Filed under: Apple Corporate, Apple
New get a Mac ad: Off the Air
Tonight, Apple released a new "Get a Mac" ad. "Off the Air" shows PC, Mac, and a Mac Genius. Mac tries to win people over on the fact that the Geniuses will transfer your files from your old PC to your new Mac. A mad PC then announces that his "frustrated" customers don't need to hear about that and that "fear of switching is the foundation of customer loyalty for PCs." PC proceeds to shut off the commercial by pulling a curtain down.
This commercial isn't as funny, in my opinion, as the last set that came out earlier this week. You can watch all of the Get a Mac ads by visiting the Get a Mac website.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
adam pw smith said 11:18PM on 8-20-2008
huh... Seems the video on Apple's site is in a format not supported on the iPhone. Oh the irony.
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massimo.berta said 4:03AM on 8-21-2008
yeah! i also try to watch them with an iPod Touch... but nothing... I than accessed youtube :)
ericdano said 11:48PM on 8-20-2008
I love these ads. All of them. PC is so funny.
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webmacster87 said 12:15AM on 8-21-2008
I must have a different sense of humor. I really liked this ad, not only because I thought it was funnier than the other three (which really just seemed weird), but because this one focused more on an actual advantage of the Mac. Too many of these Get a Mac ads these days are only talking abstractly about PC having "problems" without going into details about what they are or why that makes the Mac better. That reason, plus the fact that hearing John Hodgman going "Beeeeeeeeeeeep" so badly makes this a good ad in my opinion.
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macxprt said 12:59AM on 8-21-2008
can't watch in the iPod touch either. Running 2.02 software. It says I don't have QuickTime and offers alink to install it. The second time I go to the page I get a play arrow with a slash through it in the middle of the video window.
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hkiphone said 1:14AM on 8-21-2008
Probably not as funny as Calming Teas (love that one!) but this does convey the strong message that most people wont switch because they don't know how to. Wonder how Vista's going to overcome that... make it even harder to switch??? hahaha ;)
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halhiker said 1:55AM on 8-21-2008
For some reason the networking ad with the "Japanese camera" is no longer on the website.
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Meatleg said 2:27AM on 8-21-2008
that hasn't been there for a while. It's on YouTube though.
onicon said 4:03AM on 8-21-2008
The old ones still linger around on apple's servers :-)
get the via archive.org: http://web.archive.org/web/20060508201948/http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
Sejuru said 1:57AM on 8-21-2008
Microsoft reacts: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121928939429159525.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news
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I-phone Is I-sexaayy said 3:21AM on 8-21-2008
yes, once again ms is copying apple,
This time they didn't copy apple's OS, but instead copied In the form of ads
Hadrianus.canida@mac.com said 3:49AM on 8-21-2008
Its getting old. I am a switcher and I think these ads are unprofessional, rude, and biased. I am and MCSE and self professed Bill-Gates-Bitch-Boy.. and I love what I can do with my Mac and OS X and with my Mac running Vista too.
I don't think the comment "fear of switching is the foundation of customer loyalty for PCs" is accurate in the least. The fact is that there are things a Mac can't do. Gaming is a huge one. DirectX knocks the socks of OpenGL as far as support and range of games. On the other side video editing and creative stuff just works better on a Mac.
If i were give the ultimatum to pick a side, Microsoft would win. Grow-up Apple. Now let me get back using organizing my porn in iPhoto to transfer to my iPhone.
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eric f. said 8:13AM on 8-21-2008
uh, the ads are funy, so get over your uptight self.
And if you are going to rant, at least say something valid.
"The fact is that there are things a Mac can't do. Gaming is a huge one. " that's simply not true.
eric f. said 8:13AM on 8-21-2008
funny...
Marmite turkey said 8:10AM on 8-22-2008
How many windows users are serious games players?
Not many, I'd say.
Perceptions that:
macs are expensive compared with the beige box stuff on show at PC World
macs don't run office, so won't play nicely with my work PC
macs are for artists, not for real people
are the main reasons in my experience people don't switch.
Apple will have done their market research for this ad - they know why people don't switch better than anyone.
Love
A Market Researcher
thejonesboy said 4:09AM on 8-21-2008
they should do an ad where "mac" tries to upgrade his existing edge iPhone to a white one and mac says "sorry Mac you can't have one, but thanks for paying £269 for the old one and over £500 in rental up till now" before shoving him in the face and serving a PC with one as he is a "new" customer.
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Carlos said 8:58AM on 8-21-2008
Maybe this add isn't that funny but it's certainly true.
I used pc's for years and years because of the fear of switching.
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Galley said 9:26AM on 8-21-2008
The Mac Geniuses keep getting cuter.
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Johnny said 10:17AM on 8-21-2008
They are getting cuter, yet nothing about her strikes me as being someone I would trust with my computer. She comes off as a bit teenie to me.
In fact, I have to go off on a tangent a little here; I don't think Apple geniuses are that great. I wish I could talk to someone who actually knows more than I do. I have to call tech support and first go through the 'moron' call before getting upper level support. There is usually one genius at the store who really knows their stuff, but most of them aren't much better than Best Buy employees except that they like Macs and won't try to talk you into something else.
Jesse said 9:41AM on 8-21-2008
Microsoft needs a counter ad campaign for sure. Some of these commercials are funny(Crashytime Chamomile. Golden.), but what is kinda interesting is the how PC is the bigger star here, and not because "his" OS is portrayed as inferior but because in most cases he's funnier. Comes off as PC having the higher self-esteem as he is essential picking on himself.
The Mac platform has plenty of weaknesses for MS to exploit. Mediocre GPUs, lack of DirectX, on a hardware-to-hardware comparison they carry a price premium, weak areas in Finder, etc...
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