The first Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld Windows ad left me just as puzzled as most: why were Seinfeld and Gates in a shoe store? What does it have to do with Windows? What does the churro mean?
When I first heard that Microsoft was throwing millions into a new “hip” ad campaign, I wrote it off as an attempt for Microsoft to buy cool. But after seeing the second ad in the series, I’m reconsidering my stance. There’s something very interesting—and very un-Microsoftian—going on with this campaign.
People keep repeating the point that the ads aren’t really tied to Windows, or for that matter to Microsoft—that they aren’t selling anything. That strikes me as ridiculous: when was the last time that you were really convinced by an ad that blatantly tried to sell you something? Many consumers are so inured to advertising these days that even those who don’t skip through commercials on their DVR or mute the sound often still aren’t paying attention. That’s the first virtue of these ads: they’re just weird and novel enough to make you watch them. And for advertising, that’s a win right off the bat.
That they’re not making overt mention of Microsoft and Windows is a point in their favor too. In fact, the only part of the second installment I thought fell flat was Seinfeld’s line to Gates towards the end: “Bill, you’ve connected billions of people…” It felt forced and it took us out of the surreal world that the advertising team has carefully constructed.
My colleague Jason Snell (who concocted the above image) and I discussed the ads for a while this morning and to his mind, they’re very much a sitcom: The Adventures of Bill and Jerry. That’s dead-on: consider the scene with the missing giraffe—the pacing, the cuts; it’s a classic sitcom set-up and reveal.
I don’t know what kind of impact this campaign’s going to have for Microsoft in the long run, but think about it this way: Microsoft doesn’t need advertising to move its product. They’ve got the most widely used software in the world. Even if their marketshare starts to slip, it’s going to be a long time before they’re anywhere near failing. If they haven’t been killed off by the 1000 tiny cuts of security issues, antitrust trials, and lackluster UI, they’re certainly not about to keel over now.
What they do need, however, is to reboot their image; that’s what they’re going for here. They’re trying to rebrand themselves as a business with a sense of humor. And in my opinion, they’ve done a pretty good job: Bill Gates may not be as good an actor as John Hodgman, but it’s not as if he has to stretch very much to play the part of a lovable dork, and Seinfeld provides him with the kind of personableness and humor that Gates wouldn’t be able to get if the ads were all about him.
It’s not like I’m thinking “Oh man, I am going to go out and buy a copy of Windows right now.” But that’s not the measure of success here (or not yet, anyway). On the other hand, I am interested in seeing where Bill and Jerry go next. And that is a big win for Microsoft—after all, when was the last time you were interested in hearing more from Redmond?
This is even worse than the first ad. Not funny, going nowhere, pointless. Just like Microsft. It reflects the attitude to software - we have some much money, it doesn't matter what we do!
Get the heck out of here, these ads are about as entertaining as eating a bowl of diarrhea.
I'm in the ad biz and I've been watching these two ads just to see where they are trying to go.
Guess I'll have to keep watching.
I just enjoy watching anything "new" from Seinfeld. It's kind of like the feeling I had when watching those American Express commercials with Superman a few years back. I actually could care less what they're trying to sell (I already switched to Apple and I'm not planning on going back).
On a different note - anyone notice how the Windows website has mysteriously started to look like the Apple website?
I have a feeling that having commercials that don't sell the product is, well, an obvious intention here. I have read all these complaints about how the commercials really aren't about anything...there was a show I remember watching, lasted a while, and it was known for being about nothing. Jerry Seinfeld and the nature of these friggin' bizarre commercials can't be a coincidence, I guess Microsoft thinks the formula will work for them.
Some years ago, Volkswagen used to air a series of commercials that you knew they were from VW just because the logo showed in the last frame. I thought the ads were cool, but they didn't improve the image I had from VW (which wasn't bad, for that matter).
I think that MS should focus on improving their products rather than fighting the lost battle of public image. Apple is "the brand" and the image of coolness, but ultimately I think people buy their products because they're good.
Great post - I too was entertained by the latest ad. I found the first one humorous but a bit vacant; this one was genuinely funny. But I also agree it is difficult to say what these ads are about or how they relate to Windows or Microsoft.
I loved that second ad, can't wait for the next one.
Whilst I am a Mac fanboy, who can't bear to install Windows on my Mac for fear of tarnishing it -- nevertheless, I am absorbed in where these ads are going. Not going to make me buy Windows, but that's irrelevant.
If the ad leaves you with a bad taste and negative impression of the advertiser and the advertiser's products, then I'd say that the ad has failed completely.
Sadly, you just don't understand advertising and how it works.
I will never understand why people with no training in advertising, and who have never even taken a single communications class in university feel they are somehow experts on advertising just because they happen to watch a lot of them.
Here, let me sum up your entire argument in much less space ...
"I don't know what they are trying to do with these ads, but I kinda like them!"
deep.
msft has already met it's goal with the tech media. the number of articles dissecting the ads are in the hundreds. of course, the self important media is very different from consumers. all msft has to do for the consumers is remind them that they are not just an os provider. keep building on the story and soon they will begin to notice. hopefully the story gets more interesting with an actual product, a new and innovative one.
Too much either-or thinking on these ads.
YES - the ads don't "sell" a product, and YES - that's not necessarily a bad thing.
BUT - the ads, while "image" ads and therefore based on a smart advertising concept, are in my view very weak on execution of this concept.
We are indeed talking about them, because MS's choice here seems so perplexing. But I can honestly say that I don't think about these ads for more than a few moments after I see them. They're not, in my view, gathering the kind of mindshare that Apple's ads (and many other firms' ads) do.
And I think when folks say, "the ads are kind of creepy," and "my wife asked me, 'What the heck was that?'" they're referring to the fact that these just aren't very good ads - NOT because they don't focus on selling or MS, but because they don't capture the imagination or make one curious about Microsoft.
I'm happy that Jerry is making some bucks so he can buy a bunch of Macs. :)
These Windows ads remind me of Kelvin Klein Obsession ads.
They also remind me of Infiniti car ads they 1st ran before the initial release. They featured hay stacks, rocks, plants but no car.
The Seinfeld sitcom was about nothing, the Microsoft ads are about nothing, and this article was about nothing.
I have never taken a class in communications or marketing, but it seems to me that a bad ad is one that you watch one time and thereafter hit "channel skip" on the remote every time it comes on after that. These ads are clearly in that category. Unwatchable. Oh, and Seinfeld's show was *alledgedly* about nothing. Actually, the episodes had story lines. These ads have nothing. That Bill Gates can't act doesn't help.
I remember ads that didn't try to sell anything. Just a bunch of black and white photos of historically significant people and a voice over by that guy from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. They didn't leave you bewildered, they were kind of inspiring. They were also short and cheap to produce. That's the way to build a new image. The only people who know these ads are about Microsoft are people well versed in Microsoft and Apple. These are the Jerry Seinfeld ads, not the Microsoft ads. I don't think leaving people pissed off that they watched that tripe is a good strategy.
I don't find these entertaining, certainly not as entertaining as the shows they interrupt.
For all the reactions this is provoking, i think the ads are great, all MS want is for people to be talking about them instead of Apple. Just knowing they are somewhere is better than no where and all the Mac fanboys are adding fuel to that flame.