“If nothing else, at least Dell is consistent. Change agencies, change marketing chiefs, change CEOs … the end result is always the same: ads that break new ground for tedium,” Ken Segall writes for Observatory.
“This time it was a Herculean effort. This isn’t just a new ad — it’s the culmination of a 10-month journey,” Segall explains. “Deciding it was time to shake up its marketing effort, Dell conducted an all-out agency search, went through all the presentations and evaluations, selected a new agency for each of their market segments, and finally released the hounds to do their creative magic.”
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“After all that, the first work from the new consumer agency, Canada’s Sid Lee, finally appears,” Segall writes. “I will say this: it’s a remarkable achievement when the 10-second leader at the start of your ad is more engrossing than the ad itself.”
Segall writes, “In most companies, ads like this are reason enough to fire someone. Oh, right. They already fired their agency, didn’t they. This is from the new agency. Never mind.”
Full article, with a link to yet another Dell ad that makes you wish you could sue ol’ beady eyes for the 30-seconds you’ll never get back, here.
MacDailyNews Take: Interns at any random local TV station could’ve done a better job.
Maybe they should have hired Stirling Cooper.
LOL… Dell’s key differentiator is that you can “change the lid to start every semester fresh.”
If the cheap piece o’ crap lasts a semester!
Hey, that was uncalled for, LOL
Spot on!
Dumb ad …. Note they are show-casing the price ….. Stupid
That’s what I had with my Powerbook 1400, back in ’97. Put your own pictures under the clear cover of the lid. Boy, with Dell you’re with the avantgarde.
Now THAT’S a Smart Cover! 🙂
It must be a challenge to come up with decent marketing when you’re stuck with Windows for the OS & user experience.
Do the right thing, Mike. Put an end to this misery – it’s just all too painful to watch. SIDAGTMBTTS
Yes, consistent…like a fine tuned clock…never misses a beat…always picking the difficult path…trying ever so hard to rekindle the magic of it’s late 90’s pseudo success. Dell…consistent…failing to deliver…time and time again.
Well, what was different from their other crappy ads? Seems like the same POS from previous ones.
I’ve used 3 different Dell Workstation laptops over the last decade and though big and heavy is the rule, they performed much like the dependable MacBook Pros I also use (& use much more than Dell).
Apple taught the Computer industry you could sell 3 models of laptop each with a few options and make a grand statement and gain customer acceptance by keeping models consistent for several years.
Why the rest of the industry including Dell thinks they must have 20 models so they have a new laptop model for each $100 jump in starting price is beyond comprehension.
These CEOs must hate the thought of following Steve Jobs and admitting he is right!
I think it’s a great ad… it fully conveys what shit Dell is.
The only problem is the ad doesn’t disclose the couple-hundred bucks the poor suckers will have to pay to get rid of all the crapware that comes with it.
Or the monthly maintenance routine. Run antivirus, antimalware, antibotware, antispybot, hard disk maintenance, windows maintenance….
Simple to say, they need to spend less money on making poor ads and more money on you know, IMPROVING their systems and especially, improving their HORRIBLE support (Indian script readers for normal support, Pro support gets Canadian/Texan script readers. Both still script readers >_>).
If Dell keeps on making unrelable machines, made with cheap parts (PSUs fail all the time) and even cheaper (and thin) plastics and hinges, then their just going to keep on going downhill. My job involves doing repairs for Dell computers and well, simple to say I see allot of broken plastics, repeat repairs for the same machines, DOA out of the box systems, etc. Then again, being a repair tech, I have a biases view on the matter. But still, they shouldn’t break as much as I’ve seen them.
Simple to say, only two options in a computer I’ll ever touch is to build it myself or a Mac (my daily use system is a Mid 2011 iMac and my “workhorse” system for encoding and whatnot is self-built). Apple has FAR better on-call support (no script readers in India like I deal with ALLOT on the job with Dell, Apple’s reps are in your country and actually KNOW what their talking about), better warranties, and from my personal experience, much, much better reliably.
If Dell learned some things from Apple, especially when it comes to support, they might actually start to improve…
Let’s see…
I can buy a $600 that will last, maybe if we are real careful, 18 months. Or, I can spend twice the amount for a MB Pro for $1200 that will easily run flawlessly for a good 4 years or more (my current MB Pro has been in daily use for over 5 years). Unless you are determined to own a new laptop every year, there is just no value in buying a Dell. Some people only look at today’s out of pocket expense rather than Total Cost of Ownership.
ALLOT = A LOT
Hear, hear about the Indian script readers! Nothing personal – they are usually nice, but it’s difficult even to spell out email addresses and the like. When you buy Dell, you get what you pay for.
Dell’s tedious trainwreck goes way beyond the TV commercials. Mikey knows nothing about technology and he only ever had one idea: make it cheaper. He didn’t seem to realize the Asians would out-Dell him. Belatedly he is trying to acquire other lines of business, but he’s just flailing about.
Every time I see another Dell failure, I think of this great spoof on Scoopertino: http://wp.me/pQUTn-UD
What a horrible commercial by Sid Lee. Makes me embarrassed that they operate out of Canada…Montreal, my home town no less.
That ad is nothing but a dangling moose dinglberry, eh?
Circa 2017: What’s a Dell?
At least someone in the Dell Technical Support Call Center got their 15 seconds of fame.
Now THAT’S a commercial geared towards letting me, the consumer, know what’s worthwhile about the product. It has a webcam and multi-color lid selection. WTF Dell?
Remember the, ‘Dude, you got a Dell !!!’ ads? They should be reworked into, ‘Dude, you got a dell???’.
Dell’s biggest mistake was firing that kid for smoking weed.
As it happens, that’s the last Dell ad campaign that I *can* recall. Which says a lot about how pathetic their recent efforts have been.
Ken Segal is a dishonest douche. Why is it so many Apple bloggers are such douches?
Remember when there was “debate” about whether bloggers were journalists or not? Ken Segal is a poster child of the lack of ethics that “bloggers” often have.
Methinks you’re a poster child for moronic commenters. Ken is one of the good ones.
Speaking of the ad, remember back in 1996 when Apple introduced the Powerbook 1400 with interchangeably lids?
No? Of course not, most of you were 6 then. 🙂
Actually, I was 44 back then. That’s the year I bought my 1st Mac, but a Performa not a PowerBook.
And my kid brother still has a working PowerBook 1400.
Ooops, didn’t see your post. Had the same flashback.
BTW, I still have the 1400, with G3/216, and still running MacOS9
I would enjoy this article even more, if instead of “Ken”, Segall’s first and middle names were, “Jonathan Livingston”.
Doesn’t someone have the youtube video of Dell saying his infamous line?
All i can find is the old article. I thought someone posted it before in another of the dell/apple articles…
I want to see it for a good laugh 😉
looks like the ad agency saw how many hits the “dont steal a computer” on cam dance got (over 1.5 mill) and one of the creative geniuses said…”hey, people like this..let’s have him dance for the cam” ……..and a second genius said..”we can have a mature voice over people will trust and let our ‘college’ athlete lip sync our powerful copy………damn, we did it, guys!”
The best thing about that horrible ad was the white background.
Oh wait, they copied that from Apple’s ads.
I like how the link at the very end is http://www…com/switch. Copying Apple again, but it’s hilarious to see that they’re now the ones trying to get people to switch. Good luck with that….
“Dell Derek” does NOT refer to me.
That was an ad? Horrifying.
Hey Dell, YOU LOST THE EDUCATION MARKET IDIOTS!
“Apple’s Mac killing Microsoft Windows PCs 4 to 1 in education sales”