Only ten seats remaining

Secure your place at the Digiday Media Buying Summit in Nashville, March 2-4

REGISTER

Microsoft delivers a ‘special message’ to Apple in its corny holiday ad

All Microsoft wants for Christmas is Apple’s approval.

In a new ad from Microsoft, the company reignited the lame “Mac vs. PC” war and dispatched an army of children from a New York City youth choir to “deliver a special message to some old friends.” Those friends are its arch rivals at the 5th Avenue Apple Store, a short walk from Microsoft’s shiny new flagship store five blocks south.

Dressed in their most festive Microsoft-branded snow caps and shirts, the kids sing “Let There Be Peace on Earth” on their chilly pilgrimage north that November night. Their dulcet tones were enough to lure some Apple employees outside, who refrained from acting like jerks about the whole publicity ploy (there were cameras on-hand after all).

The one-minute spot, created by McCann, is both cheery and corny with the set-up resembling the Christmas truce in World War I where German and British troops participated in unofficial ceasefires, but this time with somewhat lower stakes.

While Microsoft often find its selves as the target of Internet jeers, comments on the YouTube page are positive, even from Apple fans. “Microsoft: you nailed it. And coming from an Apple Fanboy, that says something,” wrote one.

Finally, peace at last.

More in Marketing

Future of Marketing Briefing: AI’s branding problem is why marketers keep it off the label

The reputational downside is clearer than the branding upside, which makes discretion the safer strategy.

While holdcos build ‘death stars of content,’ indie creative agencies take alternative routes

Indie agencies and the holding company sector were once bound together. The Super Bowl and WPP’s latest remodeling plans show they’re heading in different directions.

How Boll & Branch leverages AI for operational and creative tasks

Boll & Branch first and foremost uses AI to manage workflows across teams.