Technology

I own an iPod and if the iPhone weren’t serviced through AT&T, I’d probably own one of those too. I’m also a PC user and I’ve never owned a Mac, so in light of the Mac vs. PC debate, I have to ask myself what camp do these conflicting brand loyalties put me in? Am I a PC or am I a Mac? In their latest full frontal commercial battles, Apple and Microsoft (posing as the ambassador for PC brands) are calling out for allegiance and drawing borders around their respective camps. Apple’s “Mac vs. PC” ads comically depict the known stereotypes of Mac and PC users. According to these commercials, Mac users are more hip and trendy, while PC users are the nerdy, techy business types. I initially liked those commercials until I realized that I was a PC user and I didn’t appreciate being stereotyped as a nerd. The new Microsoft “I’m a PC” commercials come to my defense by reinforcing the fact that PCs have the largest market share and are widely used across all different industry verticals. Even stars like Eva Longoria and Pharrell Williams use them! Whew…I’m not a nerd after all (…).

Although it’s hard to disagree that the Apple brand is trendy because of the look and the success of their products, I dare to say that the appeal of Apple products really comes from their ease of use. When computers were exclusively devices for tech savvy engineers, Apple made using the computer a more inclusive and personal technology experience for the non-Silicon Valley types by hiding the layers of complexity and making face-to-face tech support available at their Apple retail locations. In contrast, PCs annoy me with their pop-up error windows when something doesn’t work the way I want it to. And there are no longer any PC retail outlets where I can bring my laptop into for troubleshooting expertise, but I can usually sort through the issue myself within a couple of minutes without having to consult the web-based support system. That said, it’s generally easier for PC users to switch to Macs, but not as easy for Mac users to switch to PCs.

So although Apple’s Mac vs. PC commercials depict the generally accepted stereotypes associated with the two camps, they don’t tell the whole truth. And the truth is that there are more PC users than there are Mac users, and that the PC offers both technical business as well as creative functionalities. For example, Dreamworks’ Kung Fu Panda was digitally animated using HP’s new TouchSmart computer, a task one would assume would be executed using Macs. The project was leveraged in HP’s latest branding campaign “The PC is Personal Again”, which repositions the PC as a personal media-hub and dispels the notion that right-brained thinkers use only Macs. And although the tag line markets HP’s products, the PC world, in general, seems to have adopted a similar marketing theme to remind consumers of the multi-faceted capacities of the Windows Operating system. According the Microsoft commercials, actors, engineers, bloggers, and rappers love their PCs.

These Microsoft commercials are centered around the idea of “Windows without Walls”, which inspires and reinforces the notion that technology allows us to “start a dialogue between hundreds of devices, billions of people and a world of ideas”. Despite these high-profile ad efforts, the commercials still don’t inject into the PC brands the same type of passionate fervor that defines the Apple users’ loyalty to the Apple brand. The Apple brand icon imbues technology that allows for creative self-expression, and even though PCs allow us to do the same, Apple’s marketing efforts have convinced us otherwise. So what this Mac vs. PC debate really comes down to is the same thing that draws people to choose either Internet Explorer or Mozilla: the usability preferences between on and the other. Apple’s success is ultimately the result of a more cohesive marketing effort, which for example, turned a simple mp3 player into a technology as well as a cultural phenomenon. Although the latest Microsoft ads, in cohesion with HP’s “The PC is personal again” branding theme, don’t directly retaliate against Apple’s blatant attacks, they certainly correct the misperception of who the PC user is and remind the world that you can do exactly the same thing on a PC as you can on a Mac, if not more. And although these commercials aren’t as humorous as the Apple commercials, it’s the first time we’ve seen a concerted attempt to re-brand the PC as “cool” and “personal” because ultimately our lives have gone digital and technology isn’t exclusively for geeky software engineers anymore. PC marketers have finally realized that the computer is not just for work anymore.

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Bonus: Jay-Z HP Hand Commercial - “The PC is Personal Again”