these are good

I think the Seinfeld + Gates long form ad was a lure to get us warmed up for these new "I'm a PC" spots. Which I think are great. Leaving aside operating system and brand preference for a minute, what's works with these ads is the message of joy and abundance and widespread use of Personal Computing.

I use a Mac these days, but I'm also a PC. And I wear glasses.

Comments

[Larissa Gaston]

I think the ads are great too. And it made me go find the Seinfeld/Gates ones on YouTube since I never caught them on TV (which I also liked in a ‘that’s bizarre’ kind of way), and now I get they were setting us up for the new ones.

I used to use a Mac, but now I’m a PC, and I also wear glasses.

[nickk]

if anything, doesn't it feel like they are behind the curve and derivative of their competitor? By invoking the apple add at the beginning, it reminds me of the stereotype right away... I think if that was at the end it would be more effective.

But really, why copy-cat at all? doesn't that just play to their weakness?

[Michael Sippey]

I don't think so, actually. I get Kottke's point in his post, but what this has done for me is actually "infect" the Apple ads.. Even though I love Hodgman and his performance there, now I'll see that and think about all the other people that are in the Microsoft ads.

And I know there's a bunch of discussion happening around whether you should be mentioning your competitors, at all...especially if you're the dominant market leader like Microsoft, but the arena these ads play in is primetime television where the "I'm a Mac" and "I'm a PC" ads have been running for what, almost three years now? I don't think it's beneath Microsoft to participate in that conversation...

But IANAAE (I Am Not An Advertising Executive), so what do I know.

[damon]

Yeah. I think what these ads did was make the apple campaign not seem as fun anymore... they're a bit snarky now.