Microsoft “Laptop Hunter” Ads Made on A Mac?

By Nicole Martinelli (6:42 am, May 05 2009)

bogus

Microsoft’s controversial Laptop Hunter ads were probably conceived, pitched and perhaps created onÃ‚Â Macs, if these office snaps of the ad agency behind them are anything to go by. They show the desk of Alex Bogusky (with two Macs) at Crispin Porter + Bogusky plus the surrounding office space, also full of Macs.

I wouldn’t mind getting paid to sell PCs, as long as I didn’t have to work on them, too.

Via rixstep

20 comments »

About the author

Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco native who has lived in Milan and Florence, Italy. She's written for Wired.com, The New York Times and Newsweek. You can find her on Twitter , Facebook and Google+.

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Posted in Advertising | Tagged: laptop hunter, microsoft, microsoft ads |

Tessa Stewart
I love my Mac, but I can’t believe this photo is making rounds as some proof of CP+B “wrongdoing.” It’s BS.
IT WAS TAKEN IN 2005 IN MIAMI, long before CP+B won the Microsoft business. Nowadays, Bogusky’s emails are signed: Sent from luxurious Windows Vista Ultimate. Which could still be on a Mac, since Windows also runs on Macs.
Adam
Of course they’re made on a Mac, Crispin Porter + Bogusky is a Mac-based ad agency.
Can Alex Bogusky Help Microsoft Beat Apple? By Danielle Sacks – May 9, 2008
http://www.fastcompany.com/node/849664/print
In April 2007, long before the Microsoft account came Crispin’s way, Bogusky had told me that “Crispin sort of exists because of the revolution in desktop publishing that the Mac brought about. You could be a small shop and compete against Madison Avenue for the first time because all the tools were in your computer.”
Carson Stanwood
What’s controversial about the Laptop Hunter campaign?
No name
I don’t know any ad agency in New York that uses Windows PCs for production work.
I would be surprised if they were indeed created on Windows.
> Nowadays, BoguskyÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s emails are signed: Sent from luxurious Windows Vista
> Ultimate. Which could still be on a Mac, since Windows also runs on Macs.
They might be forced to use Windows machine during MS campaign.
> luxurious Windows Vista Ultimate
Funny!
http://www.grinningidiot.com The Idiot
I love this article so much it hurts.
Gus
Of course, knowing M$FT, it may well be a condition of doing work for them that they have to use PCs, no matter how much longer it takes.
d
I work in advertising…90% of the agency creative’s use macs. I wouldn’t be surprised if microsoft requires their agency to “use” windows machines. I also know a few agencies with cell phone clients who are required to “use” their phones. Most of those creatives have two phones. One they use (almost all iphones) and one they “use” when they go to client meetings. It’s pretty funny, actually.
http://www.zoomata.com Nicole Martinelli
Carson — There’s been some debate over how honest the ads are, they’re supposed to show average consumers, and, in at least one case, the average person was an actor… And whether the eternal price debate/features is valid the way it plays out in the ads…
http://www.techflash.com/How_real_is_real_life_Windows_ad_Apple_sidewalk_scene_is_fishy_42033192.html
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/03/26/pc-to-mac-im-cheaper/
http://cultofmac.com/new-mac-bashing-microsoft-ad-has-real-people-get-excited-about-blu-ray/10042
Paul
Since they sold out to the devil I think Microsoft should insist that they to use crappy PC’s running Vista to run their ad agency. :)
bas
Actors? … in a commercial … the horror.
http://www.macbore.com MacBore Matt
Well, they do say that advertising is legalised lying.
Jay
So what?
I’m also sure that at some point in apple’s production/retail chain PC’s are used in the equation.
Should the next headline be “Shipping containers filled with Macbook Pros loaded onto ship with a PC controlled crane! How embarrassing for Apple!” Or “Fedex scans iPod shipment with a PC”
Fred_M.
Jay,
You miss the point. Microsoft is trying to convince consumers that Apple laptops are so overpriced and a bad choice, yet their own ad agency is using Macs. If Mac weren’t worth the investment, then they ad agency would have PCs on their desks.
Apple isn’t trying to convince people that Macs are the ideal platform for controlling cranes, scanning packages for FedEx, or other embedded systems work.
greg
omg i know! The other day, my BFF Jackie saw an ad for an HP home printer in a magazine that was printed on a commercial printer!
what a bunch of hypocrites. Products aimed at average Joe should be created by professionals on those very same consumer level products.
…………..or maybe you’re hyping a controversy that is not in fact a controversy.
greg
Fred_M
designers are not the same as the average consumer. While buying an Apple might make sense for someone who is splicing HD video in real time, most of us are checking our email updating an XL spread sheet, and watching youtube clips.
This is like saying TV ads for those $100 flip HD camcorders need to be filmed on those same crappy cameras, instead of the 50,000 dollar cameras used by most ad agencies.
http://www.twitter.com/ddonato David Donato
I work with video and had done quite a few works for Microsoft, always on macs. Funny as hell, but no big deal, after all.
Pete Mortensen
Although, honestly, a Flip HD campaign shot on a Flip HD would be the best marketing possible for the device.
John
See the simple life episode, the interns episode 9 the ad agency.
This was made BEFORE the Microsoft deal.
They are not only using Windows but you can actually see the icon.
Apple is so humilated. The most creative ad agency uses windows.And Mac users keep pretending that using an Apple makes you somehow creative.
95 percent of the time a Mac user is a salesman.
Ha ha ha….
John
Ha ha ha ha…..
John
lies lies lies lies lies lies. i am a Mac. I love to lie lie lie.
Oh yeah Mac an craps are cheaper then PCs. They also do not look like jail cells.
They run more software then Windows.
The best games are made for Mac.
I love to lie lie lie lie lie. I am a Mac….