First iPad AD Shown at the Academy Awards

I was watching the Academy Awards last night, when to my surprise I saw the very first iPad commercial. Interestingly enough there was no Lego brick in the ad.

Technorati Tags: Apple,iPad,Ad,Commercial,Tablet,Breaking News

Apple Demands Microsoft Stops Laptop Hunter Ads

Microsoft's Chief Operating Office, Kevin Turner told audience members during his Worldwide Partner Conference keynote told his employees about how Apple's lawyers wanted Microsoft to take down their Laptop Hunter ads. Here's the story he told.

And so we've been running these PC value ads. Just giving people saying, hey, what are you looking to spend? "Oh, I'm looking to spend less than $1,000." Well we'll give you $1,000. Go in and look and see what you can buy. And they come out and they just show them. Those are completely unscripted commercials.

And you know why I know they're working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey -- this is a true story -- saying, "Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices." They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I've ever taken in business. (Applause.)

I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, "Is this a joke? Who are you?" Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we're just going to keep running them and running them and running them.

The whole keynote is available on Microsoft Presspass.

The most recent Laptop features Matt and Olivia, who were looking for a $700 laptop that they can use to share photos. It needs to have a large screen and great battery life, and of course they find their dream machine:

Microsoft Picks Zune’s AD Agency to Promote the Zune Phone (a.k.a. Pink)

Advertising firm McCann Erickson has won advertising contract with Microsoft.

The Office shft follows a pitch for a new Microsoft mobile offering won by McCann's T.A.G. unit, said sources. JWT, McCann and fellow roster shop Crispin, Porter + Bogusky competed for that assignment, for which the client used the code-name Pink. – AdWeek

This is basically a confirmation that Microsoft was shopping the project around, and that's about the end of the new information.But a quick trip to the McCann T.A.G. site reveals a portfolio that contains three videos for the Zune, including two ads and a trade reel. Zune? Pink? Zunephone! Pinkphone! Pink Zune! Pink Zune phone! And so on.

Now, these ads are nestled among a fair number of Xbox promotional materials, so it's clear that this is one of Microsoft's go-to teams for advertising in general. But hell, since we still haven't seen any kind of confirmation that the Pink phone's alleged specs and Windows Mobile 7 rumors are real, that Pink is a hardware device, or that the project even still exists, we'll take what we can get. [Adweek via Slashgear]

From: Gizmodo

Official Windows 7 Video Tours Released

Microsoft has published video tours of Windows 7 which provides a great view of the new features in Windows 7. There are four videos in total which are embedded below.

So far I am very impressed with the PR campaign for Windows 7. Microsoft has not yet spent a huge amount of money on Windows 7, and have instead let Windows 7 sell itself. The Windows 7 Pre-Orders have been a huge success, making it Amazon’s most sold item on Monday.

iPhone 3GS’ Copy & Paste is not Really Incredible

Apple seems to think that the iPhone 3GS’ Copy & Paste feature is incredible. I’ll admit that it is intuitive but lets face it, this feature has come too late. About two full software revisions late we'd say. And listing the feature as an incredible feature is ridiculous, considering my Motorola phone from 1999 could do that. 

First Bing Ad Claims That Bing Will Eliminate Search Overload

Microsoft, released its first Bing advertisement today. The new ad claims that Bing will eliminate “search overload”

The Bing ad is the first of a ad campaign that's about to pound the world via television, radio, print, and the Web. This will cost Microsoft over $100 million. While the ad does not mention, or show Google the, the target of the ads are most likely to tell Googlers that Google "isn't all that”.

Entitled "Manifesto," Microsoft's first Bing commercial connects search engine effectiveness with bank bailouts and Wall Street Woes.

"While everyone was searching, there was bailing," a narrator says. "While everyone was lost in the links, there was collapsing. We don't need queries and keywords if they bring back questions and confusion. From this moment on, search overload is officially over."

Status of Mac vs. PC battle: PC is Winning

Apple may have one of the most interesting and longest running ad campaigns in history, but it seems like Microsoft’s young Laptop Hunters ads are winning according to Brand Index.

The Laptop Hunter ads show regular people trying to find the perfect laptop within a certain price point and naturally the Laptop they choose is a PC. 

Based on daily interviews of 5,000 people, BrandIndex found the age group gave Apple its highest rating in late winter, when it notched a value score of 70 on a scale of -100 to 100 (a score of zero means that people are giving equal amounts of positive and negative feedback about a brand). But its score began to fall shortly after and, despite brief rallies, hovers around 12.4 today.

"It would be very unusual for Microsoft's score to be increasing this much and Apple's to be decreasing without some sort of event driving that, like a major campaign that's particularly successful," said Mr. Marzilli.

Microsoft gave credit the strong PC market, despite the recession, to the great success of the ad campaign. Microsoft said there was a 10% preference of Windows due to the ad campaign.

New Laptop Hunter Ad

A new Laptop Hunter ad has been released. This ad shows a law student, Lauren, and her mother Sue trying to find a laptop for under $1,700. Lauren need a laptop with

• Speed
• Portability
• a long battery life

When looking at the Mac’s Lauren pointed out that Mac’s cost twice as much as a PC that is more powerful. Lauren ended up getting a Dell Studio XPS for $971.99, which is allot less of her goal of $1700.00.

Here is the ad: