At some point, clever marketing can backfire.
It's been quite a run for Microsoft of late. After sleeping for nearly three years while Apple successfully bashed it every night on network television with the Mac vs. PC ad campaign, Microsoft has sobered up and taken the offensive over the last several months with a series of marketing messages comparing the relative prices of Macs and PCs made by Microsoft's partners.
Make what you will of Lauren and Giampaolo's sincerity, there's no denying that the ads have struck a nerve. For years, fanboys of various stripes have fought vicious battles armed with HTML tags over the proper way to compare the prices of Macs and PCs, and by tapping into that, Microsoft's Windows marketing team has shown it has a pulse.
But perhaps someone at Microsoft should start to wonder what kind of branding message they are implanting in the public mind.
Microsoft's public-relations squad e-mailed reporters Thursday morning with another cutesy message regarding the "Apple Tax," because next week is Tax Day. (Get it?) My colleague Ina Fried has all the details on the maze of twisty passages Microsoft followed to calculate the Apple Tax, but the gist is basically the same as you've heard before: Macs are expensive, PCs are cheaper, and in these troubled economic times, won't you do the right thing for yourself and your family and save your money?
It's a reasonable tactic: every marketing student learns about the Four Ps very early on in their education, and price is an essential weapon in any business plan. But in continuing to push this strategy, Microsoft is inadvertently reinforcing every single branding message Apple has ever attached to the Mac.
Virtually everyone who has ever used a personal computer has used Windows, meaning that almost every single computer user on the planet has developed an association with Windows. Most of those current associations still center on Windows 95 and Windows XP, which got the job done but also introduced the world to massive security threats, software engineer jargon, and the concept of hitting the "Start" button to stop using the computer.
That's what Apple has so successfully exploited with the smarmy Mac vs. PC campaign. The ads positioned the Mac as not only a superior computing experience to Windows, but a hipper one.
Microsoft has essentially conceded that point. As others have noted, Microsoft's shoppers don't ever wonder about the relative merits of Finder versus Windows Explorer in its latest series of ads. Instead, they focus completely on trying to make a hardware-to-hardware price comparison between various notebooks.
Yet, Microsoft is a software company. And software, not hardware, is where you form a lasting relationship with a computer.
With its current ad campaign, Microsoft--perhaps the most dominant consumer software company the planet has yet to produce--is doing nothing to repair the damage done to the Windows brand by the Mac vs. PC campaign. One could argue the campaign is right for the times, as the company has (wisely) pretty much given up on trying to sell Windows Vista, Windows 7 isn't ready yet, and any rational person is watching their money more closely than they did in 2008.
But when Windows 7 is ready, Microsoft will have a bit of a dilemma on its hands. It could find it hard to sell Windows as a better experience than Mac--even if it is--because it has spent so much time and money on convincing people that Windows PCs are a bargain.
Argue all you want about the Apple Tax--it doesn't matter. There has always been, and will always be, a sizable group of people willing to pay extra for certain consumer goods simply because they carry an extra level of status. For years, the companies that sell those goods have profited quite handsomely from delivering two services: a quality product, and a status symbol.
Under Steve Jobs, Apple has almost always sought to position the Mac as an antiestablishment high-end computer, a computer for those who "think different" and get excited by their computers. Price is not a consideration for those willing to think different.
The only thing the PC industry is excited about right now are Netbooks, which they fail to mention are eroding their margins even more than they have already been eroded after decades of price wars. And now Microsoft is once again driving the price message, training consumers to expect ever lower prices from their computer salesperson.
Apple, meanwhile, with the best margins in the personal computer industry and two highly profitable consumer electronics products funding its growth, has now had its marketing message of the last two years--Macs are better than PCs--amplified by its rival's message--PCs are cheaper than Macs.
While the world needs Kias, the world wants BMWs, and anyone old enough to grasp a dollar understands that most times, you get what you pay for. Consumer confidence will one day return, and in taking the "Apple Tax" campaign to new heights (or lows) Microsoft has not only strained the bounds of credulity, it has cemented the idea that Macs are an aspirational product.
Google now can show search ads on the iPhone's browser.
(Credit: Google)The iPhone and T-Mobile G1 come with pretty much full-fledged Web browsers, and Google now is according them that status by showing search ads on the phones.
Advertisers bidding for search ads through Google's AdWords service now can choose to have ad campaigns run exclusively on iPhones and the T-Mobile G1, the first phone with Google's Android operating system, which also has a robust browser. Alexandra Kenin, product marketing manager for Google's mobile ads team, announced the move on the company's Google Mobile Blog Monday.
By using the "iPhones and other mobile devices with full Internet browsers" option in AdWords, advertisers also can exclude this class of devices from their ad campaigns, Kenin said.
Unlike with display ads on mobile devices, search ads work the same. "Because the G1 and iPhone has full Internet browsers, you'll be able to display your standard AdWords ads and landing pages on these devices without having to modify them," Kenin said.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned another iPhone ad after consumers complained it exaggerated the speed of the device.
A recent TV ad for the iPhone 3G stated: "So what's so great about 3G? It's what helps you get the news, really fast. Find your way, really fast. And download pretty much anything, really fast. The new iPhone 3G. The Internet, you guessed it, really fast."
But how fast is it, really?
(Credit: Apple)The ad showed a close-up of the phone being used to surf a news Web page, view the Google maps service, and download a file -- and all the actions had waiting times of only a fraction of a second.
Seventeen people complained to the ASA that the ad was misleading because it exaggerated the speed of the iPhone -- a judgment upheld by the watchdog, which said an on-screen text disclaimer stating "network performance will vary by location" was not enough to dispel the impression that the device actually operated at or near to the speeds shown in the ad.
The ASA failed to be convinced by Apple's counterargument that the claims made in the ad were relative rather than absolute -- and that it was intending to demonstrate the 3G iPhone allowed downloads and Internet access that was "really fast" by comparison to the previous Edge device.
The ASA said in its adjudication: "Although we acknowledged that the majority of viewers would be familiar with mobile telephones, we considered that many might not be fully aware of the technical differences between the different types of technology. We also noted the ad did not give an explicit indication of a comparison with the older 2G iPhone."
The ASA has ruled the ad must not appear again in its current form.
This is not the first time Apple has been scolded over iPhone ads. In August the ASA banned another advert for the iPhone -- which promised users access to "all parts of the Internet" on their Apple device, despite the phone's inability to display Flash or Java web content.
Natasha Lomas of Silicon.com reported from London.
Apple's iPhone jumped to the top spot on the AdMob Network for the month of October, with 4.1 percent of the mobile ads requested from the network, according to the AdMob Mobile Metrics Report released Wednesday.
Requests from advertisers for mobile ads targeted to iPhone users rose to 236 million in October, more than doubling from the 103 million requests recorded in the previous month. Worldwide, AdMob's mobile-ad requests for all device makers grew 13.8 percent in October, to 5.8 billion.
AdMob delivers banner and text ads to mobile devices, and these figures were analyzed and aggregated as part of its monthly Mobile Metrics report. AdMob-served ads are seen by people visiting clients' Web sites with their mobile phone. Advertisers can choose to have their ads appear on a certain type of device, or region of the world, and then AdMob places the ads on partner publishers' mobile sites.
Mobile advertising is on a fast track, with research firms projecting market revenue to reach $19 billion per year by 2011, up from the approximately $3 billion seen for last year.
Fueling the iPhone's October performance was particularly strong traffic outside the United States, which accounted for 37 percent of its ad requests, according to the AdMob report. Western Europe represented 17 percent of the iPhone ad requests, and Asia represented 8 percent.
Other handset players following close behind included the Motorola Razr V3, which received 3.4 percent of the requests; Nokia's N70, with 3.2 percent; and the Motorola Krzr K1c, with 1.8 percent.
But in the U.S. market alone, the iPhone ranked No. 2, with 6.9 percent of the requests, while Motorola's Razr V3 led the market, with 7.7 percent. The U.S. market accounted for 62.8 percent of the iPhone's ad requests in October.
Requests from advertisers for mobile ads targeted to iPhone users more than doubled from September to October.
(Credit: AdMob)
Microsoft is taking its "I'm a PC" ad campaign directly to the people: the Mac people.
At least, that's the case in the U.K., where an AppleInsider reader spotted a Microsoft-branded video kiosk just outside a Birmingham Apple store. Microsoft employees were asking passersby to come in and record their very own "I'm a PC" video, presumably for use in a future ad.
It's not clear from AppleInsider's report whether this tactic was actually working, but it's certainly become clear this year that Microsoft is determined to hit back directly at Apple after years of taking punches delivered by the Mac vs. PC ad campaign.
For almost a year, Apple has reported that around half the people buying Macs in its retail stores are new to the Mac. Those are presumably the people Microsoft is trying to win back into its camp with these kiosks and the ad campaign.
Apple has fired back in the latest round of the Mac versus PC ad wars with two commercials tweaking Microsoft's marketing strategies.
One nice thing about having a sick girlfriend is a guilt-free weekend in front of a dozen or so college and pro football games. Apple released two new Mac vs. PC ads for that sedentary audience to ponder in between kickoffs this weekend, though both ads seemed to be tailored more for the tech industry than NFL fans.
Both commercials poke fun at Microsoft's recent massive ad campaign to "redefine" itself in the face of two years of clever Mac vs. PC ads that have helped Apple increase sales of the Mac. One commercial has John Hodgman in his now-familiar role as PC allocating stacks of bills toward either "advertising" or "fix Vista." Guess which pile gets more stacks.
The other commercial is also about Vista: Hodgman has developed a buzzer that bleeps out "Vista" whenever that word is uttered, so that people will start using the term "Windows" instead of Vista. This is actually funny, given that Microsoft was recently awarded a patent for similar technology, even if that wasn't the point of the ad.
Apple is trying to do two things with the ads: get under Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's skin, and continue to define Vista as a glitch-ridden operating system. Vista's early problems with application and driver compatibility are well-documented, and while most of those problems are in the rear-view mirror, Microsoft is spending more time these days talking about stereotypes, Windows 7 and the "Apple tax" than it is about Vista.
Apple, on the other hand, is quite content to keep Vista in the firing line.
The fact is that the negative impressions of Vista have stuck, as Microsoft itself had to admit with the Mojave Experiment. Whether that's Apple's fault or your IT department's fault isn't really the point; Apple took the early reluctance of people to try out Vista and ran with it, while Microsoft sat on its hands for two years then vacillated between saying "Vista isn't so bad," "we've been unfairly stereotyped," and "yeah, you might want to wait for Windows 7."
Still, negative advertising, while effective in an election year, grows old. And it plays into the sorely outdated fanboy us vs. them mentality that the vast majority of consumers couldn't care less about; most people in America do not define themselves by the computer that they use, as hard as Apple and Microsoft are trying to make that happen.
The new ads will get a chuckle out of most viewers, as the polished comedy team of Hodgman and Justin Long could teach Seinfeld and Gates a thing or two. But God forbid that Apple should ever stumble with the rollout of a new operating system; they've taught Microsoft just how to respond.
In New York, some Apple fans were miffed that the first people waiting in line for the iPhone 3G were activists hoping to stir up publicity for a cause. But don't you think they would've been even more ticked off if those first spots in the line were taken up by paid actors?
That's what's happened in Poland, where mobile phone operator Orange has admitted to Reuters that nearly two dozen stores in the country were manned with a line of actors in anticipation of Friday's iPhone launch.
"We have these fake queues at front of 20 stores around the country to drum up interest in the iPhone," the company told Reuters. The company has not said how many people were hired, how long they had to wait, or how they would be compensated.
But I certainly hope they got to keep the iPhones for free.
The whole thing is not really that far-fetched an idea. When lines started forming outside Apple Stores in New York long before the launch of the iPhone 3G, rumors circulated that it was actually a prank on behalf of culture jammers Improv Everywhere. It seemed more than plausible. Turns out the lines were real, due to rationing of the first-generation iPhones in anticipation of the still-unannounced 3G.
Regardless, it could be funny to see how an out-of-work comedian reacts to an overlong in-store activation process.
Science has proven, once again, that advertising is effective. Who knew?
Researchers from upset-destined Duke University (fill out those brackets, people) and the University of Waterloo have published the results of a study that suggests that brief exposure to Apple's brand logo drives higher levels of creativity than exposure to IBM's logo. In fact, the researchers suggest that subliminal advertising is actually more effective than regular advertising, because people don't have time to raise their anti-ad defenses.
You are feeling more creative...
(Credit: James Martin/CNET News.com)The researchers tested 341 students, who were told they were taking a "visual acuity test." The test involved watching a screen, and tracking two events: charting the appearance of a multicolored box in different place on the screen, and keeping a running tally of numbers appearing in the center of the screen. Click here to download a QuickTime video demonstration of the test.
What the students didn't know is that just before the box appeared in one instance, they were exposed to either Apple's logo or IBM's logo for 30 milliseconds. After completing the test, the students were given a second task to think of all the possible ways they could use a brick. The people who had seen the Apple logo came up with more ways of using the brick, and were judged to have come up with the more creative uses, according to the researchers.
This is just flat-out creepy. "Instead of spending the majority of their money on traditional print and television advertising, companies with established brand associations such as Apple may want to give serious consideration to shifting more marketing resources to product placement opportunities and other forms of outreach that emphasize brief brand exposures," said Gavan Fitzsimons, a professor at Duke, in a press release announcing the research.
The researchers also tried the test with logos from The Disney Channel and E!, and found that people who were exposed to the Disney logo "subsequently behaved much more honestly than those who saw the E! Channel logos."
Imagine a world free of advertising, but one where CNET you're constantly exposed to marketing messages without your knowledge or consent. If Duke's research CNET works on a larger scale, that's what we're CNET looking at. CNET.
Nvidia is reportedly planning to drop upwards of $40 million on advertising as it tries to make sure everybody knows its name.
Ad Age reported yesterday that Nvidia is searching for an ad agency to launch a major ad campaign targeting regular consumers, not just the hard-core PC gamers who bleed green and black. The company is supposedly thinking about an ad budget between $30 million to $40 million for its first attempt to reach a widespread audience. (Thanks, Valleywag.)
In the report, Nvidia denied it was in the middle of a formal search, but it's not hard to see the company embarking on this path sooner or later.
Intel dominates computer advertising like no other hardware company and was the fifth most recognized brand name in the world in 2006. And at some point in the future, the lines between PC processors and graphics processors are expected to blur, which means the two companies could be in direct competition. Right now, Intel only makes low-end graphics that aren't nearly as big a part of Nvidia's business as the discrete graphics cards it sells to PC makers, but Nvidia is not a household name.
Advanced Micro Devices, which makes both PC processors and graphics hardware, likewise doesn't do a whole lot of national or worldwide advertising, sticking to more focused ads in trade and gamer magazines. But AMD doesn't exactly have the cash to go launch a national campaign at the moment, freeing up room for Nvidia to make its mark.
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