cheap netbooks because they will soon come with Windows 7?
So someone offers you $1700 for a laptop and you buy one worth less than a $1000??? I'd say go ahead and buy an even better one that's closer to the $1700 limit wouldn't you? FREE MONEY!!!
Why is the Mom so happy at the end when she says it was a lot less than the $1700? I though Microsoft was paying for it.
I know. You could get a loaded XPS Studio 16 for 1700.
This thing kicks ass.
Microsoft runs the laptop hunter ads to attack Apple (it's PC-envy: Apple is cool & hip, MSFT isn't)because they want to draw attention away from their most recent major failures (VISTA, Windows Mobile & Zune).
So Microsoft runs ads about cheap PCs and never mentions it own software product at all -- because it sucks.
Walter Mossberg of the WSJ said it the other day about Microsoft's next big OS release: On upgrading to Windows 7 he said "it will be frustrating, tedious and labor-intensive."
Now that's Microsoft for you! It's the reason why 86% of companies who runs Windows still run XP (an 8 year old OS) and refuse to upgrade to Vista. It's also the reason why Microsoft reported it first ever year over year sales decline yesterday, missing wall street's projection by $1 billion.
Yeah, run another Laptop Hunter ad. They're working alright.
Actually, Walt said that it would only be tedious upgrading from XP. Microsoft actually recommends you buy a new PC with Windows 7 instead of upgrading to 7 from XP. He did say that it would be a breeze upgrading from Vista, though, and I can second that, as I have already upgraded to the RC.
as a former reporter and newspaper page editor, i compliment 9to5's headline and layout on this story. I read the same items on two other excellent sites, and 9to5's presentation captured the spirit of the story best. Well done.
makes one wonder why apple didn't alter their ads when they 'misspoke' about windows from time to time. oh right, because microsoft wasn't a whinny little b!tch about it....
Verizon is running a special here where you get a free netbook for signing a two-year deal with them. A free computer must be even better than the one she bought, right?