Maxys Max Media and Entertainment

"G'day Jerry, Bill here, maaaatttee, listen, some bad news, the campaign sucks, people hate it, I'm pulling the plug...it's OK Jerry...don't get upset, look maybe we look at an online video tv show or something like that, I'll get my marketing guys onto it Jerry, Jerry!"

According to Digg - Valley Mag, Microsoft dumped it's anti-Apple campaign ads featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Big Bill just into the second part of the $300m campaign. The Microsoft spin doctors are out there telling everyone it was planned, maybe/ maybe not (I’m writing about it). Bad news spreads like wildfire but blind Freddy can see that the battleground here is not the desktop but a positional play by Microsoft to launch a new mobile Google killer.

If you don’t know the background this was Microsoft's attempt at being cool and funny like the much loved Apple ads.  Who has time to watch something this long ( I stopped after about a minute)?    

It wasn’t! It missed the mark completely – way too long, too high brow, too complicated, too hard (a bit like Vista) and not funny, whatever message was in there was lost.

I also read that in the first time in history some people were feeling sorry for Microsoft – LOL not sure that’s the type of response you want from the market.

Interesting - Why do some messages “cut through” and stick while others fail?

Apples market share continues to increase and the comparison between the two is a great case study but honestly does anyone really think MS cares too much right now?  Apples market share is what 15%-20%? The real inroads will occur when the major internet interface is your mobile phone and in this space Apple is way ahead.  

On one side Steve Jobs (head of Apple) has done a great job (excuse the pun) in understanding the market and in particular curving a niche in the creative space and positioning and targeting innovators and early adopters. My film director mates and designers are fully branded advocates!

On the other side Microsoft has never been cool, rich yes, cool no, it serves to point the business was founded on someone else s hardware and it’s early adopters were accountants (not that there is anything wrong with that).  My PC buds aren't nearly as passionate.

From a selling perspective it's interesting to look at buyer behavior - don't get me wrong my first home computer was an Apple IIe nearly thirty years ago but I gave up on computer branding and advocacy a long time ago.    

Microsoft does well at the majority of late adopters and laggards in the market – those computer users who are simply happy to email and browse the web using Explorer. BUT today’s computer space is no longer driven by spreadsheets – it’s driven by creativity and communication and this is where Apple "excels" (excuse the irony). Personally I still use my trusty old PC – it does what I need to do.

The question is – would I consider a Mac next time around?  Now's there's a change!