Maybe its just that I am a closet tech geek, but I have really enjoyed the bubbling advertising battle between Apple and Microsoft. For years Apple gained traction across the board in all competitive spaces they share with Microsoft while Microsoft has seen their strangle hold on everything slip. Ipod > Zune Safari > IE Leopard > Vista Iphone OS > Windows Mobile Itunes > Xbox Live Everything above is truly subjective to the user, but no doubt Apple has made deep inroads with better performing products, superior usability, and streamlined sales and customer service functions. On the advertising front, Apple has been on the attack for years as Microsoft opted to try to heed attention or resources to the growing Mac trend. Finally though they answered with their stereotypes campaign that was the second phase of their 300 million dollar advertising push. Phase 1 failed miserably with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld ads being cancelled abruptly.
Microsoft Answers Apple
At first I liked the ads, as they were finally adressing the fact that they had been beaten down by Apple in an image war. However this campaign quickly became overkill on my television and pretty much they all said the same thing : “Look we use Microsoft products, and we are kind of cool in different ways…. don’t be peer pressured into buying a Mac.” It was a good message but it got old. There wasn’t anything that compelled me really. Maybe it was effective as a brand image stop the bleeding campaign. However Apple answered quickly, and I got to give them commercial of the week. After beating up on Microsoft for years, I thought it may take awhile for Apple to react to getting punched back. I mean that’s got to throw you a curveball when suddenly the carcus that you thought was dead springs back to life. Below are their 2 commercial that hit right back and while they aren’t brilliant by any stretch, the message is a lot stronger then Microsoft’s ads. Apple’s newest ads put the focus back onto Microsoft by mocking the bloated advertising strategy and putting the attention right back on Microsoft’s inferior products. In no means is this battle going to end anytime soon, but until Microsoft can engineer products at the same level as Apple, its dumb to think that they can win a PR war against a craftier foe with a superior product.
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