You cannot watch television right now without seeing an ad for the new Windows 7 Phone. They look like fun, easy to use little creatures. But do I want to buy it? Not sure. I’m still pretty loyal to the iPhone4 (which has changed my life, again). And they promised that.

The current Windows 7 Phone commercials are a parody of those of us who can’t seem to peel ourselves away from the devices that have allowed us to communicate all too frequently. They present a series of anecdotes where the “smart phone” user is presented with extreme situations (like dropping the phone in the urinal they’ve just used, then retrieving it) and an on-looker quips, “really?”  They are begging the question, do we really care this much about these devices?

Windows 7 Phone is the answer to all of our smart phone woes. They claim the phone is designed to “get us in, get it done, and get out”.  They’re giving us our lives back. It is the phone that will save us from our phones.

To this I beg the question: “Do we want to be saved?”

Though I found this particular set of spots to be very entertaining and often saying, ‘hey, I’d do that.’ I don’t think the over-all message is successful. See, we’re not on our phones so much because of a lack of logical functionality, we’re on them because we need to be! Windows isn’t really solving this problem. My girlfriend loved these spots because she hates how much I use my phone (and complains to me quite a bit about only seeing the top of my head). I admit, I’ve gotten much better about not staying “connected” while out at dinner or with friends. BUT – it doesn’t mean I’m not going to pick the thing up at the next available “acceptable” moment.

By the way, she wants to upgrade her phone as soon as AT&T allows us…yup, to an iPhone4! Remember, she is the one who related most to the ad.

Any new smart phone won’t really save us from our phones — unless it disconnects us.

So, while the ads are entertaining and do a wonderful job pointing out a pretty bad habit facing society today, they don’t really give us a reason to buy. Although, Windows did sell 40,000 in day 1. So maybe I need to pull my head up and look around a bit more.

Perhaps, I’d want to spend less time on the phone if it ran Windows.

A great lesson here. Before you spend bank on your next set of clever ads, be sure you read all the possible messages they’re sending. Don’t sacrifice your dollars and potential customers in the name of being cute. Be cute… but be smart!

Apple Logo is Tradmarked property of Apple Computer.

Paul McDougall of Information Week wrote an article I found most fascinating.  By now, if you’re watching anything on television, you’ve seen the new wing of Microsoft’s continuing assault on Apple’s “elitist” attitude. The war was started by Apple a few years ago with the iconic “Apple vs. PC” television ads. The world seemed to fall in love with these ads that portrayed the PC (and all PC users) as over-weight, dorky “suits” with no personality
and tons of problems. While the Mac (as you can imagine) was a young, cool, good looking hipster with a witty attitude and charming air of sarcasm.

Microsoft logo is a Trademarked property of Microsoft.

During this onslaught of advertising bombs, it felt like Apple had a new ad bashing the PC directly and poking fun of Microsoft every week. While this was happening, the sleeping dog computer giant Microsoft continued to keep quite, didn’t complain, took the abuse and just kept making and selling product.  Then, suddenly, the one sided fight became war with Microsoft’s famed Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Gates mini-series ad campaign. While many people felt these ads failed miserably, I felt like they were advertising gold. Did the ads make any sense? No! Did they get an enormous amount of attention? Yes! It was the classic bait and switch, once Microsoft had everyone’s eyes, they unleashed the counter attack “I’m a PC” campaign. This showed that PC users were everyone from little kids, to rocket scientists to urban hipsters.

Then, some time later, after Microsoft had established that they and their users were cool, smart and hip, they switched gears again and brought us this:

Whether you’re a fan of Apple or Microsoft, you must admire the brilliance with which Microsoft has fought the war. After combating the initial stereotype and winning fans, Microsoft goes in for the kill with a “real life” series of spots that depict Apple’s biggest problem: Price. Part of Apple’s gig for so long has been the appeal of showing their product as a premium – like BMW, Rolex & American Express. Owning an Apple is a status symbol.

Microsoft pulls back the curtain and reveals Apple’s wizard is merely an over priced machine. From an advertising perspective, Microsoft has snuffed out all the wind in Apple’s mighty advertising sails. Apparently those aren’t the only “sales” Microsoft has affected either. Apple’s attorneys are demanding that Microsoft pulls the campaign. During the initial battle, Microsoft didn’t say a word, they took the beating and pressed forward. Now that Apple is in the cross hairs, they want the war to be over.

Let this be an advertising lesson to you for your business. In some cases (not many) the right call is to directly attack your competition and play a little dirty. However, when you open Pandora’s box, you have to be willing to combat whatever firepower your competitor sends your way.

In this time of recession everyone is finding ways to cut back, well, not everyone… but huge Fortune 500s are in a big way. The geniousness of Apple is that Apple is news. They can pull back on the ad budget in the beginning of 2009 because the news media has kept Apple in the spot light due to Job’s absence. Call me crazy (and many do), but everything Steve Jobs is usually motivated by something much beyond the surface. In this case? I think my bet is that he is basking in the press while sitting deviously ready to unveil his next wild and crazy toy………… Guerrilla marketing at its best.

Right now, I’m using a new “MacBook Pro” at the Apple Store in Lancaster. 3rd Idea is in the process of converting to a complete Apple setup and we’re excited be apart of the “Apple Revolution.”