Apple just released two new “Get a Mac” spots mocking Microsoft’s $350 million advertising investment. Although I do like the new “I’m a PC” spots and the “Windows without walls” or “Life without walls” messages, I always find the “Get a Mac” ads hilarious.
read moreBig week for Rich Internet Applications with two big releases: Microsoft Silverlight 2 and Adobe Flash 10. Both bring in new sets of capabilities that make the Internet a better place. So anything changes with this new release? should you look into using them, adopting, which one is better? Many questions, but the answer as always is ‘it depends’. I will list all features introduced by the new versions, but an important factor as it has always been, is adoption rate or market penetration. Adobe Flash Player 9 is installed on 97.7% of all computers, and Microsoft has not yet released their percentage…. They claim that Silverlight gets 1.5MM downloads per day (def inflated), but my guess is that they don’t have over 25% penetration with Silverlight 1.0. Adobe has demonstrated their growth rate and can guaranty that Flash 10 will be at 90% penetration within a year, my best guess is that Silverlight 2 won’t even have 15%…. so choose your product wisely, Adobe may have some better features, Microsoft may have others… but if you need anyone to actually see your site, use Flash. If you ever doubt this, remember what happened with the Olympics .
read moreMicrosoft’s new ads begin with company employee Sean Siller – who looks a whole lot like John Hodgman, the actor who plays the PC in Apple’s ads – saying “I’m a PC and I’ve been made into a stereotype”, directly targeting Apple. It’s an interesting strategy attacking directly Apple’s implication that Mac is cool and PC’s are boring…
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There’s a fine line between crazy and genius and CPB’s new Microsoft has drawn some attention and criticism at least in the advertising community. The common consensus is that it was a disaster, but is there more to it? As nicely said by nowpublic:
The widespread consensus: Microsoft + Jerry + Bill = FAIL. The result: Gates + Seinfeld = CANCELLED. The Microsoft version: it was all part of the plan.
read more“This first set of ads features Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Think of these ads as an icebreaker to reintroduce Microsoft to viewers in a consumer context. Later this month, as the campaign moves into its next phase, we’ll go much deeper in telling the Windows story and celebrating what it can do for consumers at work, at play and on-the-go.” explains Microsoft SVP Bill Veghte, in an internal email to all employees.
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Microsoft is launching a $300 million ad campaign starting September 4th, says the WSJ
. The ad campaign will star comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates, and it was developed to combat the negative image that many consumers have about Windows Vista and also to finally push back against Apple’s popular Mac vs. PC campaign. Really interesting move by CPB, which after winning Microsoft back earlier this year finally shows the big idea.
A new video featuring Jerry and Bill showed up yesterday in YouTube, and my first reaction was WTF! I’m sure CPB has something really good planned, they always do, and perhaps this is intentional, but seriously, what is this?
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