Microsoft ad's 'average consumer' is an actress
Lauren, the star of Microsoft's new TV ad, the one who implies that Macs are twice as expensive as PCs, is fresh-faced and excitable.
According to the company, she was recruited on Craigslist, a site many people turn to when looking for one sort of person or another.
The Craigslist ad, Microsoft said, sought potential participants in a piece of market research about laptop-purchasing decisions.
Somehow, Lauren's bright, breezy delivery and almost equally bright-green scarf (does anyone else think that her scarf and blue coat said, "hey, two of Microsoft's colors"?) carried the day and made her a star.
This is lovely for someone who earns her money as an office manager. Oh, and I almost forgot, the Associated Press reports that she's also an actress.
I think that Lauren has a fine career ahead of her. Anyone who can spontaneously come up with a line such as, "I'm just not cool enough to be a Mac person," when she thinks that she's only participating in a market research movie, clearly has a future in many different genres.
Perhaps I am still pining for the Jerry and Bill Roadshow, which I believe was one of the most underrated campaigns of the last few years. Here was Bill Gates, not in any way an actor, producing a transformational and, frankly, brilliant performance, especially in the second film.
So perhaps I just wanted a little persuasive authenticity to make me think about buying a PC.
Then again, I've been made to watch a lot of reality TV over the last few years (these kind of consumer-performed TV ads are nothing more than reality TV).
I've also read all of Steve Wozniak's conspiratorial e-mails about how these shows are produced, so perhaps I'm one of the few hundred, or perhaps a smidgen more, who believe that the last episode of "The Bachelor" was, just like the "I'm just not cool enough" line, scripted.
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
I think you hit the nail on the head right there! Buy a new PC every few years, or invest in a Mac that will cost more upfront but give you more years of problem-free computing. Just ask my 6-year-old powerbook G4 that I'm typing this on...
Well I've got PC's that are going on 5 years running Windows 7 (gracefully) as well so this isnt just a Mac thing.
cause apparently they r selling fine just like last quarter etc.
during which Apple's sales were up during a global meltdown !
you buy yr cheap Pcs and replace them every year
but we'll buy are Macs and replace them every 4 yrs
and save time and money doing it !
All she can think is "she wants to be a Mac person". She doesn't want to be a Vaio P or maybe Dell Adamo person. Why?
And yes, you (or she) don't need $2000 (dollar) macbook pro whatever to type a paper or do presentations. Why would anybody wants macbook for typing a paper or do presentations?
Asus Eee PC (with Linux) very capable of doing that, and it's very effective for browsing the net on the go.
The HP 17" is a bottom of the barrel "value special." HPs high-end 17" laptops cost the same as Apple's.
For a better comparison, it should be centered around the 13" range.
And this is coming from a guy who switched to Ubuntu Linux rather than deal with Vista.
That is very true, but ask yourself this: why did Microsoft pick Los Angeles to do this "marketing research?" Obviously it knew the high ratio of actors in the area and that it would be able to cherry pick respondents to make its point. And as for her "I'm not cool enough" line: we all need to be skeptical about her coming up with it.
That line is the heart of the campaign, and it is unlikely it just came to her. Without that line, we have yet another PCs are cheaper than Macs advertisement, but with it there is traction. Coming on the heels of Balmer's rant, the rhetorical moves of Microsoft are quite clear in this case. The only thing new here is Microsoft got clever with an advertisement. It is a very good advertisement, IMO, but will it make a huge difference? Who cares, but don't act like it is anything more than a carefully scripted commercial. What will be interesting will be Apple's response, if any.
If you like Macs, go right ahead and buy one. Personally, I still can't get over the one-button mouse.
Of course, if our actress had wanted to, she should have opted for a laptop loaded with Ubuntu and saved even more money.
I can't help but notice that she is driving a convertible VW Beetle in the ad - now that is a rather pricey (Starts at $25,000+ new) - and cool - ride for someone claiming to be on a budget.
I imagine our next shopper will be driving a Ferrari and claiming poverty.
It's like comparing a Luxury car to a Chevy.
Sure the HP is cheaper. (HP Pavilion dv7t series)
It is also heavier.
And has a slower Ethernet Port.
And a 1600 by 900 pixel display (vs. 1920 by 1200 for the MacBook Pro 17").
And I'm sure there are other differences.
Do Macs cost more? Sometimes. But not as much if you try to make an even-up comparison.
Intel to the plastic keys, they all come from the same manufacturers.
Apple just charge Luxury prices for a Chevy. That is all.
I have no idea what computer you've been using, but I've been using Macs for years and have never come across any of those UI problems.
I can actually use Final Cut Studio and Aperture at a much cheaper rate than Avid and various Adobe Products and still come out with as good quality and detail.
@catch23
It's not just hardware, it's software and how it works. Vistas is a bloated mess that urgently needs at least around 3 gb of ram. I've seen OS X run pretty well at 1 gb of ram. The software integration within Apple is excellent and streamlined. Garageband works great for people who want to record music, iMovie is a good introduction to video editing, and iCal as odd as it sounds is something that a lot of my co-workers wish was built into the system instead of having to use some not as great 3rd party software.
Also, since the "actress" and average person go to a store like Best Buy to buy their computer, there's most likely bloatware and things that can really bog down the system installed on it. Apple holds a tight leash on their stuff so nothing like that even gets through to any of their computers.
Apple is like Lexus, not in the sense of hardware, but in the sense that it will give you a great experience.
So yes I would say a resounding yes to the fact that Mac's are luxury and compare quite well against the car analogy. After all is a BMW fuel pump really made from the same materials as a Honda pump? Yes, you say?! Oh no...I'll inform all my BMW driving friends! Surely they'll see reason and give up their precious cars!
" Macs ARE a luxury model "
is bad grammar. Or maybe Macs don't come with grammar checkers. Or, you have proven again the cluelessness of a Mac user And you want to call out other people's spelling? ROTFLMAO
Startling. Amazing. Astounding. OSX on a mere gig. Guess what? I just loaded Vista on a 1GB1.6GHz Core2Duo and "it runs pretty well" too. Now let's both run off to newegg and get busy upgrading. C'mon, you Mactoids, you know you wanna!
Me and my Studio 17? When I bought it less than a year ago it simply trounced the MacBook Pro spec-for-spec. My hardware platform blew your hardware platform away, hands down . . . not debateable. And I added an Intel Turbo flash module and 2nd hard drive, STILL keeping the total price under $1,000. It doth rock, diggin' Vista and looking forward to 7, thang yu vury much.
I don't buy $4,000 laptops anymore. And all the tired, rehashed dribble I'm reading hear . . . out-of-touch Mactoids, I smashes 'em when I sees 'em.
This luxury no-luxury thing is a bad running joke. As a former Powerbook G4 owner and current Macbook Pro 15" owner, I can say without hesitation that a milled-from-aluminum notebook is a horrifically bad idea. It cooks your lap, dings far more easily than composite/plastic notebooks, and is harder to safely carry when you're in a grab-and-go mood.
When I want something that works as an actual laptop (for instance, in bed, where I am now), I grab something else, either my trusty old Thinkpad T42 or this Vaio Z. Plastic on the bottom, better keyboards, and a better screen (on the Z, as the T42 is nearly dead).
Glass screens are for people who hate ambient light.
On top of that, premium OS? Hardly. When netflix and youtube choke if I switch away from Safari on OS X on dual-core machines (processors *not* pegged), there's something wrong with the thread scheduler. Smacked in a few minutes in Pwn2Own two years in a row? Security needs some work. I use OS X as my primary OS, but let's get real for a few minutes here. Apple charges an unreasonably high amount for its systems because they can get away with it. They can get away with it because of glitz, glamor, and herd mentality. Actress or not, it seems like she made a sensible choice.
I've never heard of such a thing!
Don't forget, if the manufacturor of the same PC had included Linux, the Windows tax wouldn't be there and the same exact system, capable of doing the same exact tasks, would cost at least a hundred dollars less.
"But could also be "Can you buy a laptop for under $1000 that doesn't have a crappy, low resolution screen, two year old technology and that isn't made of molded plastic."
The answer to that question, my uneducated friends, is yes. How about BETTER specs for under $1,000? Yeah, really. I love that I have two hard drives in my Dell Studio 1735 spinnin' at 7200 RPM (250GB as primary, 320GB as secondary, both Seagate Momentus). You don't . . . and you never will. Sure, I disabled hibernate on the advice of a Tom's Hardware column, but other than that I haven't even bothered to tweak Vista as it runs silky smooth on my rig. On those rare occassions when I actually do meet someone who owns a Mac, they sometimes like to compare. They're pretty much stunned every time. I like watching their chests fall when they see 64-bit Photoshop open on my gorgeous WXGA+ screen before I can count three-mississippi. Then, too, few if any of them know of Master Collection CS4 or Office 2007 Enterprise . . . they spent all their money on their overpriced hardware! Hey, have fun with that Garageband thing.
What you dill-weeds don't understand is the "value" in my purchase. I didn't "settle," I focused on "value." I'm smart. Next question.
I'm not interested in bashing Microsoft. It's a company that has achieved huge things. But I do wish the company had pursued the Bill and Jerry ads because they were truly breakthrough. And Bill Gates' performance was an eye-opener.
By the way, I look at the details of ads because, well, I've spent much of my career creating them.
Have a good weekend.
Chris
Case in point: when MS decided to launch the whole Bill & Jerry show ads, which they later abandoned rather unceremoniously, the wanted to put a personal face on the PC (which MicroSoft does not manufacture, incidentally). The ads failed, and not just because Bill is one of the richest men on the planet, a fair way from the average man on the street. The ads failed because they didn't get to the point quickly enough, or maybe there just wasn't a point. More people associate with PC's with John Hodgkins now than Bill Gates anyway, largely due to Apple's campaign. This is pretty funny, since John Hodgkins works for Apple and ultimately endorses Apple products by appearing in Apple ads. Apple has both bases covered. Cha-ching.
At the same time, Apple knows when to back off in its advertising. The latest ads do not have Hodgkins and Justin Long in them, but rather emphasize the "green" factor or tout the cool factor of the iPhone (and iPod Touch). MicroSoft has no idea how to keep up with these developments and once again finds itself trying to compete using strategies from five or ten years ago. Jerry Seinfeld? Sure, I like him, but his popularity peaked over ten years ago. Kind of like Windows 95.
How do you know it's true? I am not trying to bash you. I have an iMac and I disagree with these ads. MS is going for the 'average' consumer that doesn't realize or care they will have to replace that PC in about 3 years to run the latest stuff. Nor do they think about the cost and system overhead of anti-virus,malware, etc. software.
it would be funny if it were true, that she returned it and spent the money elsewhere!
This is complete BS and needs to be called out. Unless you are dating this person, you have no clue what you're talking about.
I have never had to spend anything on maintenance on this machine - that INCLUDES anti-virus SW. And before you get on that "complacent arrogance" rant, I don't steal software and music/videos via P2P/warez sources and I don't frequent porn sites. I pay for everything I have. I do deploy freeware AV software - I mean, just because that knuckle-headed script-kiddie in the Ukraine hasn't downloaded and modified some crap SW for the Mac yet, doesn't mean it can never happen.
And for the sake of disclosure - I have been a professional actor in the past, but Apple (nor any of its agencies) does not pay me for endorsements.
btw - the YouTube video has been pulled.
But you get far more bang for your buck buying a PC with equivalent specs than buying a MacBook. It's just a fact.
It is accomplishing two goals. One letting people know in a recession when money is tight, it makes more sense to buy a PC where you will get more bang for the buck, than a Mac.
The other goal is taking a swipe at Apple which I think they did a good job of. There is this elitist attitude about people who own iPods/iPhones.
Microsoft sells operating systems; by pitching to the cheap as possible crowd they both invite and avoid any discussion of operating systems or even hardware quality.
In the tired "car analogy", it's like the criteria for selecting a car is "$5000.00 and four wheels". No surprise when the actor leaves the new car showroom and picks out a used Cavalier.
And I reject the idea that I'm getting more bang for a buck -- unless you assume that my time is not worth anything, or that the cost of replacing or repairing things isn't part of "bang for the buck."
It is a fantastic commercial for Microsoft. First off, for Microsoft they don't need to discuss their OS vs. Linux or even OS X. They avoid it by focusing in on price during a recession. Unfortunately in the US price always wins. Consumers here are fixated by price for the most part and especially in a recession.
The other point is she wanted a 17" screen and had a budget. Fictional or not Apple did not have something that met her criteria. What they are saying is you have more choice when looking at a PC. They showed her talking about a laptop that had 4GB of ram, big hard drive. Then they showed her holding up a Netbook.
So lower price and more choice. This resonates with people.
@qnet
There is something wrong with elitism when people are tired of hearing from people how elite they think their iPod or iPhone is. Personally the iPod is a complete piece of crap in my opinion. The iPhone seems pretty good although I have yet to really try it out. But I've had several MP3 players that are A) Better constructed B) Better features C) Sounds much better than an iPod. Difference is I don't act like my MP3 player is the only one out there. I recognize that there are other brands and types. Different strokes for different folks. It's the elitism of Apple fanboys that turn people off to Apple products. Looks like Microsoft is trying to play that angle in their ads and I think it will work.
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=macs_cant
http://tinyurl.com/msadlauren
What's with the Windows campaigns trying to personify yourself through computers? The Apple campaign was doing the opposite: personifying computers as two actors.
I dont pretend to know whether or not the commercial is authentic. Did the ad agency just pick out an attractive woman for the ad out of the people who contacted them? Or is it all staged? I dont know, you dont know.
I do know though, that our local best buy carries both macs and windows desktops and laptops. And the prices shown in the commercial are correct. The 13inch mac is $999. I saw it yesterday. And there are many, many Windows laptops there with similar specs for much lower prices.
So the commercial is not, as you claim, 'implying' that Macs are more expensive... they are stating a fact.
why did Microsoft choose LA? Hello, ad agencies are mostly based out of LA or NY, and they tend to work on their turf. I would love MSFT would do that in Houston, but who the hell am I to tell where they are going to do their "experiment".
Take a deep breathe relax and go to finance.yahoo.com, if there is nothing to complain about we have the economy just for that.
- by The_happy_switcher March 27, 2009 3:27 PM PDT
- I'll bet if she shaked her money maker at Sunset and Vine she could raise the extra $$ for the Mac.
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- by baconstang March 27, 2009 6:31 PM PDT
- She just needs to wait on more tables.....
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