Microsoft Has an Ad That Works

CNET reports on an anecdote from a Microsoft (MSFT) executive who says that Apple (AAPL) has demanded that Microsoft pull an ad in which a shopper looks at some Macs and says that you can't get one for less than $1,000. Microsoft takes credit for getting Apple to drop its prices and says gleefully that it'll keep running versions of the "Laptop Hunters" commercial.

I don't know about crediting that Apple price drop to Microsoft's TV spots. But I'll believe the claim that the ad works. You know why? Because it actually gives people a reason to buy a Windows machine. It's not a great reason—"it's cheap" is not the best claim to make. And it's not a great ad. The ad is dull, the people in the ad are dull, the claim is dull.

What distinguishes it from Microsoft's artsier recent advertising, is that it actually does come out and make a sales proposition. It is not even close to the league of Apple's advertising. In wit, in look, in memorability ... in anything. But what it recognizes is that if you want to sell a product, you have to tell people why they should buy it. Microsoft's claim that you can be a PC and not be alone didn't do that. Apple's advertising always has. Folks think the Apple ads work because they associate Apple with "cool."

What Apple really is selling though isn't "cool" but competent. Apple's advertising hammers home some simple points. Macs don't crash. They're easy to use. And buyers are satisfied with them. Those claims come wrapped up in clever packaging, which makes Apple's ads terrific. Same with, say, Toyota's Scion ads—great ads that come down to the simple claim "It's really roomy." Same with the old Federal Express (FDX) "When it absolutely positively has to get there overnight" commercials, some of the best TV spots of all time.

There are funny ads that don't work. There are beautiful ads—Microsoft has made tons of those—that don't. The lesson in this for Microsoft is that the first step in making a TV spot isn't asking "What looks cool?" It's coming out with an easy to understand claim that actually gives people a reason to spend their money. When they have that down, then they can worry about the other stuff.