Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has made use of the “You’re More Powerful than You Think” slogan in their most recent round of advertising, drawing the ire of a noted New York City street artist, James de la Vega, in the process. Now, another opponent is zeroing in on the Cupertino company’s new signature phrase, interested not in alleged trademark violations but in the potential for mockery.
Microsoft, which recently rolled out its Surface 3 tablet, released three new ads today, all of them aimed at highlighting the failings of the MacBook Air while lauding the features of the Surface. The ads are short and to the point, each possessing a 30-second running time. Like Samsung, Microsoft seems to be somewhat fixated on highlighting the real or imagined failings of its fruit-badged competitor rather than focusing entirely on its own products.
“Crowded,” the first ad, shows a MacBook and a Surface being used alongside each other. The Mac user opens the conversation by claiming that his computer has a better processor, but the Surface Pro 3 user corrects him and points out that the processor in the Microsoft tablet is equally powerful, and lists a number of useful programs it can run.
The Surface user then notes that the tablet has a touchscreen, which the Mac user counters he does also – in the form of a separate iPad. The Surface user is already using a stylus to write and draw on his Surface, which the Mac user can only counter with a pen and paper. The Mac user then complains that he has to carry a lot of different items, giving the Surface user the chance to deliver the ad’s mocking punchline, “You ARE more powerful than you think!”
“Head to Head” is a wordless comparison of the two devices showing that the Surface 3 has the same RAM (4 GB) and storage (128 GB), but then goes on to illustrate that the Mac lacks a detachable keyboard, touchscreen, and stylus or “pen” compatibility. The ad is set to a section of the K-pop (“Korean pop”) song “I am the Best” by the South Korean girl group 2NE1. “Power,” the final advertisement of the trio, highlights the same data and shows the full version of Photoshop running on the Surface in Tablet mode. It also shows that the Surface has USB ports and a kickstand.
Of course, the ads only serve to underline that both devices will meet the working requirements of most users, and that both are solid entries in the electronics market. Apple (AAPL), as usual, is the victor in aesthetics, while Microsoft’s Surface is more flexible. The ads point out all these features but are unlikely to do much. Apple enthusiasts will stick with Apple and the ads are a case of “preaching to choir” for those who prefer Microsoft.