-By David Vinjamuri

Historically, brands have been loath to directly name an arch competitor in TV spots. The reasoning goes that, once you mention your rival, you might as well admit you're scared. Sure, there are brands that have ignored this maxim. Coke and Pepsi took on-air swipes at each other during the Cola Wars. And now, we witness Apple and Microsoft engaged in a digital cat fight via some highly entertaining ads—the latest from Microsoft. Its "I'm a PC" ads might be a clever hit back but, according to David Vinjamuri, that's not the point. The president of New York’s ThirdWay Brand Trainers and the author of the recent book, Accidental Branding, Vinjamuri says that after Apple picked its public fight with Microsoft, Mr. Gates should have worked on his software instead of his TV ads.



It's not often that one gets to quote from Sun Tzu's The Art of War. So humor me, please: "Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted."

Tzu's point is that you're likely to win a fight when you choose how and where it takes place. I learned this lesson in college when I lost my first debate. The opposing team cleverly inserted a personal insult into its opening argument, and I spent most of my time rebutting the slight to my character instead of laying down my counter argument. By allowing the opponent to pick the fight, I'd given them an unbeatable advantage.

With its current ad campaign, it looks like Microsoft has yet to learn the lesson that I did (one that, by the way, the legendary Chinese general authored back in 500 B.C.). I speak of the "Life Without Walls" (better known as the "I'm a PC") campaign via Crispin Porter + Bogusky. But first, a little background is necessary.

This cyber-age Hatfield/McCoy conflict started two years ago when Apple unveiled a new campaign called "Get a Mac," which featured bespectacled nebbish John Hodgman playing a PC and hip, 30-year-old actor Justin Long cast as a Mac. The ads were basic feature/benefit comparison spots, but they were cleverly executed and spoke to key issues. Each ad opened with Long saying "I'm a Mac" and Hodgman counterpointing, "and I'm a PC." The campaign (which has included more than 50 different spots to date) was also extraordinarily well timed. It coincided with Apple's move to an Intel-based platform that allowed iMacs to run Windows as well as the Apple operating system OS-X. By mining a substantial vein of discontent with the reliability of Windows, Apple managed to grow its share of the market for personal computers from 5.1% in the fourth quarter of 2006 to 9.5% in the third quarter of 2008.

Along the way, the Apple spots have become cultural icons and contributed to a growing negative public perception of Microsoft's Windows operating systems. It would be a gross exaggeration to say that Apple has Microsoft on the ropes (nine of 10 personal computers shipped today use a Microsoft operating system) but the Apple campaign has clearly distracted the Redmond giant.

The indisputable evidence of wounded pride can be seen in Microsoft's new crop of hit-back ads. Each begins with the words "I'm a PC," uttered by a John Hodgman lookalike, then hosts an array of known and unknown personalities (from a shark hunter to self-help guru Deepak Chopra) all coming forward in a kind of smug, 12-step-style, to confess that they are a PC, too.

Sleekly appealing and yet affectingly human, the spots catch the eye, move briskly and make us laugh. The message—that Windows users encompass virtually all of the vast diversity of the human race—is clear. Hence, if the campaign could be judged completely without regard to brand strategy, it would be a winner.

Too bad it can't be. That this campaign constitutes a huge mistake is not the fault of Crispin Porter—which has done a solid job of executing the strategic mandate. The blame rests squarely on the shoulders of Microsoft's leaders, who are trying to use advertising to fix a failed business strategy.

Microsoft's strategic problem did not start this year. It started with Widows Vista, the intended successor to Windows XP, which tried (and failed) to imitate Apple's sleek OS-X. When it launched in early 2007, Vista was beautiful, but deeply flawed. Microsoft has been fighting the perception that it launched a broken operating system ever since.

Advertising can't fix this, and by using TV spots to argue with Apple, Microsoft has—much like I did back during my college debate when I wasted my time arguing over a personal slight—walked directly into Apple's trap.

The trap was first triggered in the inaugural Microsoft spot where a John Hodgman clone kicks off the spot by saying, "I'm a PC—and I've been turned into a stereotype." We heard the jaws springing shut more recently when Apple launched the series of rebuttal ads to Microsoft's campaign. The best of these has PC counting piles of cash. When Mac asks him what he's doing, PC says he is allocating money to advertising and "fixing Vista." The larger pile of cash is, of course, dedicated to advertising.

Here's the ironic truth: Between the Vista-launch advertising last year, the odd Seinfeld-Gates spots which ran for a few weeks this summer and the current campaign, Microsoft has spent more than a billion dollars to advertise Vista, an amount which would certainly have fixed Vista.

The high-tech theater of absurdity behind these campaigns is all the more unfortunate because the current Microsoft effort is beginning to unfold in interesting ways. Ordinary PC users can upload videos to the campaign Web site, http://imapc.lifewithoutwalls.com/, and Crispin, Porter is beginning to turn these tiny gems into slick little commercials with minimal editing. It's an authentic viral feature, one that gets lost in the strategic morass.

There's a reason most companies do not acknowledge the advertising of smaller rivals: It validates them.