In new Windows ad, Bill Gates shakes his other moneymaker for Seinfeld

Posted Sep 8th 2008 3:07PM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT), Apple Inc (AAPL), Marketing and Advertising

Have you seen the ads? If not, you can watch the first one below.

My first reaction was -- 'Huh? What was that all about? What is it trying to say?' And it seems I wasn't alone. One review after another says pretty much the same thing: Just as Seinfeld was a show about nothing, so are the ads. Or as my fellow blogger Jonathan Berr said: "It was like a bad Seinfeld episode."

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is looking to counter the bad publicity of Windows Vista and the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) successful commercials with this $300 million ad campaign (of which a cool $10 million goes to Jerry Seinfeld himself), but many question if this is the right use of the money.

I must admit that as an avid Seinfeld fan, the ad indeed made me smile, even chuckle at the end when Gates does his little dance move, but it certainly didn't make me think of Microsoft in any way as "cooler." Probably the opposite. But the ad also left me scratching my head, which perhaps has been the intention all along - leave viewers thinking and talking. And they've certainly been talking. Or perhaps this is going somewhere with the next ads. Who knows?

Few things are clear though: 1) If the intention was to communicate a message, it was lost on most people. 2) If the intention was to compete with the Apple ads, which are so clever and cool, it likely failed there too. 3) If the intention was to re-brand Microsoft as fresh and cool, it probably achieved the opposite as the younger crowd cannot relate to "two geezers" the way Microsoft wants. 4) If the ads were intended as a publicity stunt, they achieved their goal as almost everyone's talking about the.

Here, you watch and decide for yourself. And if you happen to "get it," please inform us, as I'm sure most (me among them) would like to know the "secret message" behind the ads.

Tags: aapl, apple, bill gates, BillGates, jerry seinfeld, JerrySeinfeld, microsoft, msft

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-08-2008 @ 3:28PM

da governator said...

Apple has their Nike/iPod combo, maybe Microsoft is going for the untapped dress shoe/booty shaking segment. They already broke new ground with the Surface, they're just trying to blow even more minds!

9-08-2008 @ 3:55PM

Bruce Wilhite said...

Vista sux. Back around 1985, I abandoned Apple for the rising prevalence of WinTel. That was a terrible mistake. Bill Gates got rich selling junk. My next computer will be a Mac.

9-08-2008 @ 4:24PM

Amaro said...

I have always been a Bill Gates supporter. However, after being coerced into upgraded operating systems that do nothing but make life more complicated so I would have to buy more software, my support has slipped. I think it's great when someone has done as well as he has. But now, Microsoft has turned into exploitation, rather than service. Like many other things that were good, it too has become perversely exploitative. I liked the Bill Gates who was more interested in improving and serving better.

9-10-2008 @ 2:16AM

Jessy S. said...

Earth to Amaro, people need to upgrade once in a while. Sure to Microsoft's credit, they are making money off you, but when Vista was released in January 2007, it had been over five years since a major Windows release and this does not count the many XP editions with the exception of the original Home and Business. Since XP's release, people had been switching from Windows 98 or 2000 to XP and there will be a lot of XP fans who don't experience Vista and upgrade to its successor.

As for the Ad, it is selling shoes no doubt but the underlining message is that change can be good, but it makes you want to buy shoes from Shoe Circus. Verdict, this ad misses the target by a mile even with the Windows card at the end. The MAC vs PC ads are quick and get a clear message out in 30 seconds. This ad takes 90 seconds to run and I could run 3 MAC vs PC ads in the same timeframe. Here is $300 million down the drain and it would be much better spent in Paul Allen's hands buying Seattle a Super Bowl Championship and Portland an NBA Championship in the same year.