“Windows is cast as a stuffy businessman and a sneezing, virus-riddled PC as the Macintosh maker launches a campaign to get buyers ‘thinking different’ once again. With Microsoft’s Vista operating system suffering setbacks, Apple has seized the opportunity to promote its Macintosh in the US with the first national ad campaign for Macs in more than a year,” Greg Sandoval reports for CNET News. “The ads, which began appearing on television Monday night, poke fun at some of the problems with the Windows operating system and play up Apple’s user-friendly reputation. The commercials also come at a crucial time for the Mac.”
“‘We’re at a very convenient crossroads for them to say ‘Check out the Mac for the first time…again,” said Richard Shim, an analyst for research firm IDC. ‘They have a new operating system coming soon, and they’re going through a very public transition to the Intel platform. And the biggest player on the block (Windows Vista) is going to be delayed.’ …The ads ‘are little different in tone from what Apple has taken in the past,’ said Michael Gartenberg, research director with Jupiter Research. ‘They’re humorous but don’t come across as particularly arrogant or elitist. They seem to be doing what they are supposed to: generate buzz about Macs,'” Sandoval reports.
Full article here.
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Related article:
iTWire’s Beer: Apple’s new ‘get a Mac’ campaign misses, preaches to converted – May 04, 2006
Sure they are entertaining for us Mac users but what does the windows crowd think of them?
Buzz but no conversions. What’s the point? Methinks it’s all about holding onto the base, many of whom may be attracted to the coming declaration from all the major and minor media that the eventual launch of Vista is the greatest event since the invention of the personal computer.
Combine that with malware attacks galore on the Intel Macs that are going to overtake a previously immune system and you have the formula for failure AND the excuse Steve wants to explain why Apple must become a hardware only company. With iPods, of course.
They still may not be as persuasive. Still a little preaching to the choir to me.
1st response?
Feedback from some in my lab has been positive.
I wonder what a MS Vista ad would look like.
Perhaps a “Think Archaic!” campaign would be best for MS.
Hey Paul Revere, you sound more like the horse’s as_ than anything else!!!!
“Buzz but no conversions.”
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How do you know this? Oh, I see, you are assuming…. Well, you know the old saying about ASSuming…
Combine that with malware attacks galore on the Intel Macs that are going to overtake a previously immune system
You can tell this kind of FUD is funded by MS. It’s vapor malware.
Gawd! People who post ‘First Post’ are just about retarded!
Revere, the ads have been out for all of three days and you already know how effective they’ve been? Very amusing how you pass off your opinion as fact.
Or ‘1st response?’….Maybe I’m just about retarded.
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Paul Revere….your post makes perfect sense using my Bizarro Logic Decoder.
“Buzz but no conversions. “
-please share your documented data with us.
Apple people love them, Windows people ignore them.
Rammer says “Apple people love them, Windows people ignore them.
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Not my former PC using brother-in-law who just bought an iMac. And not the 50% of new Apple customers who were former PC users. Yes, that’s right, 50% of new Mac buyers are former PC users. That’s a pretty significant statisitc.
Yup – generate buzz.
Buzz means letting others talk about Apple and the Mac and OS X and security after seeing the commercials.
A little more information couched in short snippets, with just enough to avoid turning off the non-geek-using majority of the population.
I like five of the six of ’em – the WSJ-Mossberg ad is accurate, but still a bit too much on the condescending side for my taste. I’m sure it would probably turn off my Dad, too, who reads the “J” and has noted Mossberg’s articles, but also reads PC MAG and PC World and several other M$/Windows-related mags that talk up the PC side, and they’re not even close to being the obscure reference hastily and embarrassingly made up in the ad by Mr. PC. It’ll probably hurt my ongoing efforts to get him to switch (assuming he sees it and he’ll certainly let me know if he does)…from a 400 Mhz Pentium II running Win98, no less.
Oh, well, I’ll press on!
I’ll say it again. The adds are designed to get people to walk into The Apple Store the next time they pass one to see what all the fuss is all about. Once they see and experience the OS, some will buy a new Apple Computer. It’s fairly easy to double market share after last quarter. The adds should help do that job.
Revere:
Don’t you think that if it was the CPU that made a computer vunerable to virus attacks, Intel’s site would have been nailed years ago, if not permanently compromised?
What stations are showing the new Mac Ads
You don’t know the history of generating a buzz. I do!
The Mac’s market share is already on the way up, slowly but surely. The ads are targeted at those who are already aware of the Mac and considering making the switch.
I wish they’d demo Expose, Dashboard etc but the marketing experts tell us that’s too much for the average consumer to absorb.
Paul Revere, if people are waiting for the “eventful launch of Windows Vista” then they must be the same group of people who waited for the eventful return of Jesus January 1st, 2000. Those people, like the religious nuts before them, are still waiting. They, at least, are in good company with the Windows Vista waiters. Don’t hold your breath for that dog to ever bark.
I want to see a new ad in the same format. The PC recognizes a Windows-Only application coming from his side, “Oh look, here comes AutoCad.” The AutoCad walks right past the PC and holds hands with the Mac. Not sure how all the language would go but it would be a fun way to show how you don’t need a PC to run Windows applications.
I’m so tired of these uneducated “Switching to Intel and installing Windows will open your Mac up to attacks” arguments. Your Mac is a piece of hardware. Viruses target software. Just like any other program, viruses are sets of executable code written for a specific platform. Under no circumstances will a Windows virus be able to execute under OS X simply because there’s an Intel CPU in the box.
Sure, there is such thing as social engineering. Anyone can write a piece of code for any OS that will perform a malicious action, but with Unix’s user-based permissions system, the effects of any software are limited to your user account unless you explicitly give it permission to do otherwise by entering your password.
This entire Intel-virus argument was an uneducated speculation that has gone way too far.
It’ll probably hurt my ongoing efforts to get him to switch (assuming he sees it and he’ll certainly let me know if he does)…from a 400 Mhz Pentium II running Win98, no less.
Some people are beyond hope.