New Apple ads go for Vista jugular

By Davey Winder
Monday, 20 October 2008 15:46

Strategy

Hot on the heels of the embarrassingly bad Microsoft Seinfeld adverts comes a new Apple campaign that goes straight for the Vista jugular with great effect.

The 'Bean Counter' advert sees a PC accountant dividing the money between advertising (most of it) and fixing Vista (very little of it) in a clear dig at the USD $300 million campaign by Microsoft intended to lift the brand into Apple lifestyle territory.

Those Seinfeld ads were, by any measure, a total flop. Indeed, iTWire contributor Stephen Withers asked at the time "can someone explain to me how ads featuring a comedian that peaked a decade ago is going to provide excitement?" and he was proved right.

There should be no surprise, then, that the new Apple 'Bean Counter' ad goes straight for the Microsoft jugular, no messing about at all. Answering the question "you think that amount of money will fix Vista?" the PC punch line is a resounding "no, you are right, I'll put it all in advertising."

It's a very clever twist of the knife that builds on the less than successful promotion of Vista in the marketplace and amongst high profile customers.

Indeed, Microsoft itself seems to acknowledge that Vista has an image problem and has gone so far as to change its name in another publicity stunt that backfired: the Mojave Experiment.

The Windows Mojave Experiment involved Microsoft testing public reaction to a new Windows OS called, as you may have guessed, Mojave. It was, in fact, just Vista given a different name.

At the time we said we were surprised that more than 90 percent of the user group were upbeat and positive regarding Windows Mojave, giving it a 'wow factor' response that Microsoft had always wanted for Vista.

We also said it smacked of desperation, and it is just that desperation that Apple would appear to have seized upon with this new advertising campaign.

How has Apple hit back at Vista with the new 'V Word' advert? More on page 2...

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