Cupertino (CA) – While Microsoft is more aggressively advertising the PC and Windows, Apple has launched an answer in the style of its traditional I’m a Mac series. New commercials highlight the fact that Microsoft decided to leave the name Vista out of its campaign and suggests that Microsoft is pouring money into advertising and not into “fixing” Vista.
It took Apple some time to figure out how to respond to Microsoft's $300 million Vista ad campaign that was kicked off with ads supported by appearances of Jerry Seinfeld. However, there are two new I’m a Mac ads that do not directly address the Mac claims made by Microsoft in its ads, but aim at the fact that Microsoft is pouring lots of money into Windows advertising and actually dropped the name Vista from its message.
In an ad titled Bean Counter, John Hodgman's PC character is separating dollar bills into two piles. The much larger pile represents Vista advertising spending and a smaller pie is for fixing Vista. PC eventually decides to move all money to Vista advertising, when he agrees that the small pile won’t be enough to cover the fixes necessary for Vista.
In the second ad titled V Word, the PC character announces that the name Vista is dropped from the operating system name, which now will be called simply Windows, pointing to the Microsoft advertising campaign that makes no direct reference to Vista. Interestingly, Apple missed to highlight that the name of the next Windows operating system will also be a significant departure from previous OS naming at Microsoft.
The new round of shots from Apple once again showcases how effective a simple message can be. While Microsoft’s initial Seinfeld ads were complex enough to keep you busy figuring out each message for hours, each Apple ad focuses on one key topic and fires away.
Microsoft seems to be struggling to find a compelling angle with its ads. The current phase in Microsoft campaign, titled "Life Without Boundaries," asks consumers to send in videos explaining why they love a PC. Microsoft said it will run best videos on Times Square's big screen.
It took Apple some time to figure out how to respond to Microsoft's $300 million Vista ad campaign that was kicked off with ads supported by appearances of Jerry Seinfeld. However, there are two new I’m a Mac ads that do not directly address the Mac claims made by Microsoft in its ads, but aim at the fact that Microsoft is pouring lots of money into Windows advertising and actually dropped the name Vista from its message.
In an ad titled Bean Counter, John Hodgman's PC character is separating dollar bills into two piles. The much larger pile represents Vista advertising spending and a smaller pie is for fixing Vista. PC eventually decides to move all money to Vista advertising, when he agrees that the small pile won’t be enough to cover the fixes necessary for Vista.
In the second ad titled V Word, the PC character announces that the name Vista is dropped from the operating system name, which now will be called simply Windows, pointing to the Microsoft advertising campaign that makes no direct reference to Vista. Interestingly, Apple missed to highlight that the name of the next Windows operating system will also be a significant departure from previous OS naming at Microsoft.
The new round of shots from Apple once again showcases how effective a simple message can be. While Microsoft’s initial Seinfeld ads were complex enough to keep you busy figuring out each message for hours, each Apple ad focuses on one key topic and fires away.
Microsoft seems to be struggling to find a compelling angle with its ads. The current phase in Microsoft campaign, titled "Life Without Boundaries," asks consumers to send in videos explaining why they love a PC. Microsoft said it will run best videos on Times Square's big screen.