Mirror up to your Audience Strategy

Apple's got a new set of ads up. In the series, a 20-something hipster represents the Mac and a very Gatesian looking fellow represents the PC. They have a series of conversations about interoperability, file-sharing, and, well...coolness. The ads are very well done and very in line with Apple's style.

Plus: it's a great example of the Mirror-Strategy. One of the classics, the idea is to create communications which try to reflect your audience--not just who they are, but (more importantly) how they see themselves. Apple further underscores the approach by providing the polar opposite to the audience's vision of itself, standing right there next to it.

Good work, but the questions has to return back to the point of the ads. Is this a switch ad? Not really. In fact, this is more likely to solidify the feelings on both sides. Mac-people will say "Yes! That's me and that's him". The PCers will say "They are so damn deluded".

But Macs have always come at a price-premium. So, the approach of solidifying the resolve of those in the Mac-target is a really good idea. A Mac is going to cost more than a comparable PC, so you better make the buyer really feel like he or she is doing the right thing by buying it.