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Microsoft alters Laptop Hunters "Lauren" ad after Apple calls to complain
In a continuation of the saga that began about ten days ago, Microsoft has altered one of its Laptop Hunters ads to reflect Apple's recent price changes. Last we'd heard, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner was boasting that the ads had been so successful that a rep from Apple had called to ask that the ads be pulled. Turner pointed out that Apple's complaint -- that the prices were no longer correct -- was the result of a price cut of "$100 or something." Now it appears that one ad -- the one featuring the second Lauren -- has been re-edited so that she no longer mentions the price of the MacBook Pro ("over $2,000"), which has been dropped to $1,700. We'll be honest -- we don't care how this turns out, just as long as we can keep on using the words "Apple" and "Microsoft" in the same sentence.[Via Apple Insider]
Laptop Hunters part five: same schtick, different Lauren
Ready for another round of Microsoft's Laptop Hunters? This time it's Lauren -- not the infamous original LH -- and mom seeking the perfect PC to take with her to law school. Top on the list of needs is a portable with speed and battery life, all for less than $1700. Shying away from the more expensive MacBook Pro -- a pretty tame jab, much like the last ad -- the dynamic duo settle on a Dell XPS 13a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, and a $899 price tag. All in all, not the most exciting commercial the series has fostered, and with Apple finally going on the offensive, we really hope the gang in Redmond take it up a notch. See the relatively bite-free video for yourself after the break. Update: Looks like Microsoft's pulled the video, probably due to some audio sync issues -- can we get Sheila on the case? We'll let you know when it springs back up. Update 2: It's back online and now in HD.
Some thoughts on the new Microsoft ads
Well, the new ad blitz from Microsoft has begun. Advertising agency Crispin Porter + Boguksy is back at it with a new web video and click through banners that tell the story of Lauren, a Los Angeles woman (and member of the Screen Actors Guild) who was recruited from Craigslist. She supposedly didn't know she was in a Microsoft ad, but instead thought she was in a laptop marketing test.She was given a thousand dollars after saying she wanted a 17-inch laptop with a good keyboard. She tried an Apple Store, but couldn't find anything at the price she wanted. She wound up with an HP Pavilion (here are the specs) running Windows Home Premium and a pretty slow AMD processor. She has minimal screen resolution and about 2 1/2 hours of battery life if she's lucky. All in all, not a bad machine, but certainly not a 17" Mac which would have been a lot more money.Of course the laptops were not comparably equipped, so the cards were stacked in Microsoft's favor. That's what commercials do. Microsoft has been pummeled for more than 3 years by the extremely popular Mac vs. PC guys. Microsoft responded last summer with the Mojave ads, where people were tricked into believing they were seeing a brand new OS from MS, when in fact they were just seeing Vista. They were told about the features, and loved them. What they weren't allowed to do, however, was actually use Vista, or try to install it on their own PCs. Those were telling omissions.Microsoft followed up with the Jerry Seinfeld-Bill Gates ads. They were fun to watch, but had no discernible message. Interestingly, Vista was never mentioned.Now we come to the new ads, which doubtless will be followed by more shopping trips. In the first ad, Vista is never mentioned, just like in the Seinfeld commercials. Interesting. MS does not make computer hardware. Instead, their main product is an OS which is currently Vista. Yet in 2 out of 3 'expensive' ads, not a word about the flagship operating system.
Microsoft's new ad shows how people shop for computers in the real America
Microsoft's latest ad -- a companion-piece to its new "Laptop Hunters" website -- stars "real person" Lauren. Lauren's a little funky, a little folksy, and 100 percent real. She doesn't have an agenda to push, she's just out in the world, living in "reality" searching for a sweet laptop that's under $1,000. She admits to herself she's "not cool" enough for a Mac (though cool enough for a Volkswagen) and gets on with her life. She's a real American -- with an unpretentious, pragmatic life. The ad rather smartly puts the focus on our current economic climate, while expertly reinforcing that age old Apple-user-as-dick stereotype, pejoratively wielding the word "cool" as an underhanded insult -- odd, since the Microsoft portal it wants you to visit helps "socialites" pick a laptop. All in all? It's kind of a brilliantly mean piece of work -- check it out after the break. [Via BoingBoing]
