[Jason Dunn]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/wa...en/default.aspx

I really like the direction that these ads are going - I'd had cautious optimism about the Gates & Seinfeld ads, but they never evolved into anything resembling actual communication to customers, so in my mind they were a waste of money in the end. These new ads, however, are emotional, pleasant, and impactful. I really like this "laptop hunter" ad because it illustrates the key weakness in the Apple ecosystem (lack of choice), and the key strength in the Windows ecosystem (lots of choice). If your needs happen to fit into one of the slots that Apple has, you'll probably be pleased with your purchase. If your needs fall outside Apple's carefully defined boxes, such as "sub $1000 notebook = small screen", you're completely out of luck. On the PC side of things, there are near-endless options, and odds are good that you'll find someone making a product that does exactly what you need for the price you wanted to pay. I value choice very highly - yeah, I'm a PC. :-)

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/wa...en/default.aspx

I really like the direction that these ads are going - I'd had cautious optimism about the Gates & Seinfeld ads, but they never evolved into anything resembling actual communication to customers, so in my mind they were a waste of money in the end. These new ads, however, are emotional, pleasant, and impactful. I really like this "laptop hunter" ad because it illustrates the key weakness in the Apple ecosystem (lack of choice), and the key strength in the Windows ecosystem (lots of choice). If your needs happen to fit into one of the slots that Apple has, you'll probably be pleased with your purchase. If your needs fall outside Apple's carefully defined boxes, such as "sub $1000 notebook = small screen", you're completely out of luck. On the PC side of things, there are near-endless options, and odds are good that you'll find someone making a product that does exactly what you need for the price you wanted to pay. I value choice very highly - yeah, I'm a PC. :-)

[randalllewis]

I agree that this is another effective ad from Microsoft's new ad agency. The ads must be having an impact- I've seen posts about this ad elsewhere where the rabid Apple fans are reduced to insulting the woman in the spot for her clothes, why she has so much cash, calling the Apple Store a "Mac store", etc. Most of these same sad folks also were critical of the kids in the "rookie series" of Microsoft's ads. All I can say is it is about damn time that Microsoft got serious in advertising.

[Rob Alexander]

Yeah, I totally agree. The Bill & Jerry ads were completely meaningless, but these new ones actually make sense. While the children doing things ads don't speak to me personally, I'm sure they do speak to people who are intimidated by computers. This latest one should speak to everyone and the timing couldn't be better in the middle of a recession when everyone is conscious about wasting money. Spend less, get more choice... how is that ever a bad thing? The only people who won't get the point are Apple fan-boys, and they don't matter anyway.

[dirtboy]

Selling Windows is still hard. My mom didn't understand it. The commercial came on and she asked "What are they selling?" I then had to go into an explanation about what Windows was, what Microsoft does, what Apple does, how they differ, and why Microsoft was putting out a commercial that tells you to buy HP. She still didn't understand.

[doogald]

Originally Posted by dirtboy

Selling Windows is still hard. My mom didn't understand it. The commercial came on and she asked "What are they selling?" I then had to go into an explanation about what Windows was, what Microsoft does, what Apple does, how they differ, and why Microsoft was putting out a commercial that tells you to buy HP. She still didn't understand.

That's probably ok. Each ad is targeted at a particular audience, and this ad is targeted at young people (who currently own Windows computers, primarily, I'd bet), who may be in the market for a new computer, know what Apple and Windows OS computers are, and are currently sensitive to the issue of price. Your Mom is probably not in that target demographic, nor anything peripherally close. That's ok, and you may not completely understand some of the ads that are targeted to her demographic.

I saw this ad a dozen times while watching basketball this weekend and I'm betting that Microsoft caught a lot of their target demo with that ad buy.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by dirtboy

Selling Windows is still hard.

Right, but this commercial wasn't about selling a box of software containing Windows. It's about buying a laptop running Windows - so a hardware+software combo that I think most people do understand (including your mom I bet). "Windows" is one of the most-recognized brand names in the world. People understand what "Windows" on a computer is.

[Jason Dunn]

Hoo boy, there's a fun discussion about this topic over here:

Microsoft Plays The Too-Expensive Lie. Again.