The “PC Does What?” ads will focus on the versatility and flexibility of modern PCs and a few are suggesting that this is a delayed response to Apple’s late 00s ad campaign “Get a Mac” which depicted PCs as old and out-dated compared to “hip” Macs.
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It is hardly any news that Intel, Microsoft, HP, Dell and Lenovo all want to see more PCs sales, but the fact that they have all come together in a unified campaign for the first tim is definitely a big news.
SO many people have gone so long without buying a new personal computer that the industry’s biggest players are trying something different: a quirky advertising campaign.
But both Microsoft and its partners are ready to fight these worrying predictions and try to increase PC sales as much as possible in the next 12 months, so this new ad effort is critical for their plans. Because normally Microsoft and Intel might work with just one other company – not all of them, and not all at the same time.
The participating companies will split the $70 million cost of the campaign, which will run through November in an effort to entice holiday shoppers. This fits in with an earlier move by Intel, which said its newest silicon chip was primarily targeted at the 500 million PC owners out there whose machines are five or more years old.
The PC push comes amid a three-and-a-half year decline in sales that has been driven by a shift to smartphones and tablets able to handle numerous tasks that previously required desktop and laptop computers.
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“Convertibles, two-in-ones, and [Siri-like digital assistant] Cortana” are likely to be among PC makers’ emphasis heading into the holiday season, said Jackdaw Research Chief Analyst Jan Dawson.
