And I thought Gates was retired. WTF?? And, if you read the whole piece you’ll realize that all it will take for this whole campaign to backfire is for one already rich celebrity to balk at the offer and say he prefers a Mac. I can see it now. “Actor says he’d rather use a Mac rather than take $10 million.” It would be a marketing disaster and it is waiting to happen.
Microsoft has set aside $300 million for an ad campaign featuring once-funny comedian Jerry Seinfeld in a series of advertisements targeting Apple. [Insert “master of his domain” joke here. -Ed.]
According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft will pay Seinfeld $10 million to appear in a series of ads for its “Windows, Not Walls” campaign that will feature Seinfeld and Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chairman. According to AdWeek, other highly-relevant comics like Chris Rock and Will Ferrell may also appear in the ads.
Wired notes that Microsoft’s “choice of Seinfeld was an effort to avoid pandering to the kids with ‘a celebrity that was too hip.'” Mission accomplished.
Found by Paul Salzman who notes that Jerry had a Mac on his show in every episode. What a bunch of boneheads!
the Mac on his TV show set was purchased for the same reason most Mac users purchase one…looks
I think this is a good thing – Microsoft so desperately needs to get a sense of humor. Since forever, MS has sold primarily to corporations and OEMs, while Apple has marketed more directly to users. It’s interesting to see that MS now feels it needs to start reaching the public directly. I think they’ve been really stung by the bad Vista press and by these PC Guy-Mac Guy ads.
Microsoft has never really cared whether end users like their products – they’re not the ones who’ve bought the licenses. They’ve always ignored or patronized the people who really use the products.
Like Seinfeld needs the money. The guy has to be worth between $500 million to a $1 billion.
Anyway, I can see it now…
In his typical standup act whiny voice and a twinge of his trademark bewilderment in his voice, Seinfeld says “What’s the deal with Microsoft? Who ARE these people?”
I’ve often found Seinfeld very funny and I think he’s a great ‘concept’ humorist. He and Gates together could be terrific. I say go for it.
Look at it this way – what does MS have to lose at this point? They’re so far behind Apple, they can’t even see Steve Jobs due to the curvature of the earth. It’s not like a bad ad campaign could hurt their sales.
Extra Bonus: Steve Jobs on Microsoft:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upzKj-1HaKw
#36 – ‘dro
>>That “never used vista” defense is quite
>>old. Get a new one. Vista sucks!
Wow! ¡Que chévere! You’re finally getting with the program, ‘dro! Kudos to you!
Is Jerry a ‘APPLE MOLE?”
I mean it would enable him to find out about any ‘new developments’ at MS… ha!
Or is it a case of ‘any publicity’ is ‘good publicity’…
Maybe the new Linux based MS OS!
Vista sucks, everybody knows it- Seinfeld is an idiot to take money and make a fool of himself. Gates doesn’t know how to walk away gracefully, either, apparently.
Seinfeld’s Commercial for Vista ??? A Promo about ***NOTHING*** !!! Just like his show !!!
[Insert “master of his domain” joke here. -Ed.]
– Windoze Vista – the O/S for WANKERS !!!
#19 – Maybe for gaming freaks and people who want to use a 64-bit OS on a virtual supercomputer, Vista has some advantages.
Vista offers no advantage to gamers. DX10 turns out to be a bust, offering no particularly significant improvement in graphics… and it’s so-called “proprietary” attachment to Vista is bullshit.
Vista, as a basic operating system works fine. But it offers no compelling advantage over XP and is bundled with a Swiss Army collection of bloat.
John: Please…you should know this by now:
MAC = Media Access Control
Mac = Apple Macintosh Computer
*Sigh*
For all of you ignoramuses that said stuff like, “the show’s just fantasy and not reality” you obviously don’t know much about Seinfeld. The fact is, Jerry used to adorn his “apartment” on the set with stuff he loved, such as Superman, Porsche, cereal, Klein bicycles and Macs. Everyone knows that Jerry is a devout Porschephile, for instance, and owns many of them. He even used on in his American Express series with Superman.
Jerry has kids now and has to pay the bills, so why not take a big paying deal from MS. The idiots at MS that hired him, probably never even noticed the Macs on his set or the Think Different ad he was in. I smell PR disaster, typical of Microsoft’s recent marketing blunders.
I don’t hate MS—I just think they’re marketing idiots.