Everyone knows those, now, old Mac ads where Justin Long, playing the part of the Mac, would point out to John Hodgman, the portly, glasses-toting nerd portraying PCs, that Macs were basically error free and were much more stylish then the standard PC. These ads seemed like they were coming out by the week and they were great and a huge hit for Apple. Microsoft tried to fight back with a campaign where they had people with glasses saying, hey just because I have glasses doesn’t necessarily mean I’m a nerd, right? Oh btw I’m a PC. They later started mixing it up to show that not everyone who used a PC was a nerd.
Well recently Microsoft has hit the television with a slightly more successful campaign strategy, a string of films that you’ve most likely seen. The new ads are there to say that if you were given the money and the choice of any laptop out there that you’d probably walk away with a PC just because there are more choices and overall it’s a bit more personal. So Microsoft has successfully made a campaign that really rivals Mac’s, after all you probably haven’t seen a Mac ad in quite a while, and to top off that news, Microsoft’s COO Kevin Turner unleashed the fact that Microsoft stores are coming out this fall! Of course it doesn’t end there, to solidify the fact that Microsoft’s ads were working Mr. Turner told this story to a group of partners during his Worldwide Partners Conference.
And you know why I know [the commercials are] 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.
A funny story, that if true, is a big win deal for Microsoft, afterall they’re not only going to have to worry about Apple in the future as Google is beginning to get into the OS business.
I’ve grown up with Windows so I like the fact that they’re starting to get a little more strength, they’ve never really been in danger but it doesn’t hurt to get ahead. The PC finally got it’s revenge!
Tags: ads, Apple, Google, John Hodgman, Justin Long, Kevin Turner, laptop hunter, Mac, Microsoft, Microsoft's COO, OS, PC
