I’m a PC, and I’m running Linux

You’ve probably seen Microsoft’s response to Apple’s “I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC commercial”. Well, from a marketing perspective, the campaign is a disaster. Any person familiar with marketing (and I only have a few undergrad courses behind my belt) will tell you that an ad is supposed to build a brand. In this case there are a few choices: Microsoft, Windows, Vista, Windows Live, etc. Yet MS chose to advertise a generic PC. At the end of an ad there is usually a small MS logo and the name Windows, but that’s not what the viewer takes away from the ad.

Apple has already benefited from this campaign by launching hilarious response to the ad, mocking Microsoft’s decision to put more money into advertising, rather than fixing Vista’s problems. And, in today’s economy, Linux is benefiting from the ads, since its a free alternative operating system, which many geeks will tell you is much better than Windows.