Microsoft's 'Lauren' ad follow-up disses Mac power
Among the things that feel somewhat scripted, Giampaolo, the hipster star of the newest anti-Apple ad from Microsoft, says, "Macs to me are about aesthetics more than they are the computing power."
Lauren, you were good, but Giampaolo may be an even better Los Angeles-area aspiring actor.
The confident-looking, curly-haired star of Microsoft's newest ad, which debuted Saturday, says, "I'm technically savvy. I know what I want."
What he wants in a new laptop is portability, power, and good battery life, he tells the camera. And just as with the earlier ad in this campaign, starring redhead Lauren, Microsoft says that if he finds what he's looking for with a price tag of less than $1,500, it'll fork over the cash for it.
Naturally, Giampaolo--who presumably also responded to Microsoft's Craigslist ad for help with market research--ends up finding the PC that fits Microsoft's bill: a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion HDX, but not before spouting out some clever anti-Apple lines. (And no, it's not that he's "not cool enough" to be a Mac person. Quite the contrary: "I'm a PC because I'm really picky," he says.)
As he checks out a MacBook, Giampaolo, in a drooling tone, says it's "sooo sexy," but "Macs to me are about aesthetics more than they are the computing power. I don't want to pay for the brand; I want to pay for the computer." (At first, I thought he was saying "rent," not "brand," but while that may sound snarkier, it wouldn't exactly have made sense.)
Is this one a winner? Perhaps time will tell.
