Apple CEO Steve Jobs took some time yesterday to speak with New York Times writer John Markoff about the company’s new commercials.
In the biggest ad campaign for the company since “Think Different,” Apple and advertising company TBWA/Chiat/Day launched TV and print ads that show real people who have switched from PCs to Macs.
According to the New York Times, Apple picked the people in the ads from more than 10,000 e-mail messages it had received as unsolicited testimonials.
“The most important thing for us is that viewers are smart about advertising,” he said. “We’ve all had too many tobacco companies tell us they’re good guys to believe advertising. We let these people speak for themselves.”
Jobs also doesn’t think Microsoft will be offended by the ads, even though they show people switching from Windows PCs to Macs.
“Our relationship with Microsoft is really pretty good,” Jobs said. “What’s a few market-share points between friends? It wouldn’t matter to them, and we would be eternally grateful.”