That isn't ripping off. It is acknowledging the huge mindshare capital that Apple has built up and trying to address/leverage off it. IMO, outside of the putz going on about how he's "not a human doing, not a human thinking", it wasn't too bad at all.
So is that the reason for those prior commercials? So people would generally recognize Bill Gates [and a 'person'] when they slapped him into a commercial like this? Meaning those other commercials weren't about Microsoft or Vista at all but about Bill's public image? Because then they'd make a bit of sense...they still creep me out but at least there would be some sort of point.
Thu, 09/18/2008 - 8:38pm — Mr. Harris (not verified)
3237
its almost as bad as the Seinfeld ads. The I'm a Mac ads were all about pointing out Window's shortcomings and telling you how Macs don't have those problems. Basically telling you how a Mac running Mac OS is better than a PC running Windows. These ads are trying to tell you that people who use PCs are cool and hip and all that (which is true...I have a PC and I like to think I'm cool) but they don't tell you how a PC running Windows could be better than a Mac running Mac OS. Just like Windows itself...a lot of stuff you don't need with little or no meat and potatoes. Thats why my next computer purchase will be a Mac...specifically a MacBook Pro.
Huh? That's the master stroke. This is about addressing image. They don't try to go tit-for-tat with some numbers or logical arguments thing. Why the hell would they want to go there??? That's a place of FAIL for an ad campaign like this.
These ads are not about pointing out shortcomings of the either platform. They are about making the ordinary viewer/PC user take offense to the Mac ads released by Apple. Microsoft is trying to make the viewer identify with Windows as the computer they use, with Bill Gates as the genius geek that founded MS, with the regular people that shop for their computer at Walmart, and see the Mac/Apple ads as snide, snobbish, superior, and elitist. I have said before on this blog, that amongst my more nerdy developer friends, the Mac vs PC commercials started to grate. There are older, middle aged. balding, glasses wearing, nerdy, "uncool" people that did think the commercials were perpetuating a stereotype. (this came up in a conversation recently about some people at Qualcomm who wear pocket protectors and how they are still portrayed on TV as loosers because they are nerdy) There are a lot of Mac long time mac users who have believed in the technical merits of the platform while acknowledging its shortcomings. Jesus, An example would be the several generations of masochistic apple developers that have stuck through the thick and thin ups and downs of supporting the Mac. However, apple's persona as of late has been more focused(not entirely) on a hipster fanboi cool factor. The older mac users are not moving on to Vista or whatever, but they have lost some excitement. All the while it seems legions of people wait with baited breath to find out what color the next new ipod is going to be, or whether PhotoBooth will be in HD.
In the "I'm a PC/I'm a Mac" ad, Mac doesn't ever make fun of a PC. In fact, the Mac is always trying to be friendly to the PC trying to help. Sure, PC has some quirks, but if you don't laugh about them, you'll cry about them. It's just an advertisement. If some computer hacker was offended by these commercials, they really need to get a life. Apple is not losing users because of these ads.
PLUS... the characters are portraying the computers not the users. They compare the design of a typical Dell or HP as being very boxy, conservative, all-business, where the Mac has sleek styling, somewhat trendy, etc. As a self proclaimed geek, I hardly think Apple was making fun of people that wear suits or pocket protectors.
The glass is half full or half empty. I guess I don't see the problem.
I think all the new Microsoft ads are actually pretty good. I thought the opening statement in the new "I'm a PC" ad makes them look desperate though.
Although being forced to come out and address Apple so directly shows just how well Microsoft thinks Apple has done. They must think they are in a seriously bad way, a weak position, if to so directly reference the competition.
Thu, 09/18/2008 - 9:01pm — Ad Police (not verified)
3931
That's NEVER done in commercials these days. It's such an innovative device! It demonstrates that even though we're vastly different human beings from all geographies and cultures, we can all deliver a slogan or finish one another's sentences in a mindless string of jumpcuts. This is totally the spot to beat at Cannes next year. Are you watching, Effie awards committee? I think this young upstart Microsoft is onto something.
This should be interesting to see how Apple responds.
By Microsoft painting their users as the "everyday person", it puts Apple in an interesting position with their ads: If they Apple's not careful, they can insult the same people they are trying to get to switch to their OS by painting PC users as banal.
very clever indeed. The Hodgeman "Im a PC" guy will be harder to pull off since ridiculing him is now ridiculing every-man. Here's hoping Apple will be innovative enough to respond with something new that is not built upon the superiority on the mac vs the Pc but of but the supiriority of the mac platform itself. Even if I get frustrated everytime a friend asks me to help with whatever problems they are having with their PC, I still enjoy OS X for the simple beauty it is and not for the fact that it is not windows.
That was waaaay better than their Seinfeld ads. You can relate to it more and it's a good swipe back at Apple's branding of PC users. In a sense it undermines Apple being able to respond to it because in doing so they'd be seen to be mocking the teachers, lawyers, taxi drivers, green architects, environmentalists that appeared in the ad and associated themselves with PC's.
Actually this ad is great: "I'm a PC and I'm human. A human connected to others, with my qualities and my defaults. I'm not forced to be this cool guy dressed in cool clothes. I can be anyone. I can make my own decision about how I live, how I think, how I do things, and what I do."
I hate windows, but this ad is truly great, and furthermore a dangerous answer to apple's mac ad campain.
I think now I understand the genius of this ad: In the mac ad campain, "pc" and "mac" are the embodishment of the machines, argueing about pc's flows.
In this ad however, "pc"s are the users of pcs.
I think it can fool people into thinking the mac ad campain represents pc and mac users. Looking at apple's ad this way will make them feel insulted: since they are using a pc they must be boring and ridiculous and everything...
So it makes pc user's look good, while putting mac ad campain upside down :-O
It is better then the last ones.
.
But it still do not tell anything about Windows.
Why to pick it, or what it can do.
.
You see it one time where a old lady video chats with her grandchiltens.
.
But what program is she using. is it nativ, or one of the 200 3 part programs you need to install on windows, to get it to run safe and do what you need to use it to other then notepad and calculater
What Apple should have done, since they had plenty of warning, was introduce a whole new fall campaign. That way this campaign could have been seen as MS competing with old news, the same way the first generation Zunes was matched for specs with the previous generation iPod.
That being said, MS is late to the game. If they'd hit this a year earlier, they'd have had a chance of slowing Apple's growth.
Of course, I haven't watched the ad yet. I'll have to wait until the boss leaves.
I think the mojave concept is better. I think the execution of the ad was so-so, but SHOWING vista I think is the key. Let's face it, the interface is cool and has even overtaken os x in 'aqua-esque' wizardry (albeit SLOW wizardry :). Microsoft just has an enormous pile of bad karma to climb before ANY of their advertising will work.
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Comments
You're only a PC...
... because you bought your computer from the bargain bin at Wal*Mart.
I'm a PC, and I can't come up
I'm a PC, and I can't come up with an original commercial.
I'm a PC, and I rip off ideas from Apple.
That isn't ripping off. It is
That isn't ripping off. It is acknowledging the huge mindshare capital that Apple has built up and trying to address/leverage off it. IMO, outside of the putz going on about how he's "not a human doing, not a human thinking", it wasn't too bad at all.
So is that the reason for those prior commercials? So people would generally recognize Bill Gates [and a 'person'] when they slapped him into a commercial like this? Meaning those other commercials weren't about Microsoft or Vista at all but about Bill's public image? Because then they'd make a bit of sense...they still creep me out but at least there would be some sort of point.
Who is the really the putz?
Um, "outside of the putz going on about how he's "not a human doing, not a human thinking". That is doctor and author, Deepak Chorpa.
Yes.
Yes.
its almost as bad as the
its almost as bad as the Seinfeld ads. The I'm a Mac ads were all about pointing out Window's shortcomings and telling you how Macs don't have those problems. Basically telling you how a Mac running Mac OS is better than a PC running Windows. These ads are trying to tell you that people who use PCs are cool and hip and all that (which is true...I have a PC and I like to think I'm cool) but they don't tell you how a PC running Windows could be better than a Mac running Mac OS. Just like Windows itself...a lot of stuff you don't need with little or no meat and potatoes. Thats why my next computer purchase will be a Mac...specifically a MacBook Pro.
Huh? That's the master
Huh? That's the master stroke. This is about addressing image. They don't try to go tit-for-tat with some numbers or logical arguments thing. Why the hell would they want to go there??? That's a place of FAIL for an ad campaign like this.
I can relate
These ads are not about pointing out shortcomings of the either platform. They are about making the ordinary viewer/PC user take offense to the Mac ads released by Apple. Microsoft is trying to make the viewer identify with Windows as the computer they use, with Bill Gates as the genius geek that founded MS, with the regular people that shop for their computer at Walmart, and see the Mac/Apple ads as snide, snobbish, superior, and elitist. I have said before on this blog, that amongst my more nerdy developer friends, the Mac vs PC commercials started to grate. There are older, middle aged. balding, glasses wearing, nerdy, "uncool" people that did think the commercials were perpetuating a stereotype. (this came up in a conversation recently about some people at Qualcomm who wear pocket protectors and how they are still portrayed on TV as loosers because they are nerdy) There are a lot of Mac long time mac users who have believed in the technical merits of the platform while acknowledging its shortcomings. Jesus, An example would be the several generations of masochistic apple developers that have stuck through the thick and thin ups and downs of supporting the Mac. However, apple's persona as of late has been more focused(not entirely) on a hipster fanboi cool factor. The older mac users are not moving on to Vista or whatever, but they have lost some excitement. All the while it seems legions of people wait with baited breath to find out what color the next new ipod is going to be, or whether PhotoBooth will be in HD.
I don't think so...
In the "I'm a PC/I'm a Mac" ad, Mac doesn't ever make fun of a PC. In fact, the Mac is always trying to be friendly to the PC trying to help. Sure, PC has some quirks, but if you don't laugh about them, you'll cry about them. It's just an advertisement. If some computer hacker was offended by these commercials, they really need to get a life. Apple is not losing users because of these ads.
PLUS... the characters are portraying the computers not the users. They compare the design of a typical Dell or HP as being very boxy, conservative, all-business, where the Mac has sleek styling, somewhat trendy, etc. As a self proclaimed geek, I hardly think Apple was making fun of people that wear suits or pocket protectors.
The glass is half full or half empty. I guess I don't see the problem.
I think all the new Microsoft ads are actually pretty good. I thought the opening statement in the new "I'm a PC" ad makes them look desperate though.
Although being forced to come
Although being forced to come out and address Apple so directly shows just how well Microsoft thinks Apple has done. They must think they are in a seriously bad way, a weak position, if to so directly reference the competition.
OOOH! People all over the world repeating the same slogan!
That's NEVER done in commercials these days. It's such an innovative device! It demonstrates that even though we're vastly different human beings from all geographies and cultures, we can all deliver a slogan or finish one another's sentences in a mindless string of jumpcuts. This is totally the spot to beat at Cannes next year. Are you watching, Effie awards committee? I think this young upstart Microsoft is onto something.
Wow
"I'm a PC, and I make boring ads..."
Can't they at least have some creativity?
Or not...
This should be interesting to
This should be interesting to see how Apple responds.
By Microsoft painting their users as the "everyday person", it puts Apple in an interesting position with their ads: If they Apple's not careful, they can insult the same people they are trying to get to switch to their OS by painting PC users as banal.
very clever indeed. The
very clever indeed. The Hodgeman "Im a PC" guy will be harder to pull off since ridiculing him is now ridiculing every-man. Here's hoping Apple will be innovative enough to respond with something new that is not built upon the superiority on the mac vs the Pc but of but the supiriority of the mac platform itself. Even if I get frustrated everytime a friend asks me to help with whatever problems they are having with their PC, I still enjoy OS X for the simple beauty it is and not for the fact that it is not windows.
Listen closely to the last statment
... or am I the only one to hear: 'I am a PC and I am selfish' ?
It was nice and plain. I
It was nice and plain. I felt happy for the people who use Windows. They can feel normal again.
Time for Apple to come up
Time for Apple to come up with a new ad campaign.
I'm a PC
That was waaaay better than their Seinfeld ads. You can relate to it more and it's a good swipe back at Apple's branding of PC users. In a sense it undermines Apple being able to respond to it because in doing so they'd be seen to be mocking the teachers, lawyers, taxi drivers, green architects, environmentalists that appeared in the ad and associated themselves with PC's.
Funny that it's made on a Mac, though.
Well played Microsoft. Finally.
will they sing "we are the world"?
looks like a bit of inferiority complex to me.
I'm a PC and I sell Fish,
I'm a PC and I sell Fish, nuff said!
So sad... this ad makes me
So sad... this ad makes me hate further all about microsoft!
They just tell they're pc, and so? What's good within them? :D
they used to come to the point.
at least in germany. have a look at this microsoft commercial they ran a few years ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHeOjfSh-L4
Actually this ad is great:
Actually this ad is great: "I'm a PC and I'm human. A human connected to others, with my qualities and my defaults. I'm not forced to be this cool guy dressed in cool clothes. I can be anyone. I can make my own decision about how I live, how I think, how I do things, and what I do."
I hate windows, but this ad is truly great, and furthermore a dangerous answer to apple's mac ad campain.
Genius advert. No, really it
Genius advert. No, really it is. This will force Apple to change their marketing, they will have no choice.
I think now I understand the
I think now I understand the genius of this ad: In the mac ad campain, "pc" and "mac" are the embodishment of the machines, argueing about pc's flows.
In this ad however, "pc"s are the users of pcs.
I think it can fool people into thinking the mac ad campain represents pc and mac users. Looking at apple's ad this way will make them feel insulted: since they are using a pc they must be boring and ridiculous and everything...
So it makes pc user's look good, while putting mac ad campain upside down :-O
I'm a Half PC. I need to
I'm a Half PC. I need to play my games.
It is better then the last
It is better then the last ones.
.
But it still do not tell anything about Windows.
Why to pick it, or what it can do.
.
You see it one time where a old lady video chats with her grandchiltens.
.
But what program is she using. is it nativ, or one of the 200 3 part programs you need to install on windows, to get it to run safe and do what you need to use it to other then notepad and calculater
What Apple should have done,
What Apple should have done, since they had plenty of warning, was introduce a whole new fall campaign. That way this campaign could have been seen as MS competing with old news, the same way the first generation Zunes was matched for specs with the previous generation iPod.
That being said, MS is late to the game. If they'd hit this a year earlier, they'd have had a chance of slowing Apple's growth.
Of course, I haven't watched the ad yet. I'll have to wait until the boss leaves.
I'm a PC commercial, as in
I'm a PC commercial, as in Politically Correct. God forbid we leave out some ethnicity or stereotype in a commercial for computers.
.
Doesn't this ad just make you want to go out and hug the whole wide world?
.
I'm running out to buy a Windows machine as soon as Walmart opens here on the West Coast.
mojave concept is better
I think the mojave concept is better. I think the execution of the ad was so-so, but SHOWING vista I think is the key. Let's face it, the interface is cool and has even overtaken os x in 'aqua-esque' wizardry (albeit SLOW wizardry :). Microsoft just has an enormous pile of bad karma to climb before ANY of their advertising will work.