I worked in advertising. I've never really liked the practice of showing someone else's product in an ad. It's like free advertising for them (in this case, Apple).
Look at a couple really successful ad campaigns for Apple:
1. 1984. Didn't show a PC, but showed PC users as miserable drones.
2. "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC". Didn't show a PC, but represented a PC user as being an uncool business type.
In this ad for a Microsoft product, we are seeing a MacBook Air on screen. The design is eye-catching so some people will be fixated on the Mac rather than the Windows PC-tablet hybrid thing.
Very true...I wonder how many people actually notice that Apple's commercials almost never (if actually never) have any competitors products in their ads. They really never do the comparison thing which sounds like advertising 101 for most companies. All competitors know how to do is compare their product(s) to Apple's or someone else's products (a bash campaign) instead of showing off what the product really does and how people are actually using its features to their advantage. This is what Apple does from my view.
Does the new Surface even come with the keyboard they keep using in their ads? I always though it was extra?
I really can't see why people would get a Surface Tablet over a MacBook Air. Do people really want to touch their screen all day long, or at all? Why would you want to use a stylus? Other than the ability to draw on the screen, there's really no advantage of purchasing a Surface Tablet over a MacBook Air. As we all know, the MBA can run Windows too if ever necessary, even in parallel with OS X with little to no slow downs.
I think Microsoft is comparing apple's and oranges because they know the Surface Tablet cannot compete against the iPad. The iPad will kick its arse all day long, every day of the year.
I see nothing has really changed at Microsoft with their advertising...
I think touch screen laptop type is dumb. Keyboard and touch pad are the better inputs than touchscreen by a mile. That's why I love Apple's product: user experience on specialized products. Surface is a cripple laptop and over-killed tablet. Instead of one Surface Pro, I'll better get Macbook Air and iPad Mini 2 for pretty much same price.
Fail. A kickstand? A MBA doesn't need a kickstand. The vast majority of consumers don't need a pen. The detachable keyboard is extra. The Surface setup works only on a flat surface.
Yeah seriously where can you get one? I haven't seen these for sale anywhere. Or maybe I haven't been paying attention because the crowds always seem to be in the Apple section.
Yes, they needed all the support they could get. They also threw in a fan, as this was the only way to gain one.
No wonder Bill Gates returned to MS, trying to gain 'momentum' again. Supposedly he's putting in 40% of his time. And while he's a very smart person, I don't think he's able to turn the ship around.
I didn't know that! So that means even worse internal conflict no doubt. I bet the new guy really feels special if Bill is back behind the scenes.
Does the new Surface even come with the keyboard they keep using in their ads? I always though it was extra?
I really can't see why people would get a Surface Tablet over a MacBook Air. Do people really want to touch their screen all day long, or at all? Why would you want to use a stylus? Other than the ability to draw on the screen, there's really no advantage of purchasing a Surface Tablet over a MacBook Air. As we all know, the MBA can run Windows too if ever necessary, even in parallel with OS X with little to no slow downs.
I think Microsoft is comparing apple's and oranges because they know the Surface Tablet cannot compete against the iPad. The iPad will kick its arse all day long, every day of the year.
I see nothing has really changed at Microsoft with their advertising...
I agree ... lame is as lame does. The ad is clearly aimed at pretty dumb people ... "no, seriously where can I get one ..." That is the best closing line they could come up with...? Really
Perhaps now the lines are being blurred so much IDC should include all Apple iPads in the PC sales data! Heck an iPhone is as powerful as many of the sub par crap passed off as notebooks these days.
Start with the message, "My Mac is great it's so delightful" then have the music grate on the nerves so bad that most people skip the rest.
Those that don't skip the rest get, "you can write with a pen" without showing the benefit. Why would you want to draw on the screen? (I know the answer, but this isn't how you market to consumers).
Freeze on the shot of the kickstand. Again, for consumers who don't know... it's confusing enough for it to be asked about "hey, what's that?" and the shot shows two hands in what appears to be a struggle to hold the thing up, while the keyboard bends under. All while the MacBook Air stands effortlessly and elegantly in the background.
"It comes apart"... great, show consumers "it comes apart" as opposed to showing that the device is a versatile hybrid.
This commercial pisses me off because when the Surface is discontinued, people will blame it on "poor marketing".
What I find incredible is, Steve Jobs was never secretive about why Apple was, and is succesful. He took time to explain the thinking behind Apple, the listening, the nurturing, the thought and care they gave developing each product. He very openly ( and generously ) gave all competing companies a roadmap to emulate Apples success.
And they STILL don't get it do they. They still want to do it their way.
Post-Nadella, MSFT's stock has been doing quite well, though. It's back to being the second largest tech company by market cap (even overtook Exxon Mobil).
I've been wondering what's driving it, since nothing very new (except for a new Xbox maybe?) has been announced. Most of the recent news that I've seen revolves around coming -- or, I should say, trying to come -- into the 21st century, and not much more.
What I find incredible is, Steve Jobs was never secretive about why Apple was, and is succesful.
He took time to explain the thinking behind Apple, the listening, the nurturing, the thought and care they gave developing each product.
He very openly ( and generously ) gave all competing companies a roadmap to emulate Apples success.
And they STILL don't get it do they. They still want to do it their way.
That's an extremely important point you are making here. They STILL don't get it, and they will NEVER, get it.
And it's I think the most overlooked quality of Steve, that people that are genuinely dogmatic holier than thou dicks such as Richard Stallman, don't get. Which is fair enough, by virtue of them being dicks.
But people supposedly trying to do what's best for their shareholders and needing to have their eyes and ears pilled to at least emulate what's worked for the leader, to still not get it, is really beyond belief.
The surface is a shit idea to begin with. Either make a clamshell keyboard or none at all. The in-between is garbage and should have been left on the drawing board. If you want to use a laptop you get a laptop, if you wan't to use a tablet you get a tablet. Have a non usable foldable keyboard that has to be on a desk and you might as well go with a proper bluetooth keyboard and mouse. And you don't have to go through 3 product iterations to figure out that 16:9 is a rubbish ratio for a tablet.
No matter how much money you spend on marketing something that is a rubbish idea to begin with, won't make it not rubbish.
Can they at least wake up to the fact that comparing their inferior product with a superior product is only further driving sales of the superior product?
Does anyone from the marketing dept. at MS have any balls to just stand up and say, listen I don't know how to market this, and I can't, because, frankly it's shit, it's a shit idea you guys came up with, the keyboard doesn't work as intended, the kickstand, now who's bright idea was that piece of crap, and the whole thing sums up to less than it's parts, and it should sum up to at the very least to be equal to its parts.
No one, can market garbage in the long run, no one.
Does the new Surface even come with the keyboard they keep using in their ads? I always though it was extra?
I really can't see why people would get a Surface Tablet over a MacBook Air. Do people really want to touch their screen all day long, or at all? Why would you want to use a stylus? Other than the ability to draw on the screen, there's really no advantage of purchasing a Surface Tablet over a MacBook Air. As we all know, the MBA can run Windows too if ever necessary, even in parallel with OS X with little to no slow downs.
I think Microsoft is comparing apple's and oranges because they know the Surface Tablet cannot compete against the iPad. The iPad will kick its arse all day long, every day of the year.
I see nothing has really changed at Microsoft with their advertising...
MS is going after both the iPad and the MacBook Air and failing at both.
Every time I've ever seen a Surface out in the wild, people are using it as a small laptop aka netbook. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the Surface can not shake off its Windows heritage.
I've weaned myself off MS Office at home too. I'm forced to use it at work, so I swear at it there. I use iWork at home, and it does everything I need or want. Fairly, it does it differently, so there is an undeniable learning curve.
No denying in the learning curve. Even a Mac can feel awkward after having to do the Apply>Ok>Close Window instead of simply closing the window after making a change. Why the hell MS is still torturing its users is beyond me. Then again, their stagnated interface was always beyond me.
Post-Nadella, MSFT's stock has been doing quite well, though. It's back to being the second largest tech company by market cap (even overtook Exxon Mobil).
I've been wondering what's driving it, since nothing very new (except for a new Xbox maybe?) has been announced. Most of the recent news that I've seen revolves around coming -- or, I should say, trying to come -- into the 21st century, and not much more.
I guess it's because of the licensing agreements already in place for corporations. They all renew, pay yearly, with or without getting a new version of their software packages. Plus the consumer market is way smaller, and I don't think they pay full retail for a standard Windows upgrade. OEMs pay what, $30 per license? Yeah, that won't do much to their bank account. Enterprise licenses do.
BestBuy has them...other than that I'm not sure where to get them in retail. I don't think the Microsoft Store actually sells anything, but I could be wrong. Someone will chime in and confirm.
True story: in my hometown of Seattle, there is an outdoor shopping mall "University Village." You can stand in a small parking lot and look east at the front of a Apple company retail store. Look to the west, and you see a Microsoft company retail store. Every time I've been there (to go east, of course) I see a packed and busy Apple store; and a very sad looking, empty Microsoft store.
MS is going after both the iPad and the MacBook Air and failing at both.
Every time I've ever seen a Surface out in the wild, people are using it as a small laptop aka netbook. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the Surface can not shake off its Windows heritage.
Come to think about it this seems to have some sort of demented Redmond wisdom on its own:
If you can't do one thing right, you can at least do two things wrong, and two's better than one, right or wrong.
I've weaned myself off MS Office at home too. I'm forced to use it at work, so I swear at it there.
If you think Office is bad, try MS Visio. I swear to god MS must have tried to make that software hard to use. A flowchart that would have taken me 30 minutes in OmniGraffle took me 3 hours in Visio. D-:
Hey I have a smaller screen, my keyboard is nowhere near as good, I need a kick stand to be used like a laptop but I can't be used on your lap. Oh and I really need a mouse to be functional because I don't support the common sense gestures on my track pad.
Me and my cousin watched this yesterday. I looked over and said:
"You know what? This commercial makes me want the MacBook more".
As if the reason was obvious he quickly says:
"It's cause the MacBook looks really nice and high quality next to a piece of shit. You wouldn't put a cheap Toyota next to a Mercedes in a commercial."
There is a Microsoft store in the mall near where I live. They sell their games and Surface Pros and other stuff. Typically there are more staff at Microsoft than customers, while the Apple store is very busy.
Comments
I worked in advertising. I've never really liked the practice of showing someone else's product in an ad. It's like free advertising for them (in this case, Apple).
Look at a couple really successful ad campaigns for Apple:
1. 1984. Didn't show a PC, but showed PC users as miserable drones.
2. "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC". Didn't show a PC, but represented a PC user as being an uncool business type.
In this ad for a Microsoft product, we are seeing a MacBook Air on screen. The design is eye-catching so some people will be fixated on the Mac rather than the Windows PC-tablet hybrid thing.
Very true...I wonder how many people actually notice that Apple's commercials almost never (if actually never) have any competitors products in their ads. They really never do the comparison thing which sounds like advertising 101 for most companies. All competitors know how to do is compare their product(s) to Apple's or someone else's products (a bash campaign) instead of showing off what the product really does and how people are actually using its features to their advantage. This is what Apple does from my view.
Does the new Surface even come with the keyboard they keep using in their ads? I always though it was extra?
I really can't see why people would get a Surface Tablet over a MacBook Air. Do people really want to touch their screen all day long, or at all? Why would you want to use a stylus? Other than the ability to draw on the screen, there's really no advantage of purchasing a Surface Tablet over a MacBook Air. As we all know, the MBA can run Windows too if ever necessary, even in parallel with OS X with little to no slow downs.
I think Microsoft is comparing apple's and oranges because they know the Surface Tablet cannot compete against the iPad. The iPad will kick its arse all day long, every day of the year.
I see nothing has really changed at Microsoft with their advertising...
I think touch screen laptop type is dumb. Keyboard and touch pad are the better inputs than touchscreen by a mile. That's why I love Apple's product: user experience on specialized products. Surface is a cripple laptop and over-killed tablet. Instead of one Surface Pro, I'll better get Macbook Air and iPad Mini 2 for pretty much same price.
Haha. You are right i havent seen them either
I didn't know that! So that means even worse internal conflict no doubt. I bet the new guy really feels special if Bill is back behind the scenes.
I agree ... lame is as lame does. The ad is clearly aimed at pretty dumb people ... "no, seriously where can I get one ..." That is the best closing line they could come up with...? Really
Perhaps now the lines are being blurred so much IDC should include all Apple iPads in the PC sales data! Heck an iPhone is as powerful as many of the sub par crap passed off as notebooks these days.
What a horrible ad.
Start with the message, "My Mac is great it's so delightful" then have the music grate on the nerves so bad that most people skip the rest.
Those that don't skip the rest get, "you can write with a pen" without showing the benefit. Why would you want to draw on the screen? (I know the answer, but this isn't how you market to consumers).
Freeze on the shot of the kickstand. Again, for consumers who don't know... it's confusing enough for it to be asked about "hey, what's that?" and the shot shows two hands in what appears to be a struggle to hold the thing up, while the keyboard bends under. All while the MacBook Air stands effortlessly and elegantly in the background.
"It comes apart"... great, show consumers "it comes apart" as opposed to showing that the device is a versatile hybrid.
This commercial pisses me off because when the Surface is discontinued, people will blame it on "poor marketing".
He took time to explain the thinking behind Apple, the listening, the nurturing, the thought and care they gave developing each product.
He very openly ( and generously ) gave all competing companies a roadmap to emulate Apples success.
And they STILL don't get it do they. They still want to do it their way.
Post-Nadella, MSFT's stock has been doing quite well, though. It's back to being the second largest tech company by market cap (even overtook Exxon Mobil).
I've been wondering what's driving it, since nothing very new (except for a new Xbox maybe?) has been announced. Most of the recent news that I've seen revolves around coming -- or, I should say, trying to come -- into the 21st century, and not much more.
What I find incredible is, Steve Jobs was never secretive about why Apple was, and is succesful.
He took time to explain the thinking behind Apple, the listening, the nurturing, the thought and care they gave developing each product.
He very openly ( and generously ) gave all competing companies a roadmap to emulate Apples success.
And they STILL don't get it do they. They still want to do it their way.
That's an extremely important point you are making here. They STILL don't get it, and they will NEVER, get it.
And it's I think the most overlooked quality of Steve, that people that are genuinely dogmatic holier than thou dicks such as Richard Stallman, don't get. Which is fair enough, by virtue of them being dicks.
But people supposedly trying to do what's best for their shareholders and needing to have their eyes and ears pilled to at least emulate what's worked for the leader, to still not get it, is really beyond belief.
The surface is a shit idea to begin with. Either make a clamshell keyboard or none at all. The in-between is garbage and should have been left on the drawing board. If you want to use a laptop you get a laptop, if you wan't to use a tablet you get a tablet. Have a non usable foldable keyboard that has to be on a desk and you might as well go with a proper bluetooth keyboard and mouse. And you don't have to go through 3 product iterations to figure out that 16:9 is a rubbish ratio for a tablet.
No matter how much money you spend on marketing something that is a rubbish idea to begin with, won't make it not rubbish.
Can they at least wake up to the fact that comparing their inferior product with a superior product is only further driving sales of the superior product?
Does anyone from the marketing dept. at MS have any balls to just stand up and say, listen I don't know how to market this, and I can't, because, frankly it's shit, it's a shit idea you guys came up with, the keyboard doesn't work as intended, the kickstand, now who's bright idea was that piece of crap, and the whole thing sums up to less than it's parts, and it should sum up to at the very least to be equal to its parts.
No one, can market garbage in the long run, no one.
Does the new Surface even come with the keyboard they keep using in their ads? I always though it was extra?
I really can't see why people would get a Surface Tablet over a MacBook Air. Do people really want to touch their screen all day long, or at all? Why would you want to use a stylus? Other than the ability to draw on the screen, there's really no advantage of purchasing a Surface Tablet over a MacBook Air. As we all know, the MBA can run Windows too if ever necessary, even in parallel with OS X with little to no slow downs.
I think Microsoft is comparing apple's and oranges because they know the Surface Tablet cannot compete against the iPad. The iPad will kick its arse all day long, every day of the year.
I see nothing has really changed at Microsoft with their advertising...
MS is going after both the iPad and the MacBook Air and failing at both.
Every time I've ever seen a Surface out in the wild, people are using it as a small laptop aka netbook. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the Surface can not shake off its Windows heritage.
No denying in the learning curve. Even a Mac can feel awkward after having to do the Apply>Ok>Close Window instead of simply closing the window after making a change. Why the hell MS is still torturing its users is beyond me. Then again, their stagnated interface was always beyond me.
I guess it's because of the licensing agreements already in place for corporations. They all renew, pay yearly, with or without getting a new version of their software packages. Plus the consumer market is way smaller, and I don't think they pay full retail for a standard Windows upgrade. OEMs pay what, $30 per license? Yeah, that won't do much to their bank account. Enterprise licenses do.
BestBuy has them...other than that I'm not sure where to get them in retail. I don't think the Microsoft Store actually sells anything, but I could be wrong. Someone will chime in and confirm.
True story: in my hometown of Seattle, there is an outdoor shopping mall "University Village." You can stand in a small parking lot and look east at the front of a Apple company retail store. Look to the west, and you see a Microsoft company retail store. Every time I've been there (to go east, of course) I see a packed and busy Apple store; and a very sad looking, empty Microsoft store.
Easy to draw some conclusions.
MS is going after both the iPad and the MacBook Air and failing at both.
Every time I've ever seen a Surface out in the wild, people are using it as a small laptop aka netbook. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the Surface can not shake off its Windows heritage.
Come to think about it this seems to have some sort of demented Redmond wisdom on its own:
If you can't do one thing right, you can at least do two things wrong, and two's better than one, right or wrong.
I've weaned myself off MS Office at home too. I'm forced to use it at work, so I swear at it there.
If you think Office is bad, try MS Visio. I swear to god MS must have tried to make that software hard to use. A flowchart that would have taken me 30 minutes in OmniGraffle took me 3 hours in Visio. D-:
"You know what? This commercial makes me want the MacBook more".
As if the reason was obvious he quickly says:
"It's cause the MacBook looks really nice and high quality next to a piece of shit. You wouldn't put a cheap Toyota next to a Mercedes in a commercial."
xD
Microsoft: Products & Software made by engineers for engineers.