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Microsoft's "I'm a PC" Ad Airs

FCPEDIT said:
I think Microsoft should fire there Ad Agency.
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Well, you know ad agencies don't just make up commercials and air them without being approved by their clients. Perhaps you should say that Microsoft should fire their own people who approved of this. Ad agencies just come up with ideas...usually a ton of ideas....and pitch them to their clients. It's the clients that decide which to use and to air them or not.
 
beeh said:
Great ad...very good response to Apple's ads.

Microsoft may be "following" Apple's lead, but, they kind of have to at this point. There's nothing wrong with that.

I use a Windows PC at work and a Mac at home. Both typically work fine, but both have their problems as well. I must say that my work PC is used much more and has many more 3rd party apps installed and HW attached ( emulators, analyzers, etc. ) and it still works pretty darn good. ( Windows XP )

I'm glad to see a response from Microsoft, maybe prices will drop even further from some competition?
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I agree, XP is fine (usually). My problem was with it in home use. As a student, I would have software installed and uninstalled pretty regularly (for class requirements, not crapware). So, consequently, because of the way the program works (don't ask me how) it would become very slow to respond to any input and I would have to do complete fresh installs of Windows about every 6 months. This got very old and time consuming (especially when I had to do the 500,000 updates every time). So I switched to Mac and 1 year in it still runs like new (mostly) and I have not had to do anything to it (save an occasional permissions reset). I was also suprised to find out how many programs can now work on a Mac (since they switched to Intel based hardware). So, perhaps in a corporate environment where Windows is maintained by professionals who know how it works and how to coddle it (like I had to at home), it is fine. But personally for any home use it is poor. And we won't even touch Vista since I now have to use it at work and would rather use at typewriter for most tasks.
 
Actually pretty good, they really turned it around after those Seinfeld commercials.

It really is better than 98% of commercials out there, you have to give it to Microsoft on this one.

Would it make me switch back? No, not after using a PC at work everyday, but I don't expect people to rush out and buy a Mac just because they saw a cool TV ad either.
 
ksgant said:
Well, you know ad agencies don't just make up commercials and air them without being approved by their clients. Perhaps you should say that Microsoft should fire their own people who approved of this. Ad agencies just come up with ideas...usually a ton of ideas....and pitch them to their clients. It's the clients that decide which to use and to air them or not.
Click to expand...

You must work for an Agency.
 
digiguy23 said:
Exactly how do these commercials make you go out and buy Windows? :confused:
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Part of the problem is that, unlike Apple, Microsoft doesn't really "sell" anything. Maybe Office or Publisher.... But generally Microsoft products come pre-installed on PCs. People buy a Dell or a Sony or an HP. But they don't buy Windows, except by default. So perhaps what Microsoft is doing is simply trying to make themselves look better in the public eye, trying to keep people from switching to Macs. The ads are simply an image booster (well, at least an attempt at one).

The new set is far better than the bizarre Seinfeld ads, but maybe the point of those was to get our attention so that we'd take notice of the "real" ads.
 
These are better...

holy crap, M$ finally gets it right. Taking it right to Apple is a good strategy, though they need to fix their OS first! Much better than the other two ads, though.

Ok now, Steve; off with their heads!!! :D
 
This was a vastly superior ad to the Seinfeld and Gates semi-roadshow. (Although the guy behind the desk exclaiming "I'm a human being" was a bit spooky).
 
I'm a PC at work, as long as its XP. Me, and all my co-workers as the tech staff were first on the roster to try out Vista and we've all downgraded since then. XP is pretty solid at this point, and I like it.
 
I think I just found my new sig ... "I'm a Mac and I don't sell fish."

I'll say this, at least the ad makes a bit more sense. The purpose is to show the wide range of users who use PCs. I get it. Since Mac users are generally stereotyped as elitist, I can definitely see the direction they were going. It was just one of those uninspiring ads with the most random pack of people they could find.

FWIW, I never thought the "I'm a Mac" ads were ever super funny either, so that's saying something.
 
Microsoft isnt being fully creative here...

Microsoft isn't being fully creative here... at least yet. Although this is a good start in right direction. They could start touting much more of their advantages in somewhat more funny and direct/not so subtle fashion -

  • Few Examples

    Ability to attach any device and be sure it'll work - widespread driver ability

    The work they do with WHQL ensuring drivers work well enough

    The work they do with the load of vendors so people can get the hardware of their choice at a price they like

    The feedback they collect from users (Problem reports / Solutions in Vista) to make Windows better
 
Whiternoise said:
You've never been quite understood satire have you? :p

What's with all this "nuhhh MS copied Apple AGAINZORS!!"

Of course they did, the ad is designed to be a thumbed nose at the adverts that a lot of tech users - OS X users included - find smarmy, annoying and in many cases just untrue.
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I've a feeling this advert will do much better over here in the UK; I'd imagine more people would 'get' it. Certainly looking through a lot of the comments, I'd imagine this to be the case.

andy.
 
I didn't really like the Mac ads i think that there was maybe 1 or 2 that i thought were ok. Overall though i found them to be just to in your face. They also didn't so well in the UK because of this.

This ad is much more subtle and they probably would get good feedback in the UK.
 
Think Better.

(Camera slow zooms into dreamy white room, we see the back side of a 24" iMac.)

(Camera starts to move to side, we see Sarah Jessica Parker typing, looks up)

"Hi, I'm a Mac."

(Camera continues to swing around, we see Vista running on the desktop.)

"AND... I'M a PC."

(Vista desktop zooms to fill viewer's screen.)

(Windows <or Apple> logo)

"Life without walls."

**(Put the check in the mail. I'll answer the phone for whoever calls first.)
 
EDIT: Oh well. Lodenmuse beat me to it.

so. Who else thinks now would be the perfect time for apple to re-run their older commerial from the "I'm a mac" series.

"I'm a mac"
"and I'm a PC"
"and I'm a PC too"

Might result in an "Oh. That's right" moment for a lot of people.
 
Everything is fine, you are not in danger

Just how much did the Apple "I'm a mac, I'm a PC" campaign cost? I have't serached but I don't know. We already know how much Microsoft spent on theirs, more than enough. Why does it has to be refer as the $300 Million Microsoft ad campaign... I'm aware this is a mac forum (and I'm a mac user) and I really don't see the necessity of it. Is it to make the ads look worse than they really are? Oh... they spent that much just for this? What were you expecting? Explosions? Lightning? CG?

Those Microsoft ads didn't impressed me much either, but I hate the Mac ads much more. It makes me ashamed to own a mac. I use a mac pro simply because it is a great machine that performs better than any PC that I had, but does that make me a jerk smiling on a white background boasting about my mac features?

People call the Microsoft ads childish... but you can't get any lower than the Mac "mine is better than yours", in my opinion.

Is it because of - cute music, banjos, coldplay, retard teenagers dancing, white backgrounds, reflective-floor-surfaces-to-display-the-products, monkey faced I'm a mac guy, fruity logo lovers - that make mac ads this goooood?

I just hope people don't see me as a "Mac User". Good job Microsoft (even if you could have done better) but just remember to offer better OS / products in the future if you want to keep up.

(and I'm glad to see positive reaction on the forum too)
 
Wow! This campaign works.

The direction is clear. Microsoft is busting the myth that the stereotyped PC user is inaccurate. PC could be anyone and in fact is everyone, including the Jason Long-type casual user.

Now that Microsoft has upped the ante, Apple Mac vs. PC adds will appear trite.
 
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