Facebook Plunges Again
Tumblr 101: Tips And Tricks To Get Started
Microsoft's latest ads don't suck
The ads don't mention Windows Vista. But the goal isn't necessarily to get you to rush out and buy a copy of Microsoft's latest operating system. Instead, this is a brand-building exercise. It's a way of getting people to feel good about the company.
Of course, the problem about tying your message to the term "PC" instead of Windows or Microsoft is that there's more than one operating system that you can run on a PC. Still, I'd rather watch these ads than the Seinfeld/Gates show anytime. You know, if I didn't just skip past the ads on my PVR.
What do you think? Are the new ads better than the old ones? Better than Apple's? Do they make you want to go out and buy a PC? Or hug Bill Gates?
You can check out some of the new ads after the jump, courtesy of TechCrunch.
Comments
30
Subscribe to commentsChuySep 19th 2008 7:58PM
As they say... in a world without walls, who needs windows and gates?
ToddSep 19th 2008 10:00PM
Some late breaking new that should knock these new ads off the air - They were made with a mac:
"..After dumping its $10 million contract with Jerry Seinfeld after just three ads (only two of which even aired) Microsoft has created new ad copy where regular people and a few celebrities say, “I’m a PC!” One problem with the campaign’s credibility: the ad work was created using Macs.
...Flickr user LuisDS found that metadata on the creative copy of the “stereotyped PC user” and other photos appearing on Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” website revealed that they were produced using Macs running Adobe Creative Suite 3. One might expect that Microsoft would use Windows PCs running its own Microsoft Expression Studio software, which as the company advertises, “takes your creative possibilities to a new level.”
Apparently, neither Windows PCs nor Expression Studio are up to the task of taking on Apple and destroying its globe enshrouding “Get a Mac” campaign."
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/09/19/microsofts-im-a-pc-ads-created-on-macs/
End of discussion.
hazardSep 20th 2008 7:56AM
psst .. I think Todd's a bit of a Mactard
UnknownSep 20th 2008 9:30AM
i am suprised they use adobe omg wtf wrong with Ms's ad agency
NateSep 21st 2008 10:51AM
Do you believe everything you read online? If so, you deserve a Mac. I mean come one! It's like believing the cover story of US Weekly or the National Enquirer.
WextSep 20th 2008 7:55AM
I like the ads better just for the "I'm a PC and a human being. Not a human doing. Not a human thinking. A human being." -Deepak Chopra, line.
MikeSep 20th 2008 7:56AM
What? I loved those ads, really good advertisement. Not direct in your face, but everybody knew about it, everybody wrote about it. I think MS got what they wanted. Publicity!
Just my 2c
Greetz Mike - http://www.torrentin.com
grapeshotSep 20th 2008 3:44PM
The Mac vs. PC ads have always had the reverse effect on me. That is, I like the PC guy WAAAAY better than the Mac guy. It doesn't matter how much the Mac guy tells me about how much better a Mac is than a PC, I find him kind of smarmy and creepy. John Hodgman, on the other hand, is quite endearing. And all those things John Hodgman tells us about how PCs don't do those things he says they don't, well, we PC users know from experience that he's not exactly correct. So we watch, entranced by that lovable John Hodgman, and wrinkle our noses at the lame Mac guy, and continue happily using our PCs. (Honestly, it took me almost a year to discover that the Mac guy was supposed to be someone "cool", not John Hodgman.)
Here's the thing that Mac fanboys don't get about PC users. We really like our machines. As they're fond of telling us about their Macs, our PCs "just work" too. In fact, I have both a Mac and a PC. I have found that both machines are about equal in performance, but I vastly prefer my PC. I like my PC so much that my THIRD computer is also a PC, and it runs Vista! Yes, I was apprehensive about Vista, but now that I've been using it, I found that I like it, too! It's nothing remotely as bad as people have been making it out to be. My Mac, however, is used with less and less frequency.
Not only do Mac fanboys refuse to understand that we PC users like our machines, but they also simply can't understand that some people might be turned off by the Mac dude on those Mac vs. PC ads. Worse yet, they believe that by mocking us and calling us stupid, that somehow they will convince us to switch!
You watch. Some Mac fanboy is going to respond to this comment by telling me some variation of how I'm stupid/blind/obstinatelyblind or that I just don't "get it". Yep, I don't "get it". Not even owning one has made me "get it". But they don't either.
Perhaps the Mac fanboys can't understand that "being cool" isn't a driving force for most people, and that shiny good-looking objects aren't enough to make us give up the machines that provide us so much utility. Most of all, they don't seem to understand how that sort of smug, in your face, I'm-better-than-you attitude is actually an ANTI-advertisement for a Mac! It's kind of like one of those born-agains who get in your face about "being saved", or the Jehovah's Witnesses who keep knocking on your door and leaving you pamphlets. Each encounter leaves you grateful that you already have something that works perfectly well, and a little more determined to never ever become like one of those people.
martinSep 22nd 2008 7:35PM
I like the end: I sell fish... (or maybe iSelfish?) ;)
rooSep 23rd 2008 1:22PM
The interesting thing about the ads meny of the user don't seem happy as in:
"I am resigned to be a PC user if I have enough RAM, cleaned out viruses, when it works"
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/09/19/microsofts_im_a_pc_campaign_created_with_macs.html