Dell is a company that really wants to be edgy. Witness the design of the ultra-thin Adamo XPS.
Unfortunately, Dell is also a company that easily gets lost in the pursuit of edgy. Witness the design of the ultra-thin Adamo XPS.
So far they’ve only hinted at a release date. But when it arrives, Adamo XPS will arguably be the world’s thinnest computer. It will also be the first laptop that dares you to use it on your lap. Its ingenious hinge design lifts the keyboard up to an ideal typing angle when opened — and seems to point its armor-piercing screen base directly into your knees.
Hmm. Maybe there’s a reason no one’s dared to do this before.
Dell has also revealed that the Adamo XPS comes with a revolutionary electronic latch. To unlock it, you simply slide a finger across the heat-sensing lock, which then sexily illuminates and invites you inside. Of course, since its latch is electronic, the Adamo XPS can’t be opened at all if the battery runs out of juice, even if you just want to take a peek at the stickie you left inside. (Ultra-thin crowbar available separately.)
Thoughtful design is what people fall in love with. As Dell and others inevitably discover, that’s the kind of design that doesn’t come easy.
You’ve probably heard that Microsoft is opening its own stores, and that they’re taking a few cues from the Apple Stores. Addendum: they’re taking a few cues, the tables and stools, the shirts, the Genius Bars, the high fives, basically everything they can copy without running up against federal cloning laws.
This video, taken at the opening of the Microsoft Store in Scottsdale, is Exhibit A. If it weren’t for the bargain-hunter-ish PCs on the tables, you’d swear you were in Appleville. And if you’ve ever seen an Apple Store opening, you’ll be aghast over the degree to which they have imitated even the Apple hoopla. This isn’t copying. It’s identity theft.
I honestly don’t know how the people responsible can look at themselves in the mirror each morning. Surely there are other ways to get into retail without copying every detail from the people you’re constantly accused of copying in the first place.
Though there is some logic in replicating a proven winner, I’ll be extremely surprised if this works. The Apple Stores have broken retail records because millions of Mac-loving and Apple-curious people literally had no place to go for knowledgeable advice, hands-on experience and service. The stores broke records because, like most of Apple’s efforts, they were inventive. Microsoft Stores are doomed for two simple reasons:
1. PC people have a zillion other places to go to touch the latest models and get technical support: electronics chains, office supply chains, warehouse chains and countless ma-and-pa shops.
2. PC customers are price-driven. Even if they visit a Microsoft Store to try things out, they’ll buy where it’s cheapest — on the Internet or at a competing retailer. Remember, Microsoft itself has been so proudly advertising the mindset of the “laptop hunters.”
It’s just hard to imagine that too many people will feel particularly motivated to visit a Microsoft Store — unless, of course, it’s to join in the merriment on opening day.
Lore has it that when you’re the top gunfighter, there’s always some young buck dreaming of taking you out. So it is that Verizon lurks around the next corner for iPhone, armed with its Android-powered device. While no blood has yet been spilled, Verizon is out there baiting Apple with a teaser. Who knows how #1 will fight back, but for now one of the townsfolk has stepped in to defend Apple’s honor. It’s a fun little exchange.
Here’s the Verizon teaser:
Here’s the Apple fanboy comeback:
One creative note: I have to hand it to the Apple guy for the way he uses self-deprecating humor at the close. Most advertisers are so busy attacking competitors or bellowing their own advantages that they rarely employ this tone. It’s a far more human way to go, as you can see just by watching these two spots side by side.
Why Microsoft created their secret Windows 7 commercials will remain a mystery. The real campaign broke on W7 launch day, and the final marketing theme has been revealed. Basically, it’s “you asked for it.”
I may not be a Windows or Microsoft enthusiast, but as a fan of advertising I can’t help feeling that this effort is just an opportunity wasted. A huge, unmistakable, perfect-storm opportunity served up on a silver platter. Hold that thought for a minute.
The “you asked for it” strategy is valid. Not inspiring, but valid. You’ve got a billion potential customers, many of whom felt abused by Vista, and you want them to feel some ownership of Windows 7. It’s not unlike the old creative director’s trick of presenting a new campaign to a client by saying, “At our last meeting, you said something that really got us going…” I always wondered if they believed that. I also wonder if Microsoft’s customers will believe it.
Creatively, it’s another story. What we get is mass-market, feel-good, seen-it-before pap — the opposite of aspirational. There’s little authenticity here, though I empathize with the problem. Microsoft has never succeeded in creating a brand persona, so they’re stuck with the one that’s been created for them. And the good-natured benefactor we see here is definitely not it. I guess they believe that by showing us ordinary folk, they can be “one of the guys” — but it doesn’t work that way.
It’s always a risk to show real people in a campaign like this, because your viewers, consciously or subconsciously, have to ask themselves “do I really want to be like that person?” In many of the Windows 7 spots, especially the one above, the answer more than likely is “I’d rather kill myself.”
But what Microsoft did here isn’t nearly as disappointing as their failure to do more. This moment could have been historic. Any ad person who hadn’t already sold his/her soul would have gladly done so for the opportunity to introduce the technology that will be used by 90% of the planet’s computers. Having been proclaimed “the best Windows ever” by reviewers and users for months, it’s a guaranteed hit — a no-risk proposition. If ever an advertiser had permission to be bold, to be brave, to create something truly memorable — this was it. This was Microsoft’s “iPhone moment,” the magic time that exists only because of the 10-15 years that played out before, when all the world is watching. Windows 7 is the company’s core product, and this campaign could not only have presented W7 as a landmark in computing, it could have served to help create the brand personality Microsoft has been missing. It was all there for the taking, and they chose to be harmless instead.
It’s really quite a shame. Unless you’re a Mac user, of course — in which case it’s kind of like one big Windows 7 launch party.
(FYI, there are a number of spots running in this campaign now. If you’re interested, here are the links to the launch ad and another my idea spot.)
Okay, it may not be the most spectacular part of the computing experience — but Apple has always had a special place in its heart for the l’il critter that helped launch Revolution #1.
Here’s a quick stroll down memory lane, starting with the very first Macintosh mouse (which clearly shared some DNA with the common chimney brick).
Savor for a moment one of Apple’s most wretched mistakes: the hockey-puck mouse that shipped with the original iMac. Having no obvious “up” or “down” by feel, it sent cursors flying in all the wrong directions. A classic case of over-design. For consumers it was a major annoyance, for pros (it also shipped with the Power Mac) it was an outright insult.
Fortunately, chief designer Jony Ive recovered from that one. Form and function then lived happily ever after as we got the multi-button mouse with no buttons, the innovative scroll wheel (on the questionably named Mighty Mouse), and now, fresh out of the oven, the Magic Mouse. Clearly, this is the mother of all mice — now standard with the new iMacs and also available separately.
I tried one the other day and, creepy as it may sound, it actually made me smile. The entire mouse is a button, the entire surface is touch sensitive. You scroll or flip through pages simply by sliding a finger or two. It really is one of those “what will they think of next” moments. And it gives you the feeling that Apple puts more thinking into their mouse than most computer makers put into their PCs.
Apparently he likes almost all of the products he makes
Michael Dell’s remarks at a recent Churchill Club dinner in Silicon Valley shed an interesting light on the values of his company and the state of the PC industry as a whole.
First, he dumped on the whole idea of netbooks. “Take a user who’s used to a 15-inch notebook and then give him a 10-inch netbook,” Dell said. “He’ll say ‘Hey, this is so fantastic. It’s so cute. It’s so light. I love it. But about 36 hours later, he’s saying ‘The screen’s gonna have to go. Give me my 15-inch screen back.’” Dell also said that “a fair amount of customers” weren’t too crazy about the low performance.
It won’t exactly cause an earthquake that Michael Dell is dissing the concept of an Insprion Mini 10 at the same time he’s selling them by the truckload. But just imagine the news it would make if Steve Jobs stepped up to the mike and said, “You’ll love how thin a MacBook Air is, but once you spend a few days with it, you’ll start missing that MacBook Pro.” We do hold different companies to different standards.
But Dell wasn’t done yet. Moving on to more manly machines, he said that when you get the latest processor technology, along with Windows 7 and Office 2010, “you will love your PC again. We actually have not been able to say that for a long time.” Of course, over the last three years he’s shown no signs of moral dilemma about taking people’s money in exchange for those hard-to-love Vista computers.
Clearly there’s little danger of Michael Dell ever being confused with Steve Jobs. But Dell’s own words shine a thousand-gigawatt spotlight on the stark differences between the two — as personalities and champions of different business models. Dell lives in an ultra-competitive world that’s all about numbers. Jobs lives in an equally competitive world that’s all about innovation.
The difference between the two can be seen in every product they make. If you listen, you can also hear it in every speech they make.
If a commercial is to fail, normally it’s because of weak creative or unsound strategy. So I have to give BlackBerry a little credit for coming up with a third way. By their choice of a musical theme, they’ve successfully broken the gall barrier.
I refer, of course, to the use of the Beatles classic All You Need Is Love. Before I go on, let us first observe a moment of silence to lament that the Beatles catalog ever fell into enemy hands, and that such commercialization of the holy writings is even possible. Thankfully, the evil-doers can only get their mitts on the publishing rights, and not the actual Beatles tracks.
But back to the commercial. By summoning the spirit of the Beatles, BlackBerry muscles its way into a most personal and sacred place. Unless your name is McCartney, it takes a lot of nerve to go there — with a bit of arrogance and miscalculation.
My emotional hurt aside, there’s another reason why BlackBerry’s approach fails. The theme of the new campaign is: “Do what you love, love what you do.” I’m sorry, but to claim love on a Beatles-esque scale, it has to be authentic. There is precious little about the company RIM or the product BlackBerry that allows them to claim this territory. Try to be something you’re not and you’re just asking for trouble.
The spot above is the only one currently available on YouTube (forgive the unclean head and tail). I’ve seen another spot on TV that features a young couple having issues and, my personal favorite, cool people dancing. This type of work is born of the belief that if you show cool young people, you will attract cool young people — even though these are the people most likely to see right through you.
As most creatives know, you don’t become cool by telling people you’re cool. Intel got ridicule, not hipness, for phony-cool dancers in its Multiplicity campaign. Dell made us squirm with young/cool buyers dancing their way out of the dell.com warehouse. Even Apple failed with its launch spot for the very first iPod, featuring a guy dancing through his apartment (dubbed “iClod” by some). Only when the Silhouettes campaign came along did iPod get the image right. Those spots captured an emotion without pandering to the target audience. They proved that you don’t have to hold up a mirror to your customers to connect with them.
Clearly BlackBerry is jealous of the love being directed at iPhone. “Hell, let’s just tell people they should love us too” isn’t really a strategy. Without any real reason to stick with BlackBerry, they’re just showing us the people they think we want to be, and asking us sing along — with a song that probably angers more people than it pleases. Good luck with that one.
Guess the real Ajay was too geeky even by Intel's standards
In an earlier post, I was heaping praise upon Intel and agency Venables Bell & Partners for churning out a surprisingly good campaign. The Rock Star spot shines the spotlight on Intel employee Ajay Bhatt for co-inventing the USB port. “Our rock stars aren’t like your rock stars,” they say. Well, it turns out that their rock star isn’t like anyone’s rock star — he’s just an actor. Conan O’Brien sits down with the real Ajay here. Maybe I’m just a stickler for detail, but in my experience you can’t say “this is the guy” if this really isn’t the guy. Is it “Be Kind To Creatives Month” at the Intel legal department? One reason I liked this idea was that it authentically captured Intel’s values. Hmm. Maybe it still does…
The product is improved. The attitude, not so much.
To read the pre-release reviews of Windows 7, one would think the scourge of Vista is behind us. Even WSJ’s Walt Mossberg, long a believer in Mac OS X superiority, suddenly sees OS equality.
Well, not so fast. There may be a smaller technology gap, but I’m afraid we still have a serious philosophy gap. While Apple continues to gain share by embracing its customers, Microsoft acts more like the bully being forced to shake hands with the kid he just beat up.
You can’t win the hearts of customers unless you show a little love (see earlier post). Yet Microsoft continues to treat us like a source of cash instead of human beings. For example, Windows 7 (like Vista) comes in multiple flavors at multiple prices. There are four versions this time. It’s your job to figure out which is right and pay accordingly — with Ultimate appearing at a budget-busting $320. (That other OS comes in one flavor, all features included, at one decent price.)
Inexplicably, Microsoft is making the upgrade most difficult for its biggest group of customers: those who passed on Vista and stuck with XP (that’s over half of the world’s PC users, by the way). Vista users can upgrade with a click, but those XP laggards must be punished for their sin. They’ll need to back up their data, wipe out their hard disks, reinstall their apps, re-run the updaters and restore their data. (That other OS installs over any previous system, no problem.)
And, with full knowledge that email, calendar, contact list and video player are essential to our everyday lives — Microsoft didn’t even include them in Windows 7. They’re free, but you have to go download them online. Now that’s considerate. (That other OS comes with all these apps, ready to run.)
I’m sure the boys in Redmond are frustrated as hell that Apple basks in all this love while Microsoft fails to get the credit they so richly deserve. Actually, they’re getting exactly the credit they deserve. What people want is a little respect — and Microsoft keeps forgetting to put that in the box.
When I started this blog, I knew that one day I would be tempted by the Dark Side. I might feel the urge to mercilessly slam an easy target. I might be unable to resist the lure despite the knowledge that I’d feel dirty afterward.
I do have will power, I swear. But this is like putting a fresh hunk of gazelle in front of a starved lion. If you haven’t seen this YouTube Windows 7 House Party video yet, it’s worth the too-long time it takes. It’s entertaining in ways it was never intended. Plus, if you’re a creative person, it’s a primer on how to avoid jeopardizing your future.
Rather than talk about things like the one-from-every-demographic casting and creative-brief dialogue (damn, there I go), I’d like to discuss the idea of it. Because, to be honest, the planners should be first on the posse’s list. The thinking apparently went like this: “Prior to the launch date, let’s encourage people to have Tupperware parties, using Windows 7 instead of the 10-piece set of plastics. That way, each Windows 7 enthusiast will recruit and sell a whole group of customers. That’s leverage.” Only problem: it’s also an insult to our intelligence.
Even assuming that real people will be better actors than these guys, I imagine that reasonably intelligent and sociable people might find something better to do on a Friday night. To me, what’s missing from this plan is something that often gets overlooked when putting together creative briefs and/or trying to please the client: common sense. It doesn’t take great creative genius to see that this idea (and certainly the execution of it) will generate more ridicule than it does interest.
I’m sure there are people out there who will actually do this, and in fact you can find them easily enough by searching YouTube. But will this idea scale to any kind of significant numbers? Will a nation of nerds and socially desperate people rise to make this a worthwhile investment? If you were launching Windows 7, is this the way you’d use your time, money and creative resources?
I’d write a bit more, but I’m having some friends over to show them my new hot water heater.
Who the heck do I think I am? I’m a creative director who’s had more than a few adventures in technology marketing, including branding, product naming and strategy. I have a long history with Apple and NeXT — where I took a blood oath to uphold the principles of simplicity.
lock, which then sexily illuminates and invites you inside. Of course, since its latch is electronic, the Adamo XPS can’t be opened at all if the battery runs out of juice, even if you just want to take a peek at the stickie you left inside. (Ultra-thin crowbar available separately.)
