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Microsoft’s $300 million advertising campaign, it’s fair to say, has had some ups and downs since it launched last fall.
There was the Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates phase, which seemed to be operating on a comedic plane different from any that exists on Planet Earth. Then there was the I’m a PC/you’re a PC/we’re all a PC extravaganza, which was not nearly as terrible but no fit for the advertising Hall of Fame either. Then there was the "Mojave Experiment," which was witty, but nevertheless changed no one’s mind about Vista.
Then came the "Laptop Hunters" bit, which was much better and even introduced us to "Lauren," who became a bonafide Internet celebrity- even though the first ad was criticized both for being staged (Lauren’s an actress!), and because Lauren chose a pretty bad laptop.
Still, the spots hit a major Apple vulnerability so squarely- Macs are pretty damned expensive- that it’s a surprise that claim hasn’t been in their ads for years. It also led to some ingenious parodies, including this and this.
But now, sadly, we have a new step backwards, and possibly even a new low. Microsoft debuted an ad last week in which "Certified Financial Planner" Wes Moss- a former ‘Apprentice’ contestant- extolls the virtues of Microsoft’s Zune Pass model. Why? Because "it costs $30,000 to fill the latest iPod, using iTunes.":
There is, as I’m sure everyone knows, a pretty big hole in the argument: namely, that I doubt anyone has ever actually filled a 120GB iPod entirely with music legally purchased from the iTunes store. Even if you haven’t downloaded your music illegally- which, between social networks and mp3 blogs, is easier than ever to do- there’s a little something called "your CD collection." Most people older than 16 with iPods probably have hundreds of CDs, from their pre-iPod-owning life, from which to draw a large chunk of their iPod music.
Meanwhile, Apple has struck back against the Laptop Hunters charges. Funny how two guys in their sixth year of standing in front of a sparse background are still making much better ads than what Microsoft keeps throwing out there.
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