I'm a Mac and I'm really expensive, but I don't suck.
Digital News Report- Microsoft’s latest ad campaign has taken aim at Mac’s biggest weakness; the price. Their new commercial, which features a spunky red head named Lauren, showcases an attempt to find a laptop for under $1000 that meets certain qualifications. At the Mac Store, she found one for under $1000, but according to Lauren, the screen was too small. However, when shopping for PCs she finds a wide array of laptops at way less than $1000.
Does this ad succeed? Well, it’s true that Macs are more expensive than the average PC. It’s hard to argue that. But the ad is highly unlikely to convert a Mac user to a PC. The markets are simply not the same. If a person is looking for a17-inch laptop for under $1000, they aren’t going to be shopping for a Mac. As MG Siegler from Venture Beat points out, “Apple simply doesn’t make that product. And… Apple has no intention of making such a product because it simply doesn’t care about competing in that end of the market.”
In addition to taking a jab at Mac’s prices, the ad also takes aim at Mac’s supposed “hip” image. As Lauren is driving away from the Mac Store, she states, “I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person.” I agree that the “I’m a Mac” ads released by Apple can be pretty annoying and cringe worthy, but they make the assumption that people by Macs just to be cool. Sometimes people just like what Mac has to offer better and no amount cheap PCs will change that.
And what about the laptop that Lauren bought? As expected, as far as quality goes, it doesn’t compare to Mac. Sure, the screen is 17 inches, but at 1440×900 the resolution is far inferior. Worse yet, it comes standard with Windows Vista, which has one of the lowest operating system satisfaction ratings ever. Many people have chosen to downgrade to Windows XP as opposed to suffering with Vista.
At least the ad is better than Microsoft’s previous ads. Who wasn’t confused by the awkward banter between Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld? And what’s up with the Mojave Experiment? I’m sorry Microsoft, but Windows Vista pretty clearly failed. No amount of repackaging of Vista is going to change the problems that users experience when trying to use it on their home computers. Then there were the Windows vs. Walls campaign, which tried to make the case that Windows could do anything. Sadly, the ads were discovered to have been produced using a Mac, highlighting at least one thing that Windows cannot do.
However, while this ad might be well targeted in an economic recession, is this really the image they want to keep? That PC’s are the low-end computers? That reputation is already out there, but these ads only help reaffirm the reputations of both Macs and PCs. It’s becoming increasingly clear that if you want something cheap, go with a PC. If you want something high quality and sleek, go with a Mac. This ad, though timely and less confusing than their previous campaigns, really doesn’t tell us anything new.
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