The campaign was launched in September of 2008 after weeks of speculation and two weeks of chatter over a series of web shorts starring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld that seeded the term “PC” in a new light. Those teasers were immediately followed by the :60 spot “Pride” which hit airwaves the same day that windows.com launched an engine enabling everyday PC users to upload 10 second videos of their own prideful proclamations. Street teams in Times Square also allowed real people to upload their own statements to a giant screen there that was simulcast on the web. Subjects of the TV spots also appeared in Station Dominations in New York, San Francisco and London, reminding commuters that it was never about just one, but the greater collective.

Over 30,000 video submissions flooded into windows.com in the first month (these eventually overflowed onto broadcast TV as user-generated spots). Over 200 columns were written about windows’ much-awaiting reclaiming of the PC mantle. Apple’s bludgeoning of PC slowed to a trickle but they still felt obliged to respond by excoriating the “PC” character for spending too much money on marketing while, in fact, Apple out-spent Windows by 2 to 1 in media dollars. Clients were thrilled at their first positive PR in years. “I’m a PC” continues to be a rallying cry in the second year of Windows brand advertising. The consensus amongst media pundits now is “Apple talks about machines. Microsoft talks about the human beings that use them”.