Clearly, the advertising wizards behind Intel’s new “Go PC” campaign felt they were smart to hire Justin Long, the actor “Get a Mac”, to learn the virtues of Intel-based Windows computers glorify. If only they had thought of giving him something clever to say as well.
The new “Go PC” campaign includes ads, website banners and a new Intel page titled “Apple M1 vs Intel – which processor is the right choice for you.” Spoiler alert: Intel’s idea of what’s right for you ‘has no real basis in reality.
There are many to choose from this campaign: battery life claims that are completely disconnected from countless independent tests and comparisons; boasts Windows-compatible games when users need an Nvidia or AMD graphics card (certainly not Intel integrated graphics) to play it; to show results with applications that require Rosetta 2, rather than native Apple Silicon applications, to skew the results in favor of Windows computers.
But the most serious, hilarious and / or saddest (choose your adjective) attempt at a singer is in Intel’s failed attempt to dunk on USB-C dongles. In a tweet sent out this week, Intel posted a photo of Long tying a number of USB-C dongles together, with the rhetorical question “Does anyone know who it belongs to?”
Why, yes, Intel, we do know who the USB-C accessories belong to: they are certified by the USB Deployment Forum, of which Intel is a board member.
In fact, Intel is such a big fan and supporter of USB-C that the company uses exactly the same connector for its own Thunderbolt cable. And the Thunderbolt 3 specification, created by Intel, is included in the USB 4 standard, which, you would not know, also uses the USB-C connector.
Even better, an ad highlighting the campaign on the cover of Intel’s website shows Long that includes a Dell XPS 13 laptop, an Intel-based Windows computer with two USB-C Thunderbolt ports, and no USB-A ports of old.
The dongles should not swing yet, Justin.
To be clear, there are some legal issues with Apple’s currently limited M1 series of Macs that are highlighted by Intel, including the fact that they only support one external monitor. But it ignores the fact that M1 is Apple’s entry – level processor, and there is expected to be more powerful Apple Silicon this year. Not to mention those who need multiple external monitors, they can still buy a Mac with an Intel processor (you guessed it).
No offense to Long – he’s a good actor, and hey, a concert is a concert – but Intel’s “Go PC” campaign is little more than a decisive stunt. I would say that it’s all stylish and no substance, but to say that there’s a ‘style’ to Intel’s uninterrupted, aimless effort is generously generous.
The whole “use of a competitor’s spokesperson to turn the script” is nothing new in advertising – in 2019, Sprint did it with the Verizon “Can You Hear Me Now?” old. Sprint merged with T-Mobile less than a year later and the Sprint brand was retired. So how did the campaign work out?
Intel’s campaign is, of course, responding to the fact that Apple is moving its Mac platform away from Intel processors. At launch, it looks like the “Go PC” attempt is on track to create the same magic that the Verizon man conjured for Sprint before becoming a magenta of embarrassment.
The catchphrase for Intel’s “Go PC” campaign is “Get Real.” Perhaps these ads are more “genuine” than anyone realizes, revealing Intel as an outdated brand, stuck in the past and not nearly as smart as the people behind it think it is.