Microsoft says Apple legal wanted 'Laptop Hunter' ads pulled
Microsoft's chief operating officer claimed Wednesday that Apple's legal department demanded the Windows maker pull its "Laptop Hunter" ads -- the TV spots in which company casts Macs as overpriced novelty items.
Speaking Wednesday at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 in New Orleans, La., COO Kevin Turner said the advertisements, which portray Windows PCs as a better value than Apple products, have proven effective. So much so, according to a transcript of Turner's speech, that he received a phone call from Apple.
And so we've been running these PC value ads. Just giving people saying, hey, what are you looking to spend? ?Oh, I'm looking to spend less than $1,000.? Well we'll give you $1,000. Go in and look and see what you can buy. And they come out and they just show them. Those are completely unscripted commercials.
And you know why I know they're working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey -- this is a true story -- saying, "Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices." They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I've ever taken in business.
I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, "Is this a joke? Who are you?" Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we're just going to keep running them and running them and running them.
Reading into Turner's comments about lower prices, MacDailyNews hypothesizes that Apple's problem with the ads came with one in particular. In the ad, Microsoft shows a MacBook Pro that costs $2,000, but since early June it has been replaced by a newer model that costs just $1,700. The advertisement, with old pricing, has continued to run on TV well after the price drop.
And while Turner claimed the advertisements are unscripted, Microsoft came under fire after their first Laptop Hunters ad aired featuring a member of the Screen Actors Guild.
For the past year, Microsoft has ramped up its advertising of Windows. Some of the company's earlier attempts, such as the ads featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, fell flat. For its $300 million campaigns, Microsoft hired acclaimed advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
But this year, at least one study claimed the new Laptop Hunter ads are working. In May, ad trackers at BrandIndex discovered that Microsoft overtook Apple in value perception scores ? the belief that a given brand gives more value for money ? starting from the end of March, or roughly when Microsoft began its Laptop Hunters ad campaign on TV and online.
In one advertisement, a woman named Lauren looks for a system with "speed, portability and battery life" under $1,700. She briefly looks at a Mac, but eventually settles on a Dell Studio XPS 13, on sale for $899. Like the rest of the advertisements, it plays up the notion that PCs offer more choice and value than Macs.
Responding directly to Microsoft in May, Apple released three new "Get a Mac" ads refuting claims from the Windows maker. The ads, featuring actors John Hodgman and Justin Long, suggested that poor Windows PCs are no choice at all.
In one response, entitled "Elimination," a shopper named Megan tries to choose between Long's Mac and a number of PCs, led by Hodgman. The PCs walk away as fewer and fewer of them meet the actress' criteria of a big screen, a fast processor, and ? the deal breaker ? a system that "just works" without crashes or viruses. In the end, Megan is left with only the Mac as her real choice.
Speaking Wednesday at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 in New Orleans, La., COO Kevin Turner said the advertisements, which portray Windows PCs as a better value than Apple products, have proven effective. So much so, according to a transcript of Turner's speech, that he received a phone call from Apple.
And so we've been running these PC value ads. Just giving people saying, hey, what are you looking to spend? ?Oh, I'm looking to spend less than $1,000.? Well we'll give you $1,000. Go in and look and see what you can buy. And they come out and they just show them. Those are completely unscripted commercials.
And you know why I know they're working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey -- this is a true story -- saying, "Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices." They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I've ever taken in business.
I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, "Is this a joke? Who are you?" Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we're just going to keep running them and running them and running them.
Reading into Turner's comments about lower prices, MacDailyNews hypothesizes that Apple's problem with the ads came with one in particular. In the ad, Microsoft shows a MacBook Pro that costs $2,000, but since early June it has been replaced by a newer model that costs just $1,700. The advertisement, with old pricing, has continued to run on TV well after the price drop.
And while Turner claimed the advertisements are unscripted, Microsoft came under fire after their first Laptop Hunters ad aired featuring a member of the Screen Actors Guild.
For the past year, Microsoft has ramped up its advertising of Windows. Some of the company's earlier attempts, such as the ads featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, fell flat. For its $300 million campaigns, Microsoft hired acclaimed advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
But this year, at least one study claimed the new Laptop Hunter ads are working. In May, ad trackers at BrandIndex discovered that Microsoft overtook Apple in value perception scores ? the belief that a given brand gives more value for money ? starting from the end of March, or roughly when Microsoft began its Laptop Hunters ad campaign on TV and online.
In one advertisement, a woman named Lauren looks for a system with "speed, portability and battery life" under $1,700. She briefly looks at a Mac, but eventually settles on a Dell Studio XPS 13, on sale for $899. Like the rest of the advertisements, it plays up the notion that PCs offer more choice and value than Macs.
Responding directly to Microsoft in May, Apple released three new "Get a Mac" ads refuting claims from the Windows maker. The ads, featuring actors John Hodgman and Justin Long, suggested that poor Windows PCs are no choice at all.
In one response, entitled "Elimination," a shopper named Megan tries to choose between Long's Mac and a number of PCs, led by Hodgman. The PCs walk away as fewer and fewer of them meet the actress' criteria of a big screen, a fast processor, and ? the deal breaker ? a system that "just works" without crashes or viruses. In the end, Megan is left with only the Mac as her real choice.
Comments
If this turns out to be accurate, it makes Apple look like a bunch of crybabies.
I agree 100%, after all the ads they have run with half trues in them. On the other hand, I highly doubt that they would do this unless they had legal ground to stand on. Dropping the price of a computer that is still much higher in initial cost is not what I would call legal grounds. And it makes no sense to have a 'laywer' call M$ on this if they weren't prepared to do something about it. Honestly, I'm not buying this....yet.
This story is simply too stupid to believe; as if a company lawyer would phone a COO of one the biggest competitors with a non-traceable request. Lawyers do everything on paper, by fax and by registered mail.
Mr Turner either had a bad dream, or he was victim of a prank call; just like Sarah Palin actually believed she had french president Sarkozy on the line on Nov 1, 2008. (see huffingtonpost.com)
If this turns out to be accurate, it makes Apple look like a bunch of crybabies.
Yeah, I'm not sure that this isn't just a publicity stunt. If it is true, the doofus at Apple who made the call should be canned.
Yes, the laptop hunter ads clearly stretch the truth and mislead, but so do the get a mac ads to a certain degree.
While I prefer MACs to PCs, I am a big believer in that old saying "you get what you pay for". I have used Macs for 20 years and have had very, very few problems. Our PCs at work are always requiring repairs and clean installs and are plagued with viruses and spyware. (yes we run virus software) The Macs just work. Day in and day out, they are rock solid,
I am running the latest version of Mac OS on my six year old 17" PowerBook and it runs great as does my Adobe CS4. Try running the latest flavor of Windows on a six year old laptop!
Yes Macs cost a little more, I'm okay with that, they're better. Even if the hardware was equal, the PC is crippled right out of the box because the OS is Windows!
If this turns out to be accurate, it makes Apple look like a bunch of crybabies.
Who cares? The ads are inaccurate at the new prices. The MS COO may have cartwheeled down the hallway but he was cartwheeling to the legal department for some long talks.
Who cares? The ads are inaccurate at the new prices. The MS COO may have cartwheeled down the hallway but he was cartwheeling to the legal department for some long talks.
Here's what would happen from their "long talks" from the legal department: In tiny, itsy bitsy white lettering, they will put a line like "filmed 5/15/09" and this will cover everything. Face it, the ads are working and if what the article says is true, it's proof.
My sociology teacher once said "The masses are morons." Ads like this, and their success might be proof. I don't mean to sound hateful or anything, but the ads are pretty dorky.
I do suspect they may be effective - my wife of 11 years just bought a PC despite the fact that we already have 4 Macs in the house - one of which is hers a PowerBook G4 fully loaded with RAM and 10.5.x. I have a PC for work and I work on and support offices full of PCs - and I am not shy about expressing my opinion of Mac vs PC - but I guess she never listens to anything I say - because she after she bought it - she asked me which I think is better and she goes on to say that the Macs are too expensive. Coincidentally the next morning after she told me she ordered a PC - my work PC was stuck in a blue screen on boot regardless of safe mode etc as the result of an antivirus program update that moved some device drivers and rendered the system non functional until I took it to my company's IT department and had them run a custom boot disk and repair utility - the process including travel time only took half a day - but hey the PC is cheaper.
First, I kind of think your wife bought the PC out of spite. Sounds like she's sick of listening to your rantings about mac vs pc and wanted to get a pc to be rebellious in some manner (lol
Second, your story about the anti virus messing up the system sounds like horse poo. Sorry, not trying to start a fight here or anything, but if your IT guy had half a brain, updates like that would be controlled by his department, and if the update rendered the PC inoperable, they wouldn't push it out to the network.
Now, that said, if the update did cause an issue like that, being bitter towards the PC because of a third party's screw up is like me saying I hate ford because the supercharger I put on blew the engine up...
Does anyone really believe anything MS says? Like "Vista will revolutionize the PC computer market". Or "sure our OS is safe". Please.
If it were Ballmer saying this, I wouldn't believe it for one second
Apple - people are buying our computers at an increasing rate. Our computers are more expensive. People use their own money to buy our computers.
This guy at Microsoft is doing cartwheels, why?
Apple Lawyers don't make social phone calls; they send "cease and desist" letters if they are sure to have a case.
This story is simply too stupid to believe; as if a company lawyer would phone a COO of one the biggest competitors with a non-traceable request. Lawyers do everything on paper, by fax and by registered mail.
Mr Turner either had a bad dream, or he was victim of a prank call; just like Sarah Palin actually believed she had french president Sarkozy on the line on Nov 1, 2008. (see huffingtonpost.com)
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
Microsoft - people are buying computers with our product loaded at a decreasing rate. We give people money to buy a computer.
Apple - people are buying our computers at an increasing rate. Our computers are more expensive. People use their own money to buy our computers.
This guy at Microsoft is doing cartwheels, why?
I think they've given like five actors "money" and thats for an ad? Jeez man, if you're gonna make a good point like the rate at which people are buying computers, don't muck it up with something like that.
But yeah, the fact that these lower prices aren't helping the decreasing rate of PC purchases is a good point that I think Apple needs to make in their next ad.
Who cares? The ads are inaccurate at the new prices.
Can you name a specific statement that's now inaccurate that wasn't before? The only one I can think of that might be inaccurate is the one of the video editor lady. Otherwise, the price drops weren't enough to change the accuracy of the statements in other ads that I remember.
Apple Lawyers don't make social phone calls; they send "cease and desist" letters if they are sure to have a case.
This story is simply too stupid to believe; as if a company lawyer would phone a COO of one the biggest competitors with a non-traceable request. Lawyers do everything on paper, by fax and by registered mail.
Mr Turner either had a bad dream, or he was victim of a prank call; just like Sarah Palin actually believed she had french president Sarkozy on the line on Nov 1, 2008. (see huffingtonpost.com)
What proof does Mr. Turner put forward in this article? What the name of the person on Apples legal team is he quoting. By the way? I just got a call from Microsoft Marketing department and they told me Steve Ballmer flue to Memphis to get a lobotomy. http://forums.appleinsider.com/image...s/1smoking.gif
I think they've given like five actors "money" and thats for an ad? Jeez man, if you're gonna make a good point like the rate at which people are buying computers, don't muck it up with something like that.
But yeah, the fact that these lower prices aren't helping the decreasing rate of PC purchases is a good point that I think Apple needs to make in their next ad.
I too think it's strange that apple hasn't countered on the idea that m4 has to pay people to buy their product
I would be tickled pick if Mac reaches 25% of the market and stayed there. At least then, you should have most software developers (including games) developing native apps on OSX as well as Windows.
First, I kind of think your wife bought the PC out of spite. Sounds like she's sick of listening to your rantings about mac vs pc and wanted to get a pc to be rebellious in some manner (lol
Second, your story about the anti virus messing up the system sounds like horse poo. Sorry, not trying to start a fight here or anything, but if your IT guy had half a brain, updates like that would be controlled by his department, and if the update rendered the PC inoperable, they wouldn't push it out to the network.
Now, that said, if the update did cause an issue like that, being bitter towards the PC because of a third party's screw up is like me saying I hate ford because the supercharger I put on blew the engine up...
Not trying to start a fight here either but you obviously haven't worked for a big enough company if this hasn't happened to you - there's a big, big, reason IT departments are so big, there are so many problems. I had a new video card driver pushed onto my machine and it made the primary application I use for my job (ANSYS so we're not talking about some tiny program here...) crash randomly (and quite often I might add) and then the IT dept had no idea how to get the old driver back and it took (no lie) 4 days to get the proper driver installed...
And it is a PC thing - I've never even heard of anyone having that kind of a problem with a Mac...