Microsoft’s 2008 ‘I’m a PC’ Ad

I didn’t care for these spots when they were new:

Pathetic. So sad. This campaign (which feels utterly unconnected to the Seinfeld spots) might as well be titled “Please stop making fun of Windows, Apple.” […]

Directly responding to Apple’s campaign is weak. It’s playing Pepsi to Apple’s Coke, Burger King to Apple’s McDonald’s. It’s an explicit acknowledgement that Microsoft is the second-place brand.

In hindsight, I see how the ads were a tacit acknowledgement that they’d dug themselves a hole to climb out of with Windows Vista. Much stronger ads than Intel’s this week — I really doubt there will be any nostalgia for this Intel campaign a decade from now.

There’s also this gem of a comment: “They tell us it’s the iWay or the highway. We think that’s a sad message.”

All of this just goes to show how incredibly effective Apple’s 2006-2009 “Get a Mac” campaign was. And it was such a strange concept, really. There’s something ineffable about its effectiveness.

(Via Harry McCracken, who also points out that Apple had two commercials in the campaign that talked about Macs running Windows Vista.)

★ Thursday, 18 March 2021