Where by "working" they mean "are making Microsoft look like a value proposition and Apple less so". In other words, they make Microsoft look cheap and Apple look premium ... this is not a message Apple is going to be upset by.
The entire campaign has struck me as strange. "Hey, we know you want a cool, desirable Mac, but you can't afford one -- so settle for us, we're cheap!"
Microsoft: Which second-best do you want to settle for today?
In other words, they make Microsoft look cheap and Apple look premium
I think the ads go further than that. They make Macs look elitist - in every ad the person representing someone real that the viewer could relate to to says something like "I'm not cool enough to have a Mac". Once they manage to get that message across to the majority of people that these Macs are elitist and PCs are more down-to-earth it might well become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
they make Microsoft look cheap and Apple look
premium ... this is not a message Apple is going to be upset by.
Wrong. Apple should be upset and is upset because the market for "premium" computers is a lot smaller than the market for non-premium computers. With this ad, Microsoft is making that premium market even smaller for Apple.
Us geeks can laugh about the ads all day. But for Microsoft, it's a hit.
If WalMart did an ad campaign to steal potential Gucci customers, Gucci should be very worried.
'The entire campaign has struck me as strange. "Hey, we know you want a cool, desirable Mac, but you can't afford one -- so settle for us, we're cheap!"'
Know. Your. Audience.
Where are these commercial being run? America. Now, I bet they'd crash and burn in Western Europe and I'm virtually certain they'd crash in Japan, but in America, they work.
Also, it should be pointed out that it is not just that they are cheap, but that they "do everything I want" (which is all the Apple could do) and that they are much cheaper, not just a little cheaper. "Does everything I want" for $2000, or "Does everything I want" for $900 is not a bad sales pitch.
(Incidentally, I'm not trying to be anti-American, nor do I think this is anti-American per se. Being cheap is neither good nor bad; it has advantages, it has disadvantages. Being able to be sold something "premium" just because it's "premium" isn't necessarily a good place to be, either. It is simply that American culture will take cheap over almost any other attribute.)
I buy many products from food, clothing, gardening, and house supplies that practically advertises the "off-brand" "cheaper" point. I like my cheap crap t-shirt from walmart. In a consumer market quality is not always the thing people are looking for. I get frustrated with my 100$ vacuum cleaner plenty but never enough to go buy a 600$ one. I don't think Apple should get upset, I think they should provide some lower end products. Even if the cheap apple computers are running P4's with 256m of memory, putting some products in the price range people are looking to spend would kill this advertising strategy and I will finally be able to convince my mother to get a Mac. (maybe throw a monitor on a mac mini and reduce the hardware a little).
Just a note: the emachine I bought 2 years ago for 200$ is still running great.
This AP article [1] (tech.yahoo.com seems to be having problems just now) says that the overall market fell by either 7.1% or 6.5% worldwide, depending on if you ask IDC or Gartner. US shipments were either down 3.1% (IDC) or <1% (Gartner). Also, the article mentions that Apple's market share increased, but doesn't have an estimate of its shipments.
So without knowing how NPD Group is counting, this 1.8% number is not very useful. If it's global, it makes Apple look pretty good. If it's US shipments, it's harder to say.
I don't see anything supporting the assertion that the shifts were due to Microsoft's advertising. Given the recession (and the media's mood regarding it), I'm not at all surprised that consumers are acting a bit more frugal.
I just find it sad that a stupid software monopoly positions itself to speak on behalf of all the PCs.
In my world Microsoft has nothing to do with computers: I don't use their stuff. And my Thinkpads+Linux don't present "value proposition" - they're far superior to Macs in every way that matters to me: build quality, their military styling, Linux superiority over OSX, their full size "spill-through" keyboards, 5-button precise touchpads with pointing sticks, huge batteries, etc.
I question their methods. First off, the Microsoft Ads suck. They aren't funny or interesting. I don't say 'ooh! A new batch of Microsoft ads' and run off to their website to check them out like I do with Apple's ads.
Second, their index says the index for Apple has fallen from 70 to 12.4? That's way too big of a shift for such a poorly executed ad campaign. As far as sales goes, haven't they noticed we're in the middle of a recession? Apple has been doing pretty darned well considering the skyrocketing unemployment rate and lack of consumer spending.
The fact that people do say 'ooh! new apple ads' is pathetic.Why would anyone care? it's an ad, if you have the product you don't need to see the ad, it only serves to stroke your ego and confirm your choice (which is an insecure thing to do). If you don't have the product why would you search for the ad rather than any actual information?
So Apple's perceived value dropped and "Microsoft's" perceived value rose?
There are two variables that need to be controlled for here:
1. Apple hasn't made any major product announcements this year. Apple is a company that lives and dies by its carefully controlled press releases and a sense of "newness" and "cutting edgeness".
2. There's no indication that the MS ads in question actually caused this shift. If they're talking to canny consumers, this switch could be around the perception of netbook sales alone. Those are skyrocketing, and a perfectly usable and incredibly portable machine for under $400 (after tax) is a great value.
Still, take this with a grain of salt. People love to provide reports that Apple is suddenly failing or did not deliver on sales promises, with all kinds of conjured "data" to back it up. In the end, Apple has consistently delivered or exceeded on their projections and they've held up their sales significantly better than everyone else in the market during the economic downturn.
So Windows is better, Apple computers are 'pretty but dumb' but you can put Windows on Apple hardware so...? - brain explodes - very Star Trek of you MS.
frankly, I don't think the demographic that is buying Macs (mostly college-aged kids) hasn't changed and won't simply stop buying Macs because of some ad campaign by Microsoft. Windows Vista sucked before it was released, it sucked when it was released, and it still sucks at the point when Microsoft is trying to bury it. Macs offer a very different user experience from Windows, and it's like saying a Chevy is better than a BMW because it's cheaper. They are two entirely different products that both happen to have a screen and a keyboard.
[+] [-] marbletiles|17 years ago|reply
The entire campaign has struck me as strange. "Hey, we know you want a cool, desirable Mac, but you can't afford one -- so settle for us, we're cheap!"
Microsoft: Which second-best do you want to settle for today?
[+] [-] kierank|17 years ago|reply
I think the ads go further than that. They make Macs look elitist - in every ad the person representing someone real that the viewer could relate to to says something like "I'm not cool enough to have a Mac". Once they manage to get that message across to the majority of people that these Macs are elitist and PCs are more down-to-earth it might well become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
[+] [-] zaidf|17 years ago|reply
Us geeks can laugh about the ads all day. But for Microsoft, it's a hit.
If WalMart did an ad campaign to steal potential Gucci customers, Gucci should be very worried.
[+] [-] jerf|17 years ago|reply
Know. Your. Audience.
Where are these commercial being run? America. Now, I bet they'd crash and burn in Western Europe and I'm virtually certain they'd crash in Japan, but in America, they work.
Also, it should be pointed out that it is not just that they are cheap, but that they "do everything I want" (which is all the Apple could do) and that they are much cheaper, not just a little cheaper. "Does everything I want" for $2000, or "Does everything I want" for $900 is not a bad sales pitch.
(Incidentally, I'm not trying to be anti-American, nor do I think this is anti-American per se. Being cheap is neither good nor bad; it has advantages, it has disadvantages. Being able to be sold something "premium" just because it's "premium" isn't necessarily a good place to be, either. It is simply that American culture will take cheap over almost any other attribute.)
[+] [-] cnlwsu|17 years ago|reply
Just a note: the emachine I bought 2 years ago for 200$ is still running great.
[+] [-] maukdaddy|17 years ago|reply
But I agree completely, that message does not upset Apple at all.
[+] [-] silentbicycle|17 years ago|reply
Isn't that well within the bound of random chance? 1.8% is not a tremendous difference, particularly considering the general economic slowdown.
I see other numbers are about some polling/brand perception thing, but sales are probably a more concrete measurement.
[+] [-] mmc|17 years ago|reply
So without knowing how NPD Group is counting, this 1.8% number is not very useful. If it's global, it makes Apple look pretty good. If it's US shipments, it's harder to say.
[1]: http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:tw4QpCy8JFoJ:tech.yahoo....
[+] [-] callahad|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GrandMasterBirt|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] old-gregg|17 years ago|reply
In my world Microsoft has nothing to do with computers: I don't use their stuff. And my Thinkpads+Linux don't present "value proposition" - they're far superior to Macs in every way that matters to me: build quality, their military styling, Linux superiority over OSX, their full size "spill-through" keyboards, 5-button precise touchpads with pointing sticks, huge batteries, etc.
[+] [-] bcl|17 years ago|reply
Second, their index says the index for Apple has fallen from 70 to 12.4? That's way too big of a shift for such a poorly executed ad campaign. As far as sales goes, haven't they noticed we're in the middle of a recession? Apple has been doing pretty darned well considering the skyrocketing unemployment rate and lack of consumer spending.
[+] [-] boblol123|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] KirinDave|17 years ago|reply
There are two variables that need to be controlled for here:
1. Apple hasn't made any major product announcements this year. Apple is a company that lives and dies by its carefully controlled press releases and a sense of "newness" and "cutting edgeness".
2. There's no indication that the MS ads in question actually caused this shift. If they're talking to canny consumers, this switch could be around the perception of netbook sales alone. Those are skyrocketing, and a perfectly usable and incredibly portable machine for under $400 (after tax) is a great value.
Still, take this with a grain of salt. People love to provide reports that Apple is suddenly failing or did not deliver on sales promises, with all kinds of conjured "data" to back it up. In the end, Apple has consistently delivered or exceeded on their projections and they've held up their sales significantly better than everyone else in the market during the economic downturn.
[+] [-] dhughes|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jemmons|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] weegee|17 years ago|reply