Microsoft Changes Laptop Ads At Apple's Behest

By Kevin McLaughlin, CRN July 24, 2009

Microsoft has changed at least one of its advertisements that focuses on the high cost of Mac notebooks after Apple recently lowered its prices.

On Thursday, Advertising Age reported that Microsoft has cut out part of one of its "Laptop Hunters" ads that shows the mother and daughter team of Lauren and Sue shopping for a PC for less than $1,700, coming across a Mac priced at $2,000 and deciding instead to buy a $972 Dell notebook.

In the updated ad, Lauren doesn't mention the price of Macs, and instead says, "It seems like you're paying a lot for the brand." This is the only ad to which Microsoft made changes as a result of Apple's price cuts, a Microsoft spokesperson said in an e-mail.

Apple in June cut prices on its entire MacBook Pro line, and reduced the price of its 15-inch MacBook Pro -- the one shown in the Laptop Hunters ad -- from $2,000 to $1,700.

"We slightly adjusted the ads to reflect the updated pricing of the Mac laptop shown in the television advertisement. This does not change the focus of the campaign, which is to showcase the value and choice of the PC," said the spokesperson.

Earlier this month at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference, COO Kevin Turner could hardly contain his glee as he recounted a recent phone call he received from Apple's legal department.

Apple's lawyers informed Turner of the recent price cuts and asked Microsoft to stop running the ads, but Turner told chuckling WPC attendees that Microsoft's response would be "to keep running them and running them and running them."

Microsoft partners are delighted to see Microsoft fighting back against Apple, which until recently had been hammering away with impunity at Windows Vista, and Microsoft in general, through its popular "Get A Mac" ads.

The Laptop Hunters campaign has been vastly more effective than the previous Crispin Porter + Bogusky spots, particularly the headache-inducing ones featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, and it looks as if Apple is starting to realize that Microsoft is scoring points here.