Truth in advertising: New Microsoft Windows ad about “nothing”
Microsoft’s first commercial in a campaign intended to reinvigorate the public’s perception of its Windows operating system debuted Thursday night. In it comedian Jerry Seinfeld helps recently retired Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates pick out a pair of shoes at a discount shoe store in an ordinary mall.
Don’t you feel better about using Windows now?
Apparently a belated answer to Apple’s two-year “Get a Mac” campaign starring John Hodgman (PC) and Justin Long (Mac), the Seinfeld-Gates ad left many viewers scratching their heads.
Reaction from both the tech and ad worlds ranged from bewilderment to outright ridicule.
Unabashed, Microsoft claimed the campaign’s first ad achieved its goal. Bill Veghte, senior vice president of Microsoft's Windows and online services business, told the Wall Street Journal on Friday the ad is merely a "conversation starter, an ice breaker.”
Another Microsoft spokesman also spun the widespread negative reaction to the ad as part of the plan, telling the Journal its intent was to “drive buzz.”
Both promised more substantive ads in the future. No doubt future ads will be better; one almost couldn’t do any worse.
A press release even references the “classic Seinfeld sense of the word” nothing in describing the ad.
As a huge fan of Seinfeld’s TV show, I was shocked at how flat and unfunny Seinfeld was. And Gates, who has shown he can poke fun at himself successfully, looked too self-conscious.
There’s zero chemistry between the two men. That doesn’t bode well for subsequent installments.
Microsoft isn’t talking specifics about future ads in this campaign, but a press release it issued Thursday offered a mind-numbing overview:
“The new campaign will highlight how Windows has become an indispensible part of the lives of a billion people around the globe -- not only on PCs but also now online and via mobile devices. It will illustrate how Windows integrates consumer experiences across PCs, online and on mobile phones through Windows Vista, Windows Live and Windows Mobile. “
Did that whet your appetite for what future ads might bring? Try reading the entire release, which manages to inflate a few thin paragraphs of information into a three-page screed. It appears the operating system isn't the only thing at Microsoft that suffers from bloat. Must be company policy.
From the hints Microsoft is giving, future ads will give consumers few if any concrete reasons to prefer Windows. Each of Apple’s ads, on the other hand, portrays a specific reason why consumers should choose a Mac over a Windows PC. That’s why they’ve worked so well.
And that’s why Microsoft can’t get too specific. What sort of advantages could they talk about with Vista?
Despite six years of development, Vista brought few compelling new features. But its steep system requirements and early troubles with driver incompatibilities persuaded many Windows users to stick with XP.
This campaign shows Microsoft is looking over its shoulder, even though Apple’s share of the U.S. computer market is just in the 8 percent range. But that share grows every year, and shows no signs of slowing.
Microsoft’s history reveals it as the sort of company that takes all competition seriously, and hates to lose even a tiny portion of market share (remember its attacks on Linux a few years ago?)
Think about it: Even with Vista’s launch more than 18 months behind us, and the next version (tentatively Windows 7) at least two years away, Microsoft felt the need to blow $300 million on an ad campaign to shore up consumer confidence in an operating system that runs 95 percent of world’s PCs.
I smell fear.
Comments
Does anyone else remember Jerry Seinfeld's Mac product placement in his show?
There was always a Mac in the background of his apartment - including a rarely seen 20th Anniversary Mac.
Posted by: bryanintimonium | September 8, 2008 9:27 AM
It was a peculiar spot, but I have to admit that I laughed out loud when Gates whipped out his discount shoe store loyalty club card and the photo on it was his mugshot from way back when.
That doesn't necessarily make me hot to drop XP, though.
Posted by: Claude | September 8, 2008 9:44 AM
The Microsoft Ad was about two over-the-hill people purchasing cheap shoes that had to be repeatedly bent in order to make it wearable.
If anything, that was a terrible comment on Microsoft's products.
It implies that Windows is cheap as in POORLY MADE, that Windows does NOT FIT well, that Windows needs a LOT of IT work to make it run, and that using Windows HURTS.
And it uses the retired and haggard appearing Bill Gates and the over-the-hill and past his prime 54 y.o. comedian Jerry Seinfeld to pitch this vision of Microsoft.
Not only does it cast Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld as out of touch with reality, but also not cool.
This is a thoroughly awful way to pitch Microsoft's products.
Posted by: James Katt | September 8, 2008 11:45 AM
Funniest commercial on TV right now. Next to previews for "Hole in the Wall" on Fox.
Posted by: Joe V | September 8, 2008 11:58 AM
I think I see the strategy. They start by introducing the Bill and Jerry comedy team, with Bill being the gruff Mega-Geek, and Jerry being the personable but totally computer illiterate sidekick, ("moist and chewy, like cake"?... come on, now!). Just watch in future episodes as Bill takes the childish intellect of Jerry, and turns him into a Super Power User with the incredibly powerful and useful Vista, as Jerry successfully imbues Bill with an actual personality all his own!
Still doesn't make me want to give up my Linux, though...
Posted by: Stu W | September 8, 2008 4:14 PM
Have you seen this commercial? What were they trying to sell, shoes? It makes no sense whatsoever. What connection does the commercial have to do with Vista? It is so BAD, that it is funny. Yes, funny laughing at how MS doesn't get it and also how Seinfeld will sell his soul for 10 million and ruin his reputation at being funny. Gates and Seinfeld. Two has beens.
Posted by: Alan Smith | September 8, 2008 4:32 PM
Neither Mr. Gates nor Mr. Seinfeld are, to my knowledge, gay, but there was a strong homoerotic spin in this commercial. Bill Gates wiggling his backside and Jerry just ready to eat him up, carrying around those phallic doughnuts?
Most tasteless commercial of 2008 nominee right here!
What is the freakin' point?
Posted by: Patrick | September 8, 2008 5:15 PM
The reason the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC ads" were so great is because they pointed out real world frustrations with PCs in a funny way.
If Vista is so great, and 90% of the earth uses MS PCs, then everyone should love their PCs and realize the wonderful potential Vista offers.
Apparently, that's not the case.
Posted by: Synthmeister | September 8, 2008 6:02 PM
To amplify Patrick's point, I guess Seinfeld on one knee and Gates sitting in a chair gazing into one another's eyes with little smiles playing over their faces was supposed to be a 'gotcha' moment but, ewww...
Posted by: Michael Teuber | September 8, 2008 6:16 PM
The shoe store is not supposed to be windows....it's supposed to be MAC.
Mac/Clown was great back in the old days (note the dated picture on Bill's card) but times have changed and you've grown up (his shoe size is no longer 9 and the shoes no longer fit).
All you have left is the "cachet" of belonging to the Clown/Apple store.
It's pretty murky and I agree Apples commercials seem better, but I suspect that we won't be able to judge the effectiveness of this series until we've seen the whole set..
Posted by: Bill S | September 8, 2008 7:20 PM
Less money on Seinfeld, more on fixing windows. When you have something you can compare to the competition you can take it out of the garage.
Posted by: stoltobot | September 9, 2008 4:33 PM
Reminds me of the Simpsons:
"Mr. Plow, that's my name. That name again, it's Mr. Plow."
Heh.
Posted by: tpe | September 9, 2008 6:43 PM
Interesting point about the Clown Shoe Store being Mac... why is it called Quality Shoes at Discount Prices? If anything, the PC is cheaper. Bill Gates certainly wouldn't be a member of the store either. If anything, it represents the disorganized, low quality PC market, with their products that don't really fit you, much like a PC.
Posted by: Colby Fulton | September 9, 2008 8:55 PM
Are you kidding me? The ad is brilliant. My wife and I pick up on something new each time we watch it. Perhaps Mac users should open up their I-Brains and sit with their I-friends and watch the commercials on their Ipods or Iphones a few more I-times to understand them.
Posted by: MacVsMicro | September 9, 2008 11:03 PM
Now, if only Vandelay Industries would hire Jerry to promote their latex products...THAT partnership would rock! "And you want to buy MY latex products."
Posted by: DecaturHeel | September 10, 2008 9:37 AM
I saw a funny blog post about this.
http://tenpoundhammer.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/bill-gates-goes-starring-in-indie-film/
Posted by: Jon | September 10, 2008 10:44 AM
What a whole lot of money for… nothing…
The Advert didn’t even have a decent go at Apple.
Here’s my version of a good Microsoft Ad.
It’s January 29, 2007, the Day before Vista was first released. Our main character (let’s call him Dilbert, so you can imagine the sort of person he is) waits in front of the local computer store chain. The sun is just coming up, the store opens at 10, he’s been there all night, alone. As it ticks over until 10am a store clear flips the Vista advertising sign in the front window. It now reads come back tomorrow. Vista isn’t finished yet. He repeats the process the next day, finally gets his copy and eagerly rushes home.
Back in his gadget filled apartment he loads up his new software, only to be confronted with a message saying all his hardware it too old and he needs to upgrade it. Frustrated, he curses out loud “that’s it, I’m done with this, I am getting a MAC!’. A message flashed on the screen “Are you sure you want to do that, confirm or deny”.
The next day he’s in a MAC fanboy line with all sorts of funky design freaks for hours. The MAC & PC ad guys are there, and someone dancing like the person in the ipod Ad. He eventually returns to his apartment with his new MAC.
His apartment is noticeable emptier, as he’s had to sell half his stuff to afford the MAC. He plugs it in and starts to install his programming software and realizes none of it will run on the MAC, unless he installs Vista again (arrgh!).
He comes back the next day. All his gadgets and his shirt are gone. But he’s able to use his new MAC now with all his software.
12 months later he’s skinny and living on noodles and is now in just his underwear coding. He finishes his beta project and goes into the office to show his boss. He’s still in just his underwear. His boss has a windows system so he can’t run it. His boss asks him why he doesn’t use Vista. “The latest service patch fixes all those problems it had when it first came out.
The next week, He’s back in his apartment. He’s got all his clothes & gadget’s back and a new pc with Vista on it. He’s happily working away.
Tagline: “Vista – your view will change”
Posted by: John Broomfield | September 25, 2008 11:32 PM
I seriously despise you Mac lovers. Look, just because you are hippies and you need to be different in every way from NORMAL people, doesn't make a mac ANY better than a PC. Seriously you people act like anything Mac is like mana from heaven. Seriously, what the hell is a mac even for anyways? "I can make slide shows on my Mac! And listen to music!", WHAT SINGLE CONSUMER ELECTRONICS ITEM CANT DO THOSE TWO THINGS IN THIS AGE!
Ive used both platforms EXSTENSIVELY, and the only reason why you would enjoy a Mac more is if you need a GUI that is so simple that a four year old autistic kid would find it easy to use... Good work haters.
Posted by: John | September 27, 2008 1:32 PM