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Carbon-fiber, a roll-cage and military-grade tests: No, not a car ad...

As you read the first two paragraphs of this article, try and guess the product group this advertiser belongs to.

'Every ***** ***** is built with four layers of carbon-fiber and a magnesium alloy roll-cage. And every ******* goes through 12 military-grade durability tests and over 200 quality checks.'

That's what the copy in a full page print ad we spotted in today's Economic Times reads. The product is Lenovo's Thinkpad X1 Carbon, a laptop.

Carbon-fiber, a roll-cage and military-grade tests: No, not a car ad...
Lenovo's full page print ad for Thinkpad X1 Carbon in The Econimic Times- February 18

With this, the brand gave the traditional path of laptop advertising a miss - the kind that highlights aspects like the product's lightweight build, its slim appearance, its high-end specifications, and things like the colour, design, and performance.

Instead, this laptop boasts four layers of carbon-fiber, a magnesium alloy roll-cage, 12 military-grade durability tests and over 200 quality checks. Apart from the fact that these specifications seem rather odd for a lappy brand, what also what got us thinking was the presence of an upset coffee mug in the ad. It highlights the age-old spill-resistant feature of laptops. Lenovo itself has frequently leaned on this feature for years now.

Carbon-fiber, a roll-cage and military-grade tests: No, not a car ad...
ThinkPad Spill Resistant Keyboard 2013

And here's the other thing: Don't forget that durability has been a prime cause of concern for mobile phones - in the past, we've seen ads for smartphones that talk about gorilla glasses, reinforced cases, aircraft grade aluminum bodies and what not.

The magnesium alloy roll-cage, though, is not a durability feature; it has more to do with design and weight.

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