I wasn’t seeking it out the new Microsoft-Seinfeld ads, but it seems I can’t avoid them. Everyone is talking about them. People were pretty confused when Microsoft announced their $10 Million deal with Jerry Seinfeld. But they only got more confused when the ads finally aired.
First, we got one with Jerry and Bill Gates in a shoe store. Next came one with Jerry and Bill studying the lives of the everyday family. And it seemed a consensus was building in the blogsphere:
“I just didn’t connect with the first ad, which barely mentioned Microsoft and didn’t do much to tell me why I should like their products in a competitive market. The second ad, which aired tonight, was more of the same.”
Michael Arrington, TechCrunch
But for me… I guess I just kinda thought they were funny, or perhaps “quirky” is a better word. I decided to ask one of my colleagues what he thought about the ads:
“I think they are getting people talking an talking about Microsoft like we haven’t I’m a while, with interest, intrigue, and yes even fun. I think they are the response to the Apple ads and so far they have done a good job teeing it up. Now it depends on whether the overall message follows through is where the real evaluation comes in.”
St.John Oneil-Dunne
So I ask you, what do you think about these new Microsoft ads? Funny or off the mark?
Update 9/19/08: Microsoft released a new series of advertisements, and ended the Jerry Seinfeld campaign.
“As someone who likes macs, and tolerates using windows, I like these ads. Mainly because they don’t say anything about Windows itself. Just a world of shiny happy people bravely declaring their PC-ness. It allows Microsoft to sidestep the fact that Apple’s campaign focuses on comparing product features. They take Apple’s characterization literally and deflect it onto the users, ignoring what the product can or cannot do. But they do take the time to show umbrage that perfectly decent people the world over do, in fact, wear glasses. And somewhere the cool kids are making fun of your glasses. Ooooh those unproductive jerks!
John Schuchard
Thanks for the update, John!
Marta Strickland
Comments
Connections
Ha Ha. St. John knows what I think.
Can we just come out and admit that these ads are breath-takingly terrible? The advertising community wouldn’t even be talking about them if we weren’t hoping for so much more from Crispin’s (inconsistent) creative genius and Microsoft’s mega-dollars. This was supposed to be the campaign that finally put “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” in its place.
Microsoft is one of the world’s most important brands, and yet they consistently present themselves as staid (the opposite of funny), conservative (the opposite of innovative), pattern-followers and imitators (the opposite of creative).
It’s bad enough that the campaign recycles the Seinfeld/Amex riffs. But its chief sin is that the format doesn’t do anything to counter Microsoft’s main challenge in 2008- it’s perceived as an aging, slow-moving monopoly brand like a 90’s IBM or AT&T who’s glory days are in the past. That’s death for a tech brand. So what could be worse than dusting off an 80’s comedian and a 50-something retired billionaire to personify the brand? The Demetri Martin shorts were a much better choice.
Microsoft isn’t trying too hard. It’s not trying hard enough. And Crispin has jumped the shark!
I guess what really gets me is no one is highlighting the biggest problem of all. Microsoft Vista is an awful operating system. As an avid PC user waiting for the next generation os, I was extremely disapointed with Vista. I even worked on the original Vista campaign!
Microsoft would have been better off taking that 10million putting it towards a better OS.
Sigh.
I concur that the work doesn’t seem to work (much like the operating system, frankly).
As I watch each episode I keep imagining the sell in process for the campaign, particularly how they convinced Bill Gates to do it.
Part of me wonders if Crispin tried to push them much harder and this was the 20% mark where the clients cried “uncle.” But most of me thinks this was just the best could come up with.
Not sure how I would’ve attacked this one, personally.
I wrote about the ads twice already
http://my-tube.blogspot.com/2008/09/jerry-seinfeld-and-bill-gates-horrible.html
http://my-tube.blogspot.com/2008/09/jerry-seinfeld-and-bill-gates-new.html
and I still feel the need to say something about them.
They seem like a waste of time and money, but they seem to also be working in a very perverse way. I wrote TWICE already — and I’m curious enough to wonder what the next one will be like.
It’s like some people’s (most people’?) fascination with car crashes — we want to see, we want to look.
Maybe there will be a great big reveal at the end which will shut us all up — and maybe this is all going according to plan. I mean, look at it, they got our attention — maybe this was all calculated anyway?
This is Crispin we’re dealing with, so they’re not above going for talk / chatter just to get some buzz going. (I don’t agree personally, but hey. If they feel the end justifies the means, that’s not my problem.)
(BTW, Hi Marta — you dropped by my blog and left a comment. Thanks for clearing up the confusion re: the two Martas. Problem fixed.)
Pop question for the crowd:
When’s the last time you can remember a Microsoft ad, let alone talked about it?
I think Rey hit the nail on the head with saying, “This is Crispin we’re dealing with, so they’re not above going for talk / chatter just to get some buzz going.”
Misha is right in saying that Microsoft has the perception of being “staid”, “conservative”, and “followers”. But, they also have a perception of being a big ol’ bully and being out of touch, which has only been cemented by the recent efforts to take over Yahoo!
Microsoft has done a lot of work in recent years (Channel 9) trying to get over the bully image by appearing more human, because after all, humans trust humans and not corporations… and certainly not Microsoft.
I think this is continuing on those efforts. I think that admitting they are out of touch isn’t a nail in the coffin, it’s the start of a very interesting conversation.
At least that’s my theory until the next one comes out, which I bet everyone on this list will watch… whether hating it or not.
Crispin likes to do ads that get talked about and everyone is sure talking about these. But that’s about it. Talk. What about doing? I’m sure not going to go out and buy a PC and work on Microsoft because the ads are cool. The MAC message is so simple, what a MAC can do that a PC can’t.
So, what does this campaign show the world?
A whole lotta talk about nothin…but isn’t that what made Seinfeld famous?
I think they thought “if we build it they will come”. A typical mentality in big business which is a complacent approach.I assume they thought well…everyone loves Jerry! This approach is very similar to my feelings on the latest BMW 5 series http://mediameme.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/lipstick-on-a-pig/
Ok I’ve avoided commenting on those Microsoft Seinfeld ads too… but now they’ve been replaced so quickly with a new campaign, so I’ll snarkily share my 2 cents on both.
When I saw the Jerry Seinfeld spots, I just didn’t get them. They didn’t work for me as ads, didn’t endear me to any of the characters, and just seem to be trying too hard to be post-Wes Anderson quirky. I also couldn’t help but wonder how the agency would have thought that two rich guys walking around in some wood paneled 80s suburbia was somehow relating to ‘the little people’ of 2008. It seemed kind of dismissive, and I kept wondering if it would pay off even after it was over. Will the next one make this one make sense?
As pointed out in comments somewhere, I also think it’s a bit telling that Microsoft would dredge up a sitcom star from *ten years ago* to talk about the future. And overpay him, for very little return.
So these new spots seemed to be all ready to go when they cut the first batch short: http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/18/new-microsoft-ads-are-live/
As someone who uses and likes macs, and uses and tolerates using windows, I like these ads. They remind me of every other branding campaign AT&T has run since 1985, but they’re nice. Mainly because they don’t say anything about Windows itself. Just a world of shiny happy people bravely declaring their PC-ness. PC could stand for Personal Computer, Potassium Chloride or Poached Cats and either way you’re gonna come away from the ad feeling pretty damn proud of your fellow earthlings.
I guess it’s a logical response to the effectiveness of the Apple spots. It allows Microsoft to sidestep the fact that Apple’s campaign focuses on comparing product features. They take Apple’s characterization literally and deflect it onto the users, ignoring what the product can or cannot do. But they do take the time to show umbrage that perfectly decent people the world over do, in fact, wear glasses. And somewhere the cool kids are making fun of your glasses. Ooooh those unproductive jerks!
I just have to wonder if they think these things through. The only time they mention Microsoft is at the very end, with their new slogan “World without Walls”.
But if I have no walls, what good are Windows?
-john
good