Print - Windows, Life without Walls: Microsoft Ad Campaign Enters New Phase

Microsoft on Thursday will enter a new phase in its $300 million advertising campaign, one that moves away from the initial ads featuring comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates. In the new ads, which push the themes "Windows: Life without Walls" and "I'm a PC," Microsoft directly tackles the Apple's stereotyping of the PC user and focuses on the diversity of both the PC and its users.

The new ads will debut on television Thursday evening but also include print accompaniments in newspapers and magazines. In sharp contrast to Apple's sarcastic and stereotypical "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" advertisements, Microsoft does not ridicule (or even mention) its competition. Instead, the ads show the diversity of the PC world and the diversity of those who use PCs. The ads feature some celebrities, but also many regular users from the around the globe and even some Microsoft employees. (Did I spot ClearType guru Bill Hilf in there? I think I did.)

Despite not ever mentioning Apple or the Mac by name, the ads very clearly are designed to counter the snobbery that's regularly on display by Apple, its ads, and it's more vocal fans. Microsoft's approach is far warmer and humble, and much more human.

"This is more than software we're talking about," one print ad reads. "It's about an approach to life. An approach dedicated to engineering the absence of anything that might stand in the way ... of life. Today, more than one billion people worldwide have Windows. Which is just another way of saying we have each other."

Microsoft says the new ads let PC users tell their real stories, countering the "caricatures and stereotypes" offered by Apple. "There was a strong desire for us to take back the narrative," Microsoft general manager David Webster said. He noted that the ads were designed to change the dialogue without dragging Apple threw the mud. Left unsaid, of course, is that that's exactly what Apple's been trying to do to Microsoft and Windows for the past few years.

The ads should also quell criticisms of the Seinfeld/Gates ads, which many found to be vague and off-topic. But Microsoft always intended those ads to be an introduction to a wider series of ads that would get more product-centric over time. And despite the criticisms--many coming from Apple-centric types only--advertising experts say they were overwhelmingly successful. Advertising research firm Zeta Interactive says that Microsoft has garnered "overwhelmingly positive buzz" since the ads debuted.

Paul, you need to end this ridiculous "Snob" campaign you have against Apple. This is a bogus label that your are trying to stick to the company and its growing fan base. The "I'm a mac, and I'm a PC" ads are effective because they have humanized the experience of using a PC vs. a MAC. All the while, avoiding stereo-typing any specific PC or MAC user. It was truly brillant, and funny because it's true. Just yesterday I got a cryptic error message "Windows Update Error 8024001b" running windows update on Vista Ultimate. I can remember exactly the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercial that describes this experience.... Brilliant!!

Yet Teamswitcher - it's strange you don't point out similar errors on the MAC. I'm a MAC user as well - but I too have seen cryptic errors in 10.5 doing updates... that I ended up having to Google to figure out! Mac is just as good (or bad) as the PC. And I don't think Paul is in a SNOB campaign... he has clearly stated his "like" of the Mac in the past as well as the PC... as I recall - he does own a Mac (or two?). It's you (and others) that don't read all of Paul's messages, or haven't been with him over the long term - to know that he is unbiased in this area. Hey Paul - how about a link to these new commercials?

As a former ms mvp i can say i know windows well. But this article does look like ms shillery. I,m curently a Ubuntu fan

"teamplayer" brings up a good point. Far from being smarmy, the "Mac" character in the Apple ads is very kind to "PC", helpful, and never rude or mean. Not once. Any perception otherwise is simply a matter of psychological projection on the part of insecure PC users. I've had my share of cryptic errors on the Mac, too...but they don't usually result in the kind of chaos I find while running Windows. And speaking of Windows errors...don't even get me started after six hours of downtime from a botched automatic update to XP SP3. See, we all have our stories, don't we? "Microsoft always intended those ads to be an introduction to a wider series of ads that would get more product-centric over time." Backpedal, backpedal, backpedal...

Sorry Slemay, I have not encountered any cryptic error messages updating my MacBook Pro running OS X. I have followed Paul in many of his different mediums and I am fully aware of his respect for Apple. But when he uses words like "Snobbery" and "Arrogance" to describe Apple users he comes off like a miffed fan-boy. The reality is that Apple users are as diverse and varied as Windows users. Thanks to Apple's Boot Camp, I can be both at the same time. How confusing is that? Microsoft can scramble for for high ground with their "We are the world" campaign, but what they really need to fix the PC experience. Until then, Apple's "I'm a mac" ads will be effective advertising.

Wow - the trolls have really thrown out the bait today, huh? Lotsatrolling, I must admit, you've really outdone yourself today. Bravo. I'll resist the urge to be condescending, er, I mean "helpful", and simply welcome our newest troll.

I hope they bring back Jerry & Billy - those were hillarious! Ahh well, better they take the high-road as true comedy is lost on the fischer-price crowd...

"I hope they bring back Jerry & Billy - those were hillarious!" I agree. I'm a Mac user, but those ads are so great that they almost make me want to switch. OK - not quite. But I think they do help to create a better image for Microsoft. I love their amusing quirkiness. Too bad Microsoft is going back to more conventional (and boring) advertisements.

"Hello, I'm a PC, and I've been made into a stereotype" hehe, classic. I don't see how Apple's "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" campaign can continue unchanged in the face of that. If they do they are only going to play into and reinforce Microsoft's campaign.

The ads are brilliant. Research had shown that more people like the PC than the MAC in the apple ads because it was more humble and more human. Whereas the MAC was the guy everybody loves to hate. Snobish, self rightgeous, thinks-he's-better-than-everybody guy. MS is taking advantage of the unavoidable sense of superiority apple and it's users tend to convey and turning it against them by framing them as closed minded people who are out of touch with real users. Instead of exposing all the lies in the apple ads, and even exposing the weakness of the MAC, I think they made the right move by targeting what apple and its users can never change: "Their false sense of being superior". No matter how hard Apple tries, they created a community of snobs, and MS framing them as such is totally brilliant.

Microsoft's straw man ad Again, Paul, the Microsoft "I'm a PC" ad misses the whole thing. Apple is not saying the PC *users* are the John Hodgman character; they are saying *PCs* themselves are the John Hodgman character - boring, utilitarian, can do (whoopee) spreadsheets, prey to 140,000 viruses and spyware, inelegant, out of date. They are saying, whoever you are, you are at the mercy of this John Hodgman *device*. Having real people proclaim "I'm a PC" does not address the freakin' narative that Apple still controls - PCs are John Hodgman. In Apple's ads, John Hodgman is used as a "metaphor," not a "stereotype." It's a total failure in countering Apple's message. They need to say that the Window's PC itself is not John Hodgman -- but they can't because it is. So they concoct a straw man argument, purposely misrepresenting Apple's thesis, to try to insinuate that Apple is putting down the PC user and not the PC itself - talk about mud-dragging. And you're obviously on the campaign payroll with all the asinine "snobbery" stuff, trying to reinforce this deceptive reframing. congratulations - you are the Karl Rove of tech writing. And YES Seinfeld was DUMPED! Microsoft blinked. They still have an ad in the can ready to go, but Microsoft said to move on to the "I'm a PC" spots. Does it not mean something that the very agency that does the ads, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, uses *Mac* equiptment almost exclusively. 'Most of the company works on Macs and I knew we’d be editing on Final Cut Pro systems,' [interactive producer Marcelino] Alvarez [of Crispin Porter + Bogusky] says. and 'Crispin sort of exists because of the revolution in desktop publishing that the Mac brought about. You could be a small shop and compete against Madison Avenue for the first time because all the tools were in your computer.' From article in Fast Company

Computerworld reports that several of the "I'm a PC" ad images that were posted to Microsoft's website were created on a Mac. Four of the images that Microsoft made available on its PressPass site today display the designation "Adobe Photoshop C3 Macintosh" when their file properties are examined. The images appear to be frames from the television ads that Microsoft will launch later today. The images likely originated from the Crispin Porter + Bogusky ad agency that is responsible for the ad campaign. -- Source: Mac Rumors AH HA HA HA HA HA