Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Microsoft’s new ad is getting a lot of buzz. Of course, that’s the point. Philip Elmer-DeWitt over at Fortune weighs in with the following.
Once again the camera follows a typical budget-constrained buyer on a laptop shopping spree using Steve Ballmer’s money. Once again the shopper chooses an HP (HPQ) Pavilion over a Mac. And once again, the Apple (AAPL) press has gone after the buyer’s choice with its teeth bared, digging into the machine’s innards and ripping them apart, spec by spec.
I agree with Philip, these ads are meant to serve two purposes, provoke the Apple faithful and play to a market that is unlikely to ever make the same analysis of folks like Joe Wilcox (who offers a good comparison about the value prop of both machines).
As i pointed out after the first ad, this isn’t about accuracy or details (anymore than the two folks folks in the Apple ads are really PC and Mac). It’s about getting the message across about the strengths of the platform, in this case it’s about the diversity of the eco system and relative issue of price.
Unfortunately, this ad still misses the mark inasmuch as it’s still not about the platform advantage of Windows, it’s all about price and price alone. Unlike the first set of commercials which focused on features and use scenarios (around Windows Photo Gallery) these ads feel less effective long term in driving the message of Windows. That last thing Microsoft wants to do is make this an issue of price alone, in fact, i know a number of folks in the Linux community who would love them to continue making that argument.
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