Microsoft's PC Ads

I know this has been known for awhile in the blogosphere (or people with common sense) but I was thinking about it because I saw the ad campaign on TV again.

You may have seen it...some doofus off the street, a real Jane Average Consumer only this time she's named Lauren, is given a little over a thousand bucks and told that if she can find a system with a particular set of specs for that amount or less she can keep the computer. It's like winning the lotto!

Lauren goes to the Apple store and immediately heads back out to report to the camera that there's nothing within that price range that is near those specifications. "I guess I'm not cool enough to be a Mac person." Ooh, SLAM!

She ends up buying a wonderful WINDOWS computer from someplace...Best Buy, maybe? Woo hoo! Jackpot!

One problem. She never went into the Apple store. The proof is in the still shots captured from the advertisement.

C'mon. How can you screw up staging something so simple? Really. How dim do you have to be to screw up something like that?

Quick business tip. When you're dealing with the subject matter of technology, even if your target audience is meant to be the average computer-ignorant consumer, don't skimp on the details because geeks will call you out on it. Then they'll advertise it in the same Webbertubes that your average computer-ignorant consumer in the market for a computer may run across the information.

Know your audience as well as your potential audience.

And don't mess with geeks.