PC to Mac: I’m Cheaper

March 27, 2009 at 4:52 am PT

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For months, Microsoft (MSFT) has jabbed at Apple (AAPL) with an, at times, baffling advertising campaign for Windows PCs. Now Microsoft may finally land a solid blow against its rival.

In a new chapter to its ad campaign that will begin airing during the NCAA basketball playoffs on CBS (CBS) Thursday evening, Microsoft will begin hammering on a theme that could resonate in these times of economic hardship: how much less expensive Windows PCs are than Macs. For the commercials, Microsoft’s advertising agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, recruited prospective computer shoppers in the Los Angeles area through Craigslist and other sites, with a tantalizing offer to give them between $700 and $2,000 to purchase a new PC.

According to Brad Brooks, corporate vice president for Windows consumer product marketing at Microsoft, the agency told recruits it was a market research firm and didn’t mention it was working with Microsoft. The recruits were told they could keep whatever money they didn’t spend on a PC so they had incentives to look for good values.

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Tagged with: Apple, Brad Brooks, CBS, Craigslist, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, digital, Digits, economic hardship, economy, hardware, Internet, Los Angeles, Macs, market research, Microsoft, NCAA basketball playoffs, Nick Wingfield, PC, television, The Wall Street Journal, Twitter, Windows, Windows PCs, Yahoo

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  • http://allthingsd.com/ Eric Welch

    Good values? You’re joking, right? That 17″ laptop that “shopper” (who happens to be a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild) ended up with is a 17″ laptop that has the same resolution as the 15″ MacBook Pro. Oops. Not only that, but from reports by owners, the screen is absolutely horrible. Even a few degrees off center and you see a negative image. Penny wise pound foolish. It’s rather pathetic that Microsoft’s only argument for buying a Windows PC has devolved to, “Hey, it’s cheaper.” I guess saying it has Vista is a liability?

    Reminds me of the switcher campaign Microsoft did a while back. It appears that because they couldn’t find a single person who switched from Mac to PC, they made a person up, used a stock photo and had a copywriter at the ad agency write a fake testimonial. It took only hours to uncover that fake campaign, and Microsoft had to hang its head in shame and pull the ads.

    Like the lame ads by Seinfeld and Gates. Now, there’s a comedy duo. Bill the inventor of Windows and the guy who made sure a Mac was always on the desk in his on-screen apartment.

    Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

  • http://allthingsd.com/ Michael Long

    I’m sure this is a brilliant move by Microsoft, permanently associating Windows with every low-end $399 plastic piece of junk out there.

  • Mark Ashton

    Eric and Michael are missing at least one important point. With PC’s running Windows, consumers have an incredibly wide range of choices. Walk into any Best Buy or Fry’s and you’ll see up to 100 different desktop and laptop systems in an credibly wide range of prices and configurations. The ecosystem built around Windows is a key strength and differentiator from Apple. I was in the market for a new low cost computer a few weeks ago. I went to my local Fry’s and looked at their selection. I even considerd a Mac Mini but at $599 and up I couldn’t justify it. I looked through their PC’s and still didn’t find exactly what I wanted at the price I wanted. What did I do? I spend less than $400 on a motherboard, CPU, case, DVD drive, hard drive and network adapter with exactly the specs I wanted. I had never built a PC before. I had it put together in 90 minutes and running Windows another 40 minutes after that. That’s a choice Apple will never give us.

    The bottom line for me is that PC’s provide better value and more choice. The marketplace results seem to suggest that the vast majority of consumers agree with me.

  • http://allthingsd.com/ Michael Long

    Mark, Windows PCs only provide “value” to people that don’t value their time.

    For that matter, value doesn’t equal cheapest, as it’s a subjective term. I, personally, “value” well-made high-performance tools that do the job and do it well.

  • Mark Ashton

    I understand what value means. That’s why I didn’t refer only to price. Value is about relative worth. For me, the relative worth of a Mac is less than what I get from a PC. To me choice is more important; choice of hardware and software from many different companies. At one time in my life I valued image more and found Macs a lot more attractive. I’m now in that over 30 demographic where I could care less about my computer being a status symbol. I use computers to do work for me and sometimes entertain me. They’re tools.

  • http://allthingsd.com/ Michael Long

    Mark. I’ve used PC’s since 1981. Macs since 1984. Apple’s since ’78. Don’t tell me about status symbols, or give me your sage “at one time in my life” baloney.

    After decades of experience on both sides of the fence, I use the best tool for the job. I run a company with plenty of PC servers, but I personally use a Mac (several, in fact) because, as I said, I appreciate well-made high-performance tools that do the job, do it well, and that don’t need excessive babysitting and handholding.

    But all of that is neither here nor there in regard to the article in question and, as I ALSO said earlier, this is probably a strategic blunder on Microsoft’s behalf. The absolute worst thing they can do is commoditize Windows and associate it with cheap low-end hardware whose margins are measured in pennies.

    They’re ceding the high-end space to Apple, and don’t even realize it.

  • Derek Johnston

    I think the “Lauren” video is effective. Lauren is very cute, and she is making a “selection”, in a way, allegorically selecting a mate. The apparently single, reproductively viable and attractive female is opting out of the Mac image. She is even self-opting out of the “cool crowd” because she is practical as well as attractive — and she knows she has a budget that has strict limitations, and is not swayed by status conferred by brand adoption. It is clear the message is effective because it has oddly hit some Mac users with sufficient intensity at a subconscious level so as to cause them to blither unreasonably about everything not-Mac being a piece of crap. Surely, some things not-Mac are crappy, but if you’re like the secretary in my office who recently chose a $285 XP-driven netbook with SSD over a Mac and a mainstream PC notebook, it’s clear that many things not-Mac are actually good or better than Mac or standard-PC, depending on what the user wants and can afford. The argument that “Mac is the best for this and that” may be true, but the argument that “Mac is the best for whatever, so it’s worth the up front cost” doesn’t work when Mom or Dad is laid off, or if your pay just got cut by 15%. Mac in that case isn’t worth the cost, and has become unaffordable. This commercial made that pretty clear, because Lauren was pretty excited when she got some money back.

    Apple needs to watch its niche. Netbooks and other new technologies that offer reasonable efficiency at low cost with easy upgrade (netbook getting old? just buy another modern one) will be altering profit margins for all hardware manufacturers and retailers.