If you were upset by the horrible ads for the first-generation Surface devices, this new ad for Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 may restore your faith in humanity, or at least Microsoft marketing. Instead of clicking and dancing, we get a clear-headed description of the Surface 2's key advantages. It's about time. But I have some concerns about the misleading nature of this ad as well.
"It's not just a laptop," the voice over intones as a Surface 2 user clicks open the device's built-in kickstand on an airplane. "They're not usually this thin, this light, with great battery life."
Switch to a photo shoot where a photographer is plugging a USB key into his Surface Pro 2 and then using the Pro Pen to draw on photos in Photoshop. "They don't touch and draw. Not like this."
And now a school room (and back to Surface 2, which is a bit confusing). "This is not just a tablet. It has a click-in keyboard and Microsoft Office so you can do real work."
"And this lets you run your favorite apps ... next to your favorite apps," the voice-over continues as the scene shifts to what appears to be a camp site on the top of a mountain. At night. In the snow. This one, again, is Surface Pro 2.
The tagline is good: It's the one device for everything in your life. And it is a nice ad.
But I do feel compelled to point out that it's not just one device, its two devices: Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2. And the ad commingles the two in ways that are misleading. Surface 2 has Microsoft Office so you can do real work. But Surface Pro comes with Pro Pen and can "touch and draw." Each has capabilities the other doesn't, and those capabilities are presented in a way that suggests it's all happening with just one device.
It's a nice message. But you really gotta pay attention to the fine print. That's too bad.
