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Apple v Microsoft gets nasty

Mon, 22 Jun 2009

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There’s all-out war raging between old foes Apple and Microsoft on US television. And, here’s a surprise… Microsoft appears to be winning. Back at the start of 2007 Apple UK mimicked the US ‘I’m A Mac’ TV ad campaign, using Peep Show’s very funny David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Unfortunately, the ads backfired. YouGov’s BrandIndex report showed that UK consumer buzz around Apple actually fell from +8 to +4 after the ads were screened.

Apple’s decision to cast the affable Mitchell as the PC character was a mistake, as viewers warmed to him rather than Webb’s smug Mac man. In the US, however, the campaign is still going strong, and Apple is happy to share all its anti-PC ads online: www.apple.com/getamac/ads/.

Apple has been forced back on the offensive after Microsoft struck back with its own series of ads. Microsoft started badly with a $300m campaign featuring Jerry Seinfeld. These bizarre ads, featuring increasingly weird cameos from Bill Gates, barely mentioned Windows – almost certainly because its latest Vista version has been a public-relations nightmare.

It was swiftly replaced by another ad campaign, imaginatively called ‘I’m a PC’ in direct response to Apple’s bitingly cruel ‘I’m a Mac’ ads. These ads featured ordinary people and a spattering of rather dull celebrities proudly outing themselves as PCs. It rather missed the point of Apple’s ‘I’m a Mac’ ads, where the actors played characters embodying the supposed personality of the opposing computers. People actually saying ‘I’m a PC’ made no sense at all.

Microsoft just didn’t seem to get the jokes or the messages right. Did it really need to try so hard. Apple’s market share, while rising, was still laughably small compared to Microsoft’s. But Microsoft execs were hurting from the Apple ads and were determined to get their revenge, whatever the cost.

Attack ads are big business in the US. This summer there’s an increasing number of ad battles – and they’re working. Tim Calkins, a US marketing professor, says negative campaigns can be necessary when a business is under pressure: “The appeal of comparative advertising is to set yourself apart. Marketers are under so much pressure to improve their market share that they’re becoming really aggressive.”

Apple has had years of successful ad campaigns, starting with the legendary ‘1984’ ad for the launch of the Mac – but, while they might win awards, they’ve hardly won the market share war. Sat at the bottom of the operating system pile, Apple needs to shout. Does Microsoft really need to shout back? Right or wrong, Microsoft’s gloves are off.

Its latest US campaign is called ‘Laptop Hunters’. Each ad shows an ordinary person searching for a laptop that suits their needs, and is largely filmed in car parks and retail stores. When they find their best-choice laptop Microsoft pays them the value of their purchase.

Some of these laptop hunters nip into an Apple Store but quickly beat a retreat when they see the prices – which must make them mad when it turns out Microsoft was footing the bill anyway.

Microsoft is aiming for a specific part of the audience. All but one of the five current Laptop Hunter ads features women – not the beautiful ladies most often seen in TV ads, but really rather average-looking women who erupt into girly giggles when they’re handed their cash back in the car park.

The ads are all very similar and really quite weird, like a low-drama reality show. In one a young woman called Lauren practically runs out of an Apple Store, moaning “I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person”.

She ends up buying a $699 (£425) HP Pavilion Notebook. As Harry McCracken writes on his Technologizer blog the funny thing about this is that it has all the trappings of what drove PC users to Macs and got Microsoft sued over Vista for. It runs a wimpy version of Vista, has slow RAM and a terrible screen. Its battery lasts 2.5 hours. It’s a laptop that really is worth the $699 she ‘paid’ for it.

The one male laptop hunter, by the way, is Giampaolo, who thinks Macs are “so sexy” but goes on to slag them off for that exact same reason. I told you… weird.

As annoying as these ads are, especially to anyone who knows the severe limitations these people are making in their laptop choices, they do appear to be working.

BrandIndex found that Apple got its highest rating last winter, when it notched a value score of 70 on a scale of -100 to 100 (zero means that people are giving equal amounts of positive and negative feedback about a brand). Today its score is around 12. Meanwhile, Microsoft has risen from near zero to a value-perception score of 50.

The battle of the TV ads shows no sign of abating, with Apple responding with a new set of ‘I’m a Mac’ ads mocking Windows PCs on customer care and choice – a direct attack on ‘Laptop Hunters’. In one ad a woman looks for a PC that has a large screen, fast processor, and doesn’t crash or have viruses. All the PCs are quickly eliminated and she’s left with a Mac.

The ‘Laptop Hunter’ ads ignore the OS question almost entirely. Microsoft’s already rusty reputation has been given a severe beating over the Vista fiasco, so it’s wise to take that element out of its PC marketing. Apple should do the opposite. Over here, where attack ads appear to leave us with a bad taste in our mouths, Apple would do well to stick to its strengths rather than just pick holes in Microsoft’s weaknesses. Where Microsoft pushes value Apple should shout about quality, and show off some of its stunning software such as iLife, iWork and the Mac OS itself.

Apple’s ads for the iPhone almost entirely focus on its wide range of apps. Apple should do the same for the Mac.

Posted by: Simon Jary

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Comments received


vader said on Monday, 22 June 2009

yep, the uk mac ads have always been frustrating to me. i try to inform people about the great OS and software and apple either just show some sexy plastic or criticize microsoft.
they need to show people what's better about their OS and show cool AND useful software. jo public hasn't got a clue about what the 'mac' actually is.

Drew said on Monday, 22 June 2009

Did i read that right, the Apple ads are mocking PCs on CHOICE? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

James said on Wednesday, 24 June 2009

About time Apple moved on to a different campaign. Think Different was genius, Mac v PC is a bit desperate. Everyone knows Macs look sexy, but not everyone knows how sexy OSX is.

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