I am not the first to be smitten with the new Macbook and I'm pretty sure I won't be the last too. I've been reading the Apple site for news and updates on their transition from PPC to Intel processors with great interest (almost religiously, I'd say), knowing that in a not too distant future, I'll be a Switcher, using either a Macbook or Macbook Pro for our small design/advertising business. And while reading up on what the unhappy/happy owners of the new machines are saying on forums and blogs, I came across a webzine called Roughly Drafted by Daniel Eran.

A couple of interesting post at Roughly Drafted:

Useful knowledge for future Switchers:
How the transition to Intel is very different than the move to PowerPC.

The 'Mac OS X Closed by Pirates' Myth started and propagated by tech sensationalist, Tom Yager of InfoWorld (I will not provide a link to Yager's column, google it if you're so inclined.)

So that's two interesting post for interested Switchers or would be Switchers. The next part talks about Mac ads.

This is something that I've suspected all along, something I've thought about but kept to myself since, well, I attended an interview for a copywriting gig but failed to land the said gig. I mentioned this to a CD that not all advertising are created to sell products directly, some are created for brand awareness (I was justifying the strategy behind a few mock ads for a tomato ketchup brand). Needless to say, I kept all this to myself and refrained from posting publicly because:

a) I'm not an ad pro, therefore my 2 sen carries no weight;
b) If I was smart, I'd already be in advertising or someplace where smart people are richly compensated instead of slugging it 9 to 5 at a dead end job right now.

With all due respect to Seth Stevenson who writes for Salon, I've always believed that he got it all wrong on his Ad Report Card post on the new Mac ads ("I'm a PC, I'm A Mac"). I agree that advertising should ultimately be about pushing a product. But not all advertising are created to sell directly. If you want it to sell directly, then go door-to-door a.k.a Direct Selling. What Chiat/Day, Apple's agency of choice, has done for them is to create an image of Macs being better than PCs; repeating the core message of all Apple products and advertising strategy.

Again, I'll restate this: Product sales is the ultimate goal of an advertising campaign (some film director told me in public forum that he hates advertising in ALL its form and purpose. At the core of what makes advertising work is knowing that makes people tick and if you hate advertising, why be a film director in the first place because in essence advertising and film works towards manipulating the mind to agree with a story or product benefit). Okay, I'll give that the new Mac ads doesn't make me want to buy a Mac. But in my case, it's different. I've already made up my mind on getting a Macbook after I've saved enough or when I've enough cash in hand to purchase one. But for the would-be Switchers, they need a push in the right direction to clear up any lingering doubts prior to a purchase. People need something that works right out of the box and that was the message behind the new Mac ads. That was the push they needed.

I have two words for our Mister Stevenson: Remember 1984.

Post inspired by: Stevenson Fails 'Report Card' on Mac Ads.