MAC vs. PC campaign Case Study

Mac vs. PC Case Study

Introduction

            In May 2006, the infamous MAC vs. PC campaign was constituted. The series of commercials and advertisements were entitled “Get a Mac”, which contained 66 commercials that aired on TV all arguing one main point: that a MAC is better than a PC. The campaign features actor, Justin Long who represents the “MAC”, and John Hodgeman who plays the role of the “PC”. The two famous actors personify the computers they portray as well as resemble the two founding creators of both companies, a chubbier Bill Gates and a younger Steve Jobs. Long is the young, betterlooking, easy going person that is supposed to represent MAC products as being easier to use and much more laid back. Hodgeman is seen in this commercial as being very dorky looking, up tight, with an overall boring appearance portraying a much more complex PC product. MAC created this campaign in order to raise sales and take out the biggest competitor they have, Microsoft.

Planning

To create this advertising campaign, the advertiser (Apple Inc.) worked very closely alongside its advertising agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day. The close-working included Lee Clow, the creative director of the entire campaign, flying from Los Angeles to Cupertino weekly to meet up with Steve Jobs to discuss their objectives and opinion on Apple’s “Mac vs. PC” advertisement campaign (Elmer-DeWitt, 2009). Clow was not a stranger to Jobs, and they actually first started working together during the 1980s, when Clow helped release Apple’s advertisements highlighting the newly released Macintosh computer. Also, Clow assisted the company again in 1997, with its “Think Different” ad campaign, officially introducing the famous iMac laptop into the technology world (Leonard, 2009). According to TNS Media Intelligence, Apple ended up spending $264 million on television ads alone in the 2006, the starting year of its campaign.

Execution

As well as airing in the United States, this advertisement campaign was also seen overseas, suchas by audiences in Japan, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. For most of these countries, Apple decided to modify the characters and content within these commercials in order to reflect that specific countries culture as well as to avoid being offensive to their beliefs/traditions. An example of this change in the campaign to reach the different overseas markets was the casting change in the UK advertisements, switching out John Hodgeman and Justin Long with David Mitchell and Robert Webb, two moderately famous British television personalities who have their own sitcom in Britain called “Peep Show” (Fowler, Steinberg, Patrick, 2007). However, after these advertisements starting airing overseas in places such as the UK and Japan, respect for the Apple brand fell almost immediately. “According to a YouGov daily survey of 2,000 people, perceptions of the Apple brand, measured on a scale of 1 to 100, fell to 8 from 14 in the five days after the ads first appeared.” (Fowler, Steinberg, Patrick, 2007). The main goal of Apple’s “Mac vs. PC” campaign was to portray owning a Mac as the “cool” and “hip” thing to do over owning a PC computer, in a light-hearted, comedic way.

Research Conducted by the Company

When picking the starring actors in this campaign, there is a clear depiction on who Apple is trying to reach in its audience. The PC brand is represented by John Hodgeman of The Daily Show, and the Apple brand is represented by Justin Long from the hit comedy movie entitled “Dodge Ball”. Hodgeman is constantly portrayed as being a typical “nerd” who looks disheveled and confused. Long however is portrayed as a “hip” young adult who is into things such as blogging and staying in touch with social media. In the commercials, Long is also always dressed casually as well as having an easy-going personality. Renee C. Quinn, a journalist on IPWatchog with a B.S. from Pennsylvania State University mentions that Long’s look, “…lends to the Apple “brand” of being user friendly, easy-going and innovative not to mention fun to explore with options such as iTunes, iPhotos and iLife.” When searching for someone to represent their brand to billions of people globally, they needed to find someone who was easy to relate to, and someone that fit the profile of their target audience. Long qualified as fulfilling both of those tasks, but having a moderate, conversational tone as well as being a young, white male who despite given his ethnicity and age, can actually appeal to a broader range of the population due to how approachable he comes off as. Apple’s target audience is extremely broad, and could best be described as the young adult to around retirement age, all ethnicities, both genders, as well as a wide range of economic status due to Apple having some products that are significantly cheaper than others (ie. 16GB iPhone 5C is $99 compared to its 32GB counterpart priced at $199).

Retrieve and Review Collateral

            The success of an ad campaign is often measured by itslongevity. According to Mac World, “if a campaign runs for a long time, it is successful.” Which leads one to believe that because this campaign lasted quite a long time, it was definitely a success. Beginning in May of 2006, and ending in 2010, the campaign consisted of a whopping 66 commercials. It would hard to conclude that the success of Apple during this period happened by chance. These commercials aired during a time of tremendous growth in mac sales. The Cupertino kids reported a 12% increase year after year after the start of this campaign. Even resulting in a 39% increase in overall sales by the end of the 2006-year. Each “episode” covered a different exigence that existed between the two tech giants. Where PC’s lacked in one area, Apple would show where they are adequate in the same area. Some of the major points that Apple made about PC’s include that they are: extremely prone to crashing, virus’, are only good for business type business and spreadsheets, used by the same old business man, lacks simplicity, and known to frustrate its customers. Additionally, according to IDC, a technology industry research firm, as a result of this campaign launched by Apple, their share of the computer desktop market in the United States has more than doubled. IDC also reported that Apple’s stock price has risen by 142 percent since 2006, when the advertisements were first released.

Evaluation

A campaign that screams such bold statements is sure to start an internet swirl of feedback. Without much surprise, Apple fanboys loved the string of commercials presenting the superiority ofa mac. On the contrary, PC users stated their case where they believed Apple was egregiously wrong. “There are other people whom the ads could have the opposite of a desired effect on. Some people don’t want overbearing statements such as ‘Macs are better at like stuff’ without some sort of backing” (Neal, Richard. The Apple Blog). One of most interesting ads released, caused a great deal of stir out of all the 66 total ads titled, “Meant for Work.” It shows the PC covered in stickers. The PC is complaining about how he just wanted to do some spreadsheets, work with employers, and do business things but these “kids” happened. Kids have these wild imaginations, blogs, movies, and pictures they like doing. These activities have been driving him crazy and put him into “sleep mode.” Interestingly enough, once Microsoft released that they would no longer be providing support for windows XP, Forbes released the article, “Bring Back Apple’s Mac Vs. PC Ads Since Windows XP Isn’t Supported. Overall the media certainly liked this campaign and thought the ads were positive and effective for apple. Leading to increasing sales, winning several awards, and cementing a negative stereotype towards PC’s for all viewers.

Personal Evaluation the Case Study

PC’s are even more susceptible to viruses and problems now because of the drop of support. In addition people will now be looking for different types of platforms, such as Mac’s so it could increase their sales and boost business for Apple. Certainly not what Microsoft was hoping for. Years and years later Microsoft struck back very similarly with their strategy in their Windows Tablet vs iPad commercial. These commercials actually turned out to be quite hilarious and ironic. It starts off with Siri saying, “Oh no here we go again” referring back past commercials. The entire thing is comparison between the two tablets and what they can do. Microsoft points out all things their windows tablet can do and the features it has that the iPad does not: USB drive, snapping on keyboard, price drop. “Less talking, More Doing” it ends with. The Apple vs Microsoft battle has existed for years with each company always taking shots at each other. Apple has been known to throw many witty comments into their World Wide Developer Conference Keynotes. Even taking shots at a specific time during a Microsoft presentation when their demo tablet failed to work. These two companies are always thought of as enemies and opposites. Consistently battling each other in all individual tech markets with their products. There is great irony in this however. Although Steve Jobs has passed, him and Bill Gates were known to have an incredible relationship, and were great friends during all the feuds.

 

Reactions/Similar Campaigns

Additionally, countless amounts of parodies have been made which attributes to the success of the ad campaign, including the triggering of the “I’m a PC” Microsoft campaign. In these Microsoft tried to disprove everything Apple stated in their commercials by showing all kinds of different people stating that they are a “PC.” It is however difficult to say whether the ads worked or not. Studies have shown that most people do not actually know if they are persuaded by an advertisement because so much of it is done psychologically. Therefore for one to say the ad did not work on them is not always a completely valid statement. This can work both ways. However, often is someone says that something worked for them it most likely did. Their sales showed a finite increase so to claim it did not work would be difficult. People often think there is no such thing as bad publicity, so even if this did attract much negative attention, it still attracted a great deal of attention. Attention that Apple used to their advantage and attribute to their immense success today.

 

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