EXTRA: I'm a PC, you're a hack

Welcome to a special IT Blogwatch EXTRA: as Richi Jennings watches bloggers' reactions to Microsoft's "I'm a PC" ads. Not to mention "a new and exciting cereal for these exciting times"...

There's dissension among Computerworld bloggers. First, Preston "grumpy" Gralla goes ga-ga:

This time around, the ads work.
...
The point is simple --- you can use a PC for a wide range of tasks. And there's an important subliminal point as well: none of those being portrayed display the kind of smarmy hipness that the Apple guy does in the Apple ads.

But then John Brandon sighs:

In one of the new Microsoft ads running today ... a smart engineer type says "roger" and then an everyday guy who looks like he might be a farmer says, hey - my name is Roger. It's corny enough to make me want to switch to a Mac.
...
It's a Homer Simpson moment: We already know Windows has infiltrated every last segment of society, so what's the point? ... Ultimately, the ads don't really work. They are ... pedantic. And, they are neither funny nor obviously unfunny, so that makes them unmemorable. In the end, it's just another stab in the dark.

Seth Godin agrees:

Microsoft has fallen into a trap that befalls many large companies in search of cred, buzz or respect. They've decided to buy some via advertising.

For more than twenty years, Microsoft has relentlessly commodified itself and the software it makes. It has worked to become a monopoly, a semi-faceless organization that cranks out very good (or pretty good) software that gets a job done for the middle of the market. It's been a profitable strategy.

But now they have Apple envy ... Microsoft may very well not be broken. The world needs reliable bureaucracies that mollify the needs of corporations and individuals in the center of the market. But if it is broken, advertising isn't going to fix it.

But Michael Arrington's not so sure:

Those Microsoft commercials aren’t particularly engaging ... But what they do is show lots of fascinating people saying that they use PCs. They highlight the fact that many people may be somewhat offended by the idea that they can’t be interesting or cool if they don’t use a Mac.

Suddenly, Apple looks a little elitist. I mean, they were elitist before, but in a way that made you want to be a part of the club. Now, they just seem a little snobby.

If that’s what Microsoft and their pushing clients to the edge advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky were aiming for, it’s brilliant.

Harry McCracken trumpets the elephant in the room:

I can’t believe it intends to blow through the rest of its $300 million refuting Apple ads. I’m guessing we’ll TV ads which, like the first new Windows print ads, segue into a more straightforward pitch for Windows in all its forms. And I’m still waiting for any of the ads to boldly use that dread word: “Vista.”

So John Biggs explains, with Portal punnage:

Vista, you see, is the cake. If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, you’re probably not the audience for this commercial but to everyone else the cake isn’t a lie - it’s just moist and delicious. So the face of Microsoft has been changed from buttons and windows to a nerd doing the robot. We’re on the way to anthropomorphizing this product in the consumer’s mind.
...
Once you see Deepak Chopra saying “I’m a PC,” the reasoning goes, you’re less likely to accept that the affable fool John Hodgman truly represents the Windows PC market. This sort of torsion - the spinning of concepts to achieve Microsoft’s end result - is probably the real goal ... Will they succeed? Yes. Apple will phase out its commercials.

But Jason Kottke thinks he spots the oint in the flyment:

I briefly worked for a design firm in the late 90s that did a lot of advertising work. One of the hard and fast rules in the office -- which was taken from a book written by a successful ad man whose name I cannot recall -- was that if a company was #1 in a certain space, their advertising should never ever mention the competition, not even in an oblique fashion. And even if a company was #2, they should do the same and act as if they were #1.

That's the problem with Microsoft's ads. They're still #1 and the bigger company, but by referencing Apple's successful ad campaign, they're acting like Apple is #1 ... they serve to remind people that Apple comes up with good ideas that Microsoft then takes and shapes into something that so-called "normal people" can use or understand.
...
These copy-and-paste ads lack soul and are merely "eh".

John Gruber dares to agree:

The framing of Apple’s ads is not about either/or. Not a choice between two rival products, like Democrat/Republican, Chevy/Ford, Coke/Pepsi. The framing instead is special vs. regular. Not Coke vs. Pepsi but Coke vs. “soda” ... This is the role Apple has reduced Windows to in this advertising campaign
...
So what makes Microsoft’s new “I’m a PC” commercials so jaw-droppingly bad is that they’re not countering Apple’s message, but instead they’re reinforcing it ... This only emphasizes that “PC” is not a brand name but a generic.

And finally...

• Credit Crunch

Like this stuff? Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 22 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You can follow him on Twitter, pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook, or just use boring old email: blogwatch@richi.co.uk.

Previously in IT Blogwatch:

• Sarah Palin email hacker drops anchor, arrr!
• Microsoft dumps Seinfeld for Hodgman-lookielikie
• Fancy a $25K Cray on your desk?