Visible Measures Blog

We’re excited to report that the blog world has been abuzz with our recent research findings about Apple blunting the effect of Microsoft’s $300 million “I’m a PC” campaign in viral video. While the ultimate effectiveness of Apple’s response is still up in the air, the highlights of the coverage below should help put things into perspective. Check it out:

• Apple Insider: More worrying for Microsoft might be Apple's response ads, which tweak the software developer for allegedly spending more money on marketing its brand than fixing problems commonly associated with Windows Vista. The three Apple segments' first week of collective views generated a modest 70 percent of the viral views managed by the "I'm a PC" ad, but were also placed on twice as many websites overall -- 140 versus 70 -- and promised greater exposure than Microsoft's promos.


• AdAge: Incidentally, according to Visible Measures, which aggregates data on online viral videos, the first seven days of the new Apple ads notched 70% of the reach the PC ads snared in their first seven days. But Apple had double the number of unique placements -- sites that posted the video -- than Microsoft had, perhaps indicating Apple ads have more viral potential.


• Computer World: Even more impressive was the broader viral spread of Apple's ads: They generated twice as many "placements" -- distinct videos with their own URL -- on the Internet as did Microsoft's campaign. "From our perspective, they seem to be creating more buzz than the average Apple ad," Cutler said. "If you look at the comments [on the Web], feelings were very mixed about the Apple ads, with people wondering if they were negative attack ads or had gone too far." That kind of discussion, or the sheer potential for argument, is crucial if ads are to spread virally, Cutler added. "There's no guarantee of viral activity, but when an audience gets involved it can significantly increase the reach of a campaign," he said. "From an ROI perspective, this is very attractive."


• Ars Technica: Based on viral video views, the Microsoft ads were more popular, receiving over 1.5 million views in their first week. Apple was somewhat far behind in the view category, with its ads receiving about 70 percent of Microsoft's first week views. This is actually not too surprising, since the Get a Mac campaign (in general) is not new, and people weren't as eager to check out Apple's latest ads as they were when Microsoft launched its brand new campaign. Things look way better for Apple in terms of placements, however, since Apple's ads showed up in about twice as many places as the "I'm a PC" ads did. In general, it looks like both Microsoft's ads and Apple's snarky responses were fairly well received, but clearly Microsoft has got some work to do if it wants to unseat Apple's dominance in this type of advertising.


• Mac Blogz: Our friends at Visible Measures have put together some data regarding Apple’s ‘Get a Mac’ ads, and Microsoft’s recent $300 million ad campaign. Interestingly, Apple’s most recent ads (Bean Counter, V Word and Bake Sale), garnered twice as placements, not views as Microsoft’s ‘I’m a PC’ campaign. When comparing views, Microsoft’s ads received 1.7 million views in their first week, compared to Apple’s 1.2 million.


• Silicon Alley Insider: A Microsoft (MSFT) spokesperson told AdAge that 17,000 users have already submitted videos and that "I'm a PC" videos have been viewed on the site 1.5 million times. To join the crowd, visit Windows.com and upload a five second video in which you say "I'm PC and [insert witticism here]." Metrics firm Visible Measures says Apple's latest Mac vs. PC ads, which counter Microsoft's jab, appeared on double the number of sites as the "I'm a PC" ad.


• Mac Daily News: Cutler reports, "To see if Apple was able to blunt Microsoft’s attempt to reshape consumer perception of Windows, we tapped our Viral Reach Database to identify and measure the viral video placements from each campaign... These first-week results reveal that Apple’s viral video offensive made significant headway against Microsoft's message. Apple’s three new spots scored 70% of the viral video views that the much-discussed “I’m a PC” initially generated. And the view count totals are only part of the story, as these new Apple ads have inspired twice as many viral video placements."


• Contentinople: Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)'s "I'm a PC" ads were more successful than Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL)'s three response ads, according to a comparison of the "viral"-ness of the videos online, according to Visible Measures. And Advertising Age reports that people have taken it upon themselves to contribute why they are PCs, inspiring a user-generated ad campaign.

What do you think about Apple’s response? Do the “Get a Mac” ads still have that magic something something? On the other hand, considering our findings, did Microsoft get its money’s worth? Should they resurrect the two stooges, Seinfeld and Gates?