Vol. 1, Issue: 7 | Date: June 22, 2009 BMW and Audi did it. Bud and Millers couldn’t resist. MacDonald’s and Burger King had their share of fun. But perhaps the most memorable repartees are those between Coke and Pepsi. More recently, Apple and Microsoft picked up the hammer and tongs. Soon after, Nokia waged war against Apple. The result: Fruit punches that knocked the wind out of the sails of both titanics. Read on! Case 1: Competitive Online banner ads on high traffic websites! Apple versus Microsoft The Apple versus Microsoft war has definitely been one of the most entertaining in recent times, even if it has cost both the companies tens of millions of dollars! How did the war start? Apple attacks Microsoft on TV ads: “Mac Guy vs PC guy” It all started out with Apple TV ads featuring Justin Long and John Hodgman as the ‘Mac guy v. PC guy’. The ads show a nerdy, fat, un-cool guy dressed (looking somewhat like Bill Gates) as the ‘PC guy’ talking to a young, hip guy (looking like Steve Jobs) who is the ‘Mac guy’. All the series of the Mac v. PC guy TV ads showed the Mac guy attacking the PC guy for Microsoft’s virus vulnerability and reliability. Click to view the Mac vs PC TV ad For weeks, Apple ran several creative and entertaining versions of these TV ads till finally Microsoft decided to reply to Apple on TV. Microsoft launched a TV ad series called “Laptop Hunters” where Microsoft attacked Apple for its unusually high prices. The Microsoft ad series followed a group of prospective computer shoppers each with $1,000 who set out to purchase a laptop based on their personal requirements and are allowed to keep any remaining cash. The shoppers, as expected, did not find anything suitable at the Apple stores but have several options to choose from when it comes to the Microsoft store. Microsoft wins the contest! Click to view the Microsoft TV ad “Laptop Hunters” But Apple had an answer for this too! The next Apple TV ad series depicted the PC guy and the Mac guy with a red haired woman, imitating Lauren from 'Laptop Hunters', who is looking for a suitable computer. A line of ‘potential PC's’ stand behind the PC guy as the woman lists off her laptop requirements but are soon disqualified by her. Finally the woman asks for “something that works”, causing the remaining PC's and the PC guy to exit the screen, leaving her with only the Mac! The Mac guy looks smug… Click to view the ' Apple strikes back at Laptop Hunters' ad APPLE: “LET’S TAKE THIS WAR ONLINE” But the real war was yet to begin! While the Apple/Mac guy ads were creating huge a buzz in the offline media, APPLE in its “usual” style escalated the war to new heights and attacked Microsoft online. Apple used never been seen before creative executions on high traffic websites such as New York Times webpage, cnn.com webpage, ESPN.com. The price versus quality war had now begun on the digital space! Round 1: Apple attacks Microsoft online! Date: January 17, 2008 Place: NYT & Wall Street Journal front page Click to view the ad Here we see, the PC guy pasting ‘NOT’ at the end of the pro-Apple banner ad in the New York Times website that reads "Leopard is better and faster than Vista". Apple had done it once again and this online can be seen as a huge leap in online advertising. For the first time, we could see not one, but two banners interacting with each other. The online ad was uploaded on youtube.com shortly after, and created a huge buzz. The YouTube link received 55,732 views, was rated a ‘favourite’ 58 times and also received 75 comments. Round 2: Apple continues online attack! Date: June 18, 2008 Location: cnn.com Click to view the ad Apple continued attacking—this time the front page of cnn.com showed the Mac Guy and the PC guy reading out banners on the top of the website which had headings that poke fun at Microsoft’s blunders with Vista. While the PC guy is frustrated, the Mac guy is seen smug and happy at the end! The cnn.com web ad was a success once again and fans uploaded screen shots of the online ad which were also uploaded online on youtube.com. The YouTube link received 10,237 views and was rated as a ‘favourite’ 37 times. Round 3: Apple attacks Microsoft again! Date: November 18, 2008 Place: NYT front page, cnn.com Click to view the ad The war continues—Apple ran another series of ads on the cnn.com and NYT website front page where the PC guy walks from one ad-block on the right corner to another ad-block on the top, creating a completely new user experience. In the new ad, the PC guy is seen as unhappy with the results of Mac's latest customer satisfaction survey and attempts to "fix" the problem. In his frustration, he breaks the needle that shows high customer satisfaction score for Apple. The online ad was once again uploaded on Youtube.com and received close to 6,000 views. Round 4: Finally, Microsoft finally attacks back online! Date: March 27, 2009 Place: NYT front page banner, Wall Street journal After several rounds of Apple attacks, Microsoft finally decided it was time to take on Apple in the digital space too! The software maker launched an online spot on the NYT websites and Wall street Journal websites banner, in which web surfers could spin a wheel and compare what they can buy for the same amount of money. In one "spin," a user is told they can choose from a shoelace, pen cap, and MacBook, or for the same amount of money, he could get a Lenovo Y530, a photo scanner, and pair of hip skater shoes. According to David Webster, GM, Microsoft's central marketing unit, the strategy used in this ad was that while some people are enticed by lower prices alone, some like to think of value in terms of what else they could spend that money on. According to David Webster, GM, Microsoft's central marketing unit, the strategy used in this ad was that while some people are enticed by lower prices alone, some like to think of value in terms of what else they could spend that money on. Microsoft’s new ad was clearly seen as a direct attack on Apple’s “Get a Mac Campaign”. Even the placement of the ad itself and its chrome look of the spinning buttons make it look like an Apple ad. Round 5: Apple’s fresh attacks! Date: April 28, 2009 Place: wired.com, NYT front page, ESPN.com Click to view the ad And the war continues—a little more than a month ago, Apple started a new hilarious web ad on websites like wired.com and cnn.com. The web ad starts with PC telling Mac how easy it is to use a PC. Mac looks up at a little sign in the upper right corner of the banner ad that says: “PC. Easy as 1-2-3”. Mac reads the sign: Using a PC is as easy as one, two, three… PC: Actually, it’s not one, two, three, it’s one through twenty three. Just then, the sign opens up to display the 23 steps it takes to make a PC easy! The recent ad was a huge hit online and in the social media circle. The ad was uploaded on youtube.com and received close to 77,453 views on youtube.com. But, as we all know the war has not ended and probably will not end for a long time to come. While Apple and Microsoft shell millions of dollars, viewers wait and watch to see the new age digital “tit for tat show”! Case 2: A Google Search Ads Battle Nokia 5800 mobiles versus Apple iPhones! Tech-related companies such as Apple and Nokia usually use the digital space to advertise about new product launches, price changes, services etc. The online space can thus turn out to be a battlefield for the technology giants. The Mobile phones category, as we all know is a heavily “searched” and information hungry category especially attractive to young, male and internet savvy consumers. The Nokia5800 Express music mobile phones have challenged the Apple iPhone 3G using aggressive competitive offline advertising as can be seen below. But it was in September 2007 that an interesting competitive online battle sued between the two giants. September 2007: Apple announced a $200 price cut for the iPhone leaving many early adopters of the iPhone complaining and feeling frustrated. News spread about it like wildfire on the web, with bloggers and early adopters expressing their irritation, news articles announcing the price cut and what have you! Round 1: Nokia attacks Apple using Google sponsored ads! Nokia decided to capitalize on the frustration of the early adopters. Millions of users were “Googling” to find out and read about the price cut and Nokia decided to waste no time! Not less than a day later, Nokia launched the following sponsored Google ad for the keyword search “iPhone price drop”. Nokia’s ads read “Sorry early adopter, iPhone drops $200”. The ad directed the disheartened, empty pocketed iPhone adopters to check out its new MOSH service—a collaborative media site run by Nokia to ‘salvage’ their devices using free content.   Round 2: Apple fights back on Google search ads! Apple was quick seen with its counter-attack right above the Nokia sponsored ad. The ad was a tit-for-tat reply to Nokia’s ad. The Apple ad congratulated late adopters of Apple who could now buy the Apple iPhone for just 2/3rd the price.   Want your brand to win the war? Contact Ignitee! Ad wars are here to stay. Audiences have grown to enjoy the witty text and clever visuals that spring up overnight as one brand vies hard to outsmart the other. Often, there is no conclusive winner. Yet, there is an undeclared champion: The agency that created the most memorable ad. It goes without saying that ad wars exhibit sheer advertising genius. They challenge creative folk to think on their feet and strike while the iron is hot. Ignitee specializes in creating high-impact communications that make people sit up and take notice of a brand. If you’d like us to customize a digital strategy for your product or service, email us at knowmore@ignitee.com     Online ads generate 1,800 test drive requests for Honda Jazz in 2 days Honda Siel Cars has used the online medium to generate test drive requests for its newly launched small car, Honda Jazz in India. 1,800 test drive requests were generated in two days through banner ads and search engine marketing. Its banner ads, which redirect users to a webpage for filling in details, are active on major websites such as Yahoo.co.in, Rediff.com, In.com, IBNLive.com, Moneycontrol.com, NDTV.com, Zigwheels.com, Gaadi.com and Carwale.com. Honda Siel will spend 3-4 per cent of its total advertising budget for Jazz on digital marketing.   News Click on a banner to make a phone call!   The new Reliance Mobile GSM banner enables the user to make a one minute call to a friend between 9:00 am and 9:00 pm for free. The ad went live on June 8 across various websites such as Rediff, Yahoo, Indiatimes, NDTV and IBNLive. All the user had to do was enter his friend’s name, mobile number and his own details. He then pressed ‘Call Now’ and bingo! He was connected! Feel at home on Facebook   Facebook.com is planning to start the use of usernames instead of the current randomly assigned number like 'id=592952074.' This will make it easier for your friends and family to find you and connect with you. Your friends, family or co-workers can enter your username as a search term on Facebook or search engines like Google, thus making it much easier for people to find friends with common names. Professional Social Networking   Linkedin, ibibo.com, apnacircle.com, Facebook.com—India is getting ready for a well-connected recession thanks to professional social networking websites! Graduates are finding summer internships, out-of-work executives are looking for prospective employers, and young entrepreneurs are closing business deals over casual ‘notes’! A hot and affordable new advertising opportunity   In late 2008, young people began spending more time watching online video content rather than television. Advertisers can't ignore this trend particularly since manufacturers prepare to roll out broadband-enabled TVs. According to a 2008 report by eMarketer on consumer media habits, the number of online video advertising viewers in the U.S. is expected to skyrocket to more than 80% by 2012. Mobile Web Access, Apps on the Rise, per eMarketer   On the heels of Apple's success with the App Store unveiled in July 2008, other device manufacturers and operating system providers, including BlackBerry and the Android platform championed by Google, opened their own virtual storefronts. eMarketer projects that mobile Internet access will see significant gains over the next five years, reaching 134.3 million mobile Internet users in 2013.