Microsoft Bill Gates / Jerry Seinfeld commercial

The only value I see in the new MS commercial is Bill and Jerry reminding people what their faces look like, and which voice it is matched with. Having been in the position to approve such for over 30 years, in my humble opinion, it was a total waste of time and money.

The ad was slow, the message was unclear, there was no direct correlation between the product or service being promoted and the reason why you should keep focusing your attention on the advertisement. It was basically a bad half-hearted attempt to let people know that Bill knows Jerry and visa-versa.

If nothing else, it was dry humor in a mediocre way. It reminds me of the bad advertising Coach Handbags has been pumping out for the last year or so. The company lost its focus on the real market, which is the woman who can afford a $699.00 purse, not the older teenage group who has to ask Mom and Dad for the money to buy the $699.00 purse.

Microsoft is making a similar mistake with their advertising. Jerry is passe, he doesn't have the pulling power todays users pay attention to. They need an unknown who idolizes Bill Gates, sees him in a store, runs in gasping for air because he (or she) is star-struck, tries to ask him a million questions about computers all at once, Bill calmly responds, sees him (or her) as a geek in waiting, and they stroll out into the parking lot talking about the future of computing. You just set the stage for each subsequent commercial. How many people would love to talk to Bill Gates for 5 minutes? You cannot begin to count them all. Thus, every follow-up commercial could be built on the development of the character into potentially the next Bill Gates.

In my humble opinion, I believe they missed every mark on this one.

Um...well...ah...Okay.

It ain't important enough for me to even debate. I got it. I don't know.
Maybe I'm just weird.

Anyway, we'll see how it plays out.

For what it's worth. Microsoft could do a commercial of a dog pooping in
the street and it would generate buzz.

But like I said, I'm weird, so what do I know?

NOPE, it started EARLIER! I guess they figured THAT campaign was going too slow, or dying, so they moved it to TV as well, and it is now relegated to the SECOND spot on the website. It is clear that THIS one leads into the other. The other is ALMOST as vague, but it is CLEAR what it is doing....

They show people a screen and they say "What the ....", "WOW...","Whoa...", etc.... and I think one even talks about a new version of windows, and eventually it says that they are talking about VISTA.

Here is what M/S says:

The FACT is, in case you are curious, that the bad VISTA press is DESERVED! You can't show that with just average users doing average things with base software, or in a DEMO, so their whole campaign is BIASED and SKEWED in their favor BY IT'S very NATURE!

Even if it wasn't, the users didn't rate the OTHER platforms, so the 8.5 score is meaningless. Isn't the point NOT to simply say you are good, but that you are the BEST!?

What if 100% of the users rated earlier windows a 4, and apples and linux a 9.5?

Steve

Bullsh%t. This is a marketing forum and we're discussing the impact (or lack there of) of the approach. As it relates to marketing.


Not even close to the same thing. See above. Aside from that, as far as using humor to spark conversation, I'd be surprised if this ad is the focus of much water cooler talk.

WHY DO YOU FAIL TO UNDERSTAND that we're discussing this as marketers and not prospects considering Microsoft's products????

Of course it's part of a long term strategy. One that regardless of how it ends, STARTED WITH A DUD!!!

The only "win" I see out of this for MS (as someone else mentioned) is that now SOME PEOPLE will recognize Bill & Jerry as the cornerstones of the campaign. I'd wager that there are tons of people who won't catch on just by watching the initial ad.

I don't see how anyone can argue against the thinking that there was much room for improvement in this initial ad of the campaign. They didn't get the most bang for their buck. That's my point.