Microsoft and Apple are waging the most political ad war ever.

That didn’t do the trick, though. So, Microsoft changed its messaging. It purchased Jerry Seinfeld’s soul for $10 million and stuck him in some ads with Bill Gates. Except the ads weren’t about Windows, Vista, or PCs. They were about shoes and family dinners.

To summarize: The ads sucked.

So, Microsoft changed its message yet again. The goal was to find something that would be received well by the press and have a chance to resonate with the public. Rather than reinvent the wheel, Microsoft borrowed a central spoke from Apple’s. Say hello to the now-ubiquitous “I’m a PC” ads.

Microsoft’s ingenious riff explicitly acknowledges Apple’s campaign. But then it implicitly suggests Apple doesn’t know what it’s talking about. PC owners are proud to be PC owners, and they’re not a homogenous, droll lot. Next time you see a Mac ad, you won’t be able to see John Hodgman’s droopy schlub without thinking of Pharell’s overwhelming suave. Microsoft has managed to subvert the Apple ads by saying it isn’t so different from its opponent, after all.