Ok, so the producers of these commercials have clearly decided that these things are going to be a pure viral marketing campaign hoping blogs like this will run them for free as I am doing here. So instead of paying for advertising the cheap bastards are expecting free advertising. This will work for maybe a few episodes of this crap, but not much more than that. The campaign will thus be a success but will it actually sell any product? Does it even sell Microsoft as a brand? I’m not seeing it.
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There are a lot of little jokes. I think
The Grandma has been in the house for 12 years. 12 Years ago, MS released IE 3.0, which was the first version of the browser to have feature parity with Netscape. IE 3 is the first battle in the browser wars that IE was competitive.
The game the kid plays, like the butt shake in the end of the first one, show that MS has lots of stuff they can do in the future. Don’t knock the brand.
Seinfeld says you can use 2 sides of the paddle. And then he yells “Why do you only have 1 ball” Reference to Mac’s 1 mouse button perhaps?
It takes forever to fill the pool, remind you of a delay… to an Operating System release? MS poking fun at itself. Not to mention it never gets warm, like a certain incomplete feature in the final release. MS poking fun at itself.
The girl evokes sympathy. Works for the branding, and perhaps a not so sly dig at Macs being the real mean and therefor unfriendly platform.
The line at the end about connecting a billion people, and the tag at the need of the commercial. Love MS or hate it, they’re a net positive.
It’s really about company branding. And to people who will watch these commercials… tech enthusiasts who will watch the 4 minute version on you tube or wherever, the more the message sinks in that MS is not an evil company with some good tricks up their sleeve ready to launch, the better for MS.
Can’t quite put my finger on it, but I think like it.
/pours a bowl of cereal.
These days people only pay attention to soundbites, anything over a minute and they fall asleep or go make a sandwich.
The I’m a PC/I’m a Mac ads are like jokes, short, funny and there is a message, Vista sucks, switch to a Mac.
These are way too long and there is nothing to remember, no punchline, and no product. I’m sure there is a message in there somewhere but it’s way over the heads of most people.
#63 – dalhectar – …tech enthusiasts who will watch the 4 minute version on you tube or wherever, the more the message sinks in that MS is not an evil company with some good tricks up their sleeve ready to launch, the better for MS.
And then they’ll wake up and smell the coffee…
#35, the idea that I’m a Microsoft employee is as funny as the video. I actually hate Vista as much as anyone who’s ever posted here. Microsoft has been irritating, patronizing and over-charging me for 20 years.
I am aware that some people just don’t find Jerry Seinfeld funny. They never liked his TV show either. Unfortunately I can’t help these people!
Honestly, I’m fasinated by these ads BECAUSE I don’t get them. At least not at first. I’ve watched both ads several times now to find Microsoft symbolism, and I’ve been able to come up with a small handful of things. My hat is off to Microsoft.
Don’t know about paying (just got my salary check, but there are no big bucks from MS on it), but I liked the commercial. In fact, I really like this kind of “abstract” humor.
Obviously, Microsoft is making fun of themselves. That’s what Jerry said – “you live above Seattle… I stuck in my own traffic”. My guess is there will be about 4 more series where they will somehow resolve the issues. Or not.
#68, now just think about this for a moment. At this point in history, we don’t need to be told who Microsoft is, or the names of its products, or what they do. The audience knows what the subject is as soon as they see Bill Gates. The purpose of these spots is to soften Microsoft’s image, and I think they do that beautifully. Think of them as campaign ads. No substance, no issues, just the candidate walking on a beach with his pants rolled up…
The 1st one left me a bit cold but #2 tickled my fancy. I hope they get better though, or at least stay at the same level.
Hang on a sec, the granny clearly says “Blown Head Gasket”.
Where the hell are you guys getting ‘clogged’ from??
Mr. Mustard’s hearing must be getting as lame as his comments.
I hope this isn’t representative of Windows 7. Pointless and lacking compelling reason.
Mr. Mustard maybe has some white wine in it -” Hey, I like booze on my condiments”-
Anyway this thread is getting ridiculously long and it’s no use anymore.
These MS ads are a bit more refined than the slapstick comedy and maniqueistic dicotomy of Apple ads (i’m a mac, i’m a pc – I’m bad, i’m good – I get blue screens, I don’t – I need a course to operate, I work right out of the box…). Apple ads are directed straight at the teenage mentality and black/white, cool/not cool values. They just work becuse they’re not so much funny, but the PC guy is hilarious.
These MS ads are directed at an older audience.
I agree with #63. Microsoft are successful because a majority of people in the world all use Microsoft products on computers.
That is a good thing and a bad thing. But perhaps we wouldn’t be where we are today without Microsoft? Crappy Microsoft for the masses, elitist Mac for the arthouse, and techy Linux for the geeks.
It’s not funny because the video isn’t self-depreciating enough.
It makes too much fun of the “lower class” people, rather than the spoilt rich guys.
You get the impression that this family is how these guys view their customers/viewers.
I enjoyed it. That’s enough for me.
All I can say is WTF, Bill? This is supposed to save Vista?!? Total BS. This will never turn Bill Gates into a Steve Jobs or Microsoft into an Apple.
Microsoft is under attack from both sides, Apple on the high end and Linux on the low end. Jerry Seinfeld will not save them. Innovative products and lean code will.0
It boggles the mind.
#72 – Zybch
“Mr. Mustard’s hearing must be getting as lame as his comments.”
Yeah, you’re right. She DOES say “blown head gasket”.
My bad.
#72 – Zybch
“Mr. Mustard’s hearing must be getting as lame as his comments.”
Although I stand by my ealier statement that nobody “diagnoses” a blown head gasket from underneath the car.
They spent a lot of money, the results are “fine”, it’s too big and bloated, and everyone is comparing the results to their competitors.
Sounds like a Microsoft effort.
This is like if someone decided to make a funny commercial for his college video class project and he decided to make it “just like Seinfeld.” But, Seinfeld is *actually in it!* He’s standing right there! Is he just too polite to say anything?
If this was an ad for Apple, you all would be changing your pants right now.
Pure, raw, waste of time and video tape.
“hoping blogs like this will run them for free as I am doing here”…
That’s right, you are being used. And you’re loving it.
I’ve watched both ads _here_ now.
Probably not hurting your numbers.
It’s comical to see from these comments just who is a mac fan boy and who isn’t.
The money they’re spending on the ads is a fraction of the publicity they’re getting out of it, namely by dopey apple fanboys going all emo on us and shouting ‘they suck!’
Look, these ads aren’t meant to save anything (how exactly does the most successful tech company in the world need saving from anyways? overanxious apple douchebags, maybe?). The most successful ad campaigns don’t sell any product, they sell a company, they instigate discussions, they get people talking about the ads themselves.
In that sense, these 2 ads have been more successful than anything MS (or apple for that matter) have ever done. They’ve generated more discussions on more fronts than any tech ad I’ve ever seen. THAT makes it a success.
A vast majority of people are already entrenched in their hardware choices. There’s the small minority who use apple, and then the majority who use PCs. There isn’t an ad that could sway these folks.
These ads are simply to bring attention to the MS brand. The sooner you apple clowns get that through your small, one mouse-button-capable brains, the better off you’re gonna be. Don’t have a stroke over it!
Bill is just paying a ton of money to have fun with Seinfeld.
I bet he was a huge fan of Jerry’s show.
It is a very strange ad campaign.
4.5 minutes is a very long commercial.
Why is the blog so negative toward these ads? It has been since before the first one came out and I wonder if it would continue no matter how good or bad the ads are. Maybe a good blog post can’t sit on the fence, but I don’t believe the ads deserve this kind of attack.
The MS ads are actually enjoyable to watch, just like the Mac ads. Both are silly, but a lot more fun to watch than 99% of what I fast-forward through on TiVo.
The full version of this latest ad is much better than the TV version. Some of the funniest parts were cut, which is unfortunate. It’s obviously a totally different kind of humor from the Mac ads. Good for Microsoft! I’m glad they didn’t try to copycat the Mac ads, which I find humorous but also a bit condescending and misrepresenting of the truth. The truth being that Macs and PCs both have their place, but PCs are less expensive and support a much wider variety of software.
worthless-idiotic-annoying i am sure to sell my large holding in this company when it rebounds…
The commercial is just like Microsoft: Bloated and useless!
It’s I’m a Mac and I’m a PC all over again. Jerry is the Mac, cool (cough)and funny and Bill as the PC is a clod
this must be a form of modern art.
At least, I don’t get the least bit of it.
pj