"Revolution" is already a word beloved by too many marketers, but the concept rises to a kind of loopy grandeur in the over-the-top rendition displayed at this year's MacWorld by clone-manufacturer Power Computing. Inside the Moscone Convention Center, Power Computing's call to arms dominates the entrance to the expo. "THE FIGHT AGAINST TYRANNY BEGINS HERE," proclaims a giant insurgent banner. "JOIN THE MAC RESISTANCE."
David Bernert, who runs BAM!, the Austin startup ad agency responsible for Power Computing's new campaign, seems to relish playing soldier. Dressed in combat boots and "NATO winter camo," the hyper 33-year-old explains, "We're sick of being pushed around by the Wintel monolith. We're going to launch a counterassault. It's like Apple's in a bar fight, and they're talking peace and love. But we're out back looking for a board with a nail in it."
Power Computing marketing operatives are attempting to stake a claim to the hearts of militant Mac lovers for whom Apple, these days, may seem submissive. In the paramilitary compound amid the frenzy of 80,000 people making deals, Bernert's battalion of geeks in black-and-white camouflage pants scurry around, shouting slogans and delivering "rebel broadcasts" from behind banks of sandbags. On Tuesday, the insurgents from the Austin-based company pulled up outside the expo in their fleet of six Humvees, flying the Power Computing flag.
At Power Computing's MacWorld booth, a hundred mixed metaphors of revolution bloom: there are images of Russian constructivist freedom fighters, a campy World War II recruiting poster, scrawled Sandinista graffiti, gangstas, ammo dumps, and some basic Bolshevik icons, circa 1917. A faux-rap rip-off of Grandmaster Flash exhorts the masses to "fight the power with Power." Above it all, the huge, placid face of Comrade Supreme Commander Stephen Kahng, haloed by psychedelic rays, beams down on his workers like a high-tech, revisionist Mao. "STEVE SAYS: DEFEND YOUR OS CHOICE OR YOU WILL LOSE IT."
Bernert admits that Apple might be "a little taken aback" by this display of unsolicited loyalty - but no doubt cognizant of the growth of its first licensee. New Power Computing machines are cheaper and faster than Macs, and have been wooing away Apple-faithful graphic artists. Sales at the three-year-old company have increased 500 percent in the past nine months, and there are rumors of an IPO sometime this year.
But as all good guerrillas know, you need more than attitude to win a war. Power Computing's strategy for the upcoming year is unclear. Last month, Kahng licensed the Be OS, just before Apple's surprise purchase of NeXT, and many question how many more price slashes a company with only a sliver of market share can sustain. With Apple's rebound unsure, Power Computing's Mac clones might finally wind up like the Red Guards, the Bolsheviks, the Sandinistas, Che, and all the other rebels who look so very cool in marketing campaigns - but who lost their revolutions.
