Dell Kicked Out a Cool Commercial

[Jason Dunn]

We've all seen a lot of Dell commercials over the years, and let's face, they've been as exciting as watching paint dry. The "Dell Dude" commercials were funny in the short term, but irritating in the long term. Dell has never tried to be hip or cool, and that's for good reason: their products haven't ever really been hip or cool. People have tended to buy Dell products because they provide good value for the money, not for how they look. Over the past couple of years they've started to change that with their XPS line of gaming and performance machines, and recently they've really kicked it up a notch with their launch of new Inspiron laptops and desktops. The laptops in particular have a nice "wow" factor with a choice of eight different colours, three different screen sizes, and all of the customizations Dell offers (CPU, RAM, etc.). But here's what really caught my attention: I was watching a show on the SPIKE TV network and check out the commercial I saw:

<embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/5a6BAqP9wuWqWhTTg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="299" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

That's completely unlike anything Dell has ever done in terms of marketing, and I think it works really well. Finally, a Windows PC maker trying something different! Catchy song, memorable video, and it shows just enough about the product to entice you to visit the site and check it out. The only thing I didn't like about it was the Intel blurb at the end - it takes some of the shine off the commercial with that old and tired four-tone Intel branding. Dell mentioned Intel in the commercial, I don't see why Intel had to also have their lame plug in there. Still, I think it works - what do you think?

[jeffd]

the embedded flash was flaky for me so heres the url to it.

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/dell+commercial/video/x2jfzq_dell-inspiron-commercial

I liked it alot, was a nice play on the color covers for the new inspirons.

[MitchellO]

Yeah the ad was pretty cool and they worked the colours in very well.

Dell should have told Intel to get lost with their dicky plug at the end of the ad like Apple did. Heck, Apple even ditched the logo on their machines :P

[randalllewis]

This IS a good ad! Way to go Dell! Vastly improved PC marketing began last year with the clever HP celebrity ads and the very clever photosmart ad (the so-called "frames" ad). This Dell ad is even better, though I hope it runs on more than just Spike. The HP spots had that ubiquitous nature of Apple ads that is a large part of the secret of Apple's success.

I have moaned about pathetic marketing of cool products before and when HP began running their spots last year, I was hoping it marked a change. This Dell ad raises my hopes furhter.

Oh, by the way, maybe everyone knows this, but in case not: the annoying Intel logo tag is there so Dell can get Intel to help pay for the ad. It's a common practice but after all these years Intel should offer alternative versions of the logo to reduce the jarring impact on its customers advertising. HP didn't use the Intel tag in all of the ads I mentioned above because its Pavilion computers use both Intel and AMD chips. After ads in which it made a very big deal about its switch to Intel chips, Apple dropped the tag because it doesn't want you to think about anyting but Apple.

[Felix Torres]

This IS a good ad! Way to go Dell! Vastly improved PC marketing began last year with the clever HP celebrity ads and the very clever photosmart ad (the so-called "frames" ad). This Dell ad is even better, though I hope it runs on more than just Spike.

Its running on ESPN. At least during Sunday Night baseball, probably more often...
Given the "colorful" nature of the Inspirons they're promoting, you'd assume the ads would also run on Lifetime... ;-)

[Jason Dunn]

Oh, and in case anyone is curious, the song is "The W.A.N.D. (The Will Always Negates Defeat)" by the Flaming Lips.

[Philip Colmer]

Dell have picked up on the fact that Jason posted this on his own blog as well:

http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/07/16/21178.aspx

Kudos!

[burnabytom]

I love the commercial. I agree, Dell is a big company and can afford to avoid the Intel jingle on the back. I think it does take away from the overall feeling of the ad. For me, I'm waiting for their new tablet....