Intel Nabs Justin Long for New Campaign in Response to Apple’s John Hodgman Spots

In this episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast/Futurum Tech TV Daniel and I jumped on LinkedIn Live to talk about the news of the new Intel campaign featuring Justin Long, previously known as “The Mac Guy.” We talked about the new M1 chip that Apple is building as the company shifts from reliance on Intel powering Apple products. We then talked about Intel’s new campaign, bringing back Justin Long, the “I’m a Mac” guy in a campaign designed to spoof Apple, this time, someone that’s all in on Team PC. What I did not know before we recorded this webcast is that Apple started this clever twist, bringing in John Hodgman, the “I’m a PC” guy from the original Apple “Get a Mac” campaign to kick off its reveal of the M1 processor replacing Intel’s chips. And Intel, with agency partner VMLY&R, responded with its own #GoPC campaign. This is a clever. As a long-time Apple product user, and owner of more Macs than I can honestly count, it was great to see the Intel campaign highlight the very real limitations that all Mac users live with. It’s true, we really do just live with them. As John Coyne, Intel’s vp of brand, creative and media said to AdWeek, “It’s a fun challenge: How do you highlight the limitations that Mac users just live with and help highlight that we have a more compelling choice available with PCs? Who better to tell that story than Justin Long, who spent more than four years and 66 commercials representing the personification of ‘I’m a Mac’?” It was great to see Intel step up here and counter Apple’s Hodgman campaign. In addition to being clever, for Intel, it was a great way to showcase the many, many benefits a PC affords in terms of user experience, flexibility, and usability that, well, Apple devotees don’t have. Want to watch the Intel spots, you can do that by checking out the Intel YouTube channel here. Daniel wrote about this in a separate article for the Futurum blog: Intel’s New Ads Target Apple M1 With Former Mac Spokesman Justin Long