Blog: “Autocorrect THIS!” – Lumia ad pits Apple against Samsung

Now that’s how you do a mobile phone ad.

Moving on from the horror that was Samsung’s Unpacked teaser videos featuring a small child named Jeremy (who, however, redeemed himself at the event by tap dancing the heck out of that world stage), Microsoft’s new ad for the Lumia 920 handset pits Samsung fans against Apple’s in a bid to convince consumers to switch to Nokia’s flagship.

The ad is pithy and hits a few home truths (one of my favourite lines is “Autocorrect THIS”. Plus, there’s a guy with an Apple logo tattooed onto his chest, the ultimate act of fanboyism), and only slows when the inevitable marketing comes into play, and two Lumia-wielding wait staff appear (it is, after all, an advertisement), one of whom asks the other whether the companies would stop fighting if they knew about the Lumia, while the other muses that maybe they like fighting each other, possibly an oblique reference to the various law suits Samsung and Apple are pursuing against each other, including the flame war involving the Galaxy Tab 10.1

At any rate, it’s a good effort from Microsoft, although not brilliant, due to air on national United States television, the Verge reported.

As the Verge notes, the ad positions Microsoft as the inheritor of the ‘third ecosystem’, the much vied-for space in the smartphone market alongside Apple and Google as the dominant players.

Now the question is whether Nokia can translate a catchy ad into handset sales.