Comments on: Why Microsoft needs more Seinfeld ads

Did Microsoft's Seinfeld commercials work? You might not think so, but Don Reisinger does.

[grahamcallander]

The biggest problem with Microsoft's cringe-inducing Seinfeld ad was that Jerry Seinfeld is passe. Seinfeld personifies the show and the show is so, well, Nineties. In a rare lapse of its finely attuned sense of the popular culture, Crispin Porter & Bogus (Microsoft's agency of record) struck out bigtime. The Seinfeld ad reaffirmed the consensus among the hipper digerati -- not to mention the millions of PC users who have been in Apple retail stores and have either handled or bought Apple products like the iPod and iPhone -- that Microsoft still doesn't get it. That ad failed miserably on multiple levels.

[Splashes]

You're absolutely right, and your point (Seinfeld = passe = Microsoft) is so friggin' obvious that one can only conclude Don's column is either an early April Fool's column or a shameless grab for page views ("He can't be serious . . . could he? I better click to find out").

I vote the latter.

[kcopen]

Well said, ultimately that is a big problem with the campaign, your trying to define yourself as not old, stodgy and out of touch and you use a cultural icon from 15 years ago? There is a whole generation of computer users that have probably barely ever watched a Seinfeld episode. Even to someone like myself who is 40 and a big Seinfeld fan, they felt dated.

[Groucho6]

"Apple did everything it could to ensure Bill Gates and Company were looked at as dull, geeky, money-mongering jerks with software that provided no benefit over the competition. "

No, Don -- Steve Ballmer did that.

[ralphmcmac]

How anyone thinks that the MS Seinfeld Gates ads were good is amazing! Everyone I know questioned what the hell are they doing, where are they going with this and now I'm a PC! Flaming awful ads. Worst ads I've seen. You want to get a positive response. FIX your OS instead of re-advertising it as Windows 7.
Start making stuff that you made up yourself instead nicking from a competitor (and then claiming it was your idea because you've enough ad money to bludgeon it in the minds of the consumer). I look at MS and all I see is a Fat Man reliving his hey day when he was fit, smart and had an unchained mind to think freely and express himself. Wow almost describes the CEO!

[xpatronsaint]

I am not sure why CNET publishes you, all of your opinions are antithetical to any form of common sense.

I totally agree!

Problem is, they used the wrong Seinfeld character. They should have used George Costanza instead!

Windows Seven - son of George

If you can't get the George connection, you have to see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRUdaWZ4FN0

[bonesbautista]

Didn't read most (pretty much all of the other posts) here.

Do not bring back the Seinfeld ads - they suck, and I couldn't reach for the remote fast enough.

It's a dead issue, move on, nothing to read here.

[t8]

The ads didn't paint Vista or Zunes in a positive light. All they did was show how out of touch Bill Gates is. As for Jerry, well we forgive him after all he probably doesn't get that many jog offers these days.
Anyway, I think it just proved how uncool Microsoft is. They are so busy protecting their decades old tech that they are unable to innovate, only make bad copies of other people's successful and innovative products.

Hats off to Apple and Google, the true innovators.

[manwalklikebear]

I can't believe i'm starting to agree with more of your columns Don. Gates-Seinfeld was brilliant and i agree that it's air time was too short to really garner public attention. Microsoft should be doing a whole series of these things!

[DJOmega6]

Totally agree with the comment on Office 2007. The best thing Microsoft has done in years.

[kcopen]

Those ads made me uncomfortable watching them. I guess if that's the message your trying to convey about your company then they succeeded.

[defischer]

The Seinfeld ads will only help Microsoft if they are part of a carefully crafted marketing strategy that communicates the benefits of the brand products (e.g., Windows 7) to its intended customer target and drives sales of its products (e.g, Windows 7). Otherwise, it is just a waste of $...

For more details please read: "Can Microsoft regain control of its brand?" http://cornerthemarket.net/

[jeremydude2005]

The commercials might have been odd and quirky enough to get positive consumer reviews when surveyed.. but you have to compete in mind that is comparing them to what is expected from a commercial. The fact that it wasn't boring, doesn't involve a cleaning product, and has seinfeld in it are going to earn it solid numbers. I would say these commercials were better than the typical microsoft commercials, for the same reasons you mentioned in your article. But as for being a good response to the Apple ads, they certainly were not. I can't imagine a single person who was okay with the Apple ads before, after seeing these Microsoft ads thinking 'Gee, I'm not really interested in this ad now' when an apple ad comes on. I think a stronger approach in regards to countering any affect the apple ads have had would be to show off (even if its not entirely true) vista being easy to switch to, convenient when working with other computers, etc. Even if microsoft showed off completely useless features, tv viewers would think when they see an apple ad about how complicated all of vista is "hey, that ad was just on where the guy did XXXXX just pressing one button!' as opposed to your claims that people will see the commercials silliness as symbolic for how much fun microsoft is as a company :<

[jeremydude2005]

The commercials might have been odd and quirky enough to get positive consumer reviews when surveyed.. but you have to compete in mind that is comparing them to what is expected from a commercial. The fact that it wasn't boring, doesn't involve a cleaning product, and has seinfeld in it are going to earn it solid numbers. I would say these commercials were better than the typical microsoft commercials, for the same reasons you mentioned in your article. But as for being a good response to the Apple ads, they certainly were not. I can't imagine a single person who was okay with the Apple ads before, after seeing these Microsoft ads thinking 'Gee, I'm not really interested in this ad now' when an apple ad comes on. I think a stronger approach in regards to countering any affect the apple ads have had would be to show off (even if its not entirely true) vista being easy to switch to, convenient when working with other computers, etc. Even if microsoft showed off completely useless features, tv viewers would think when they see an apple ad about how complicated all of vista is "hey, that ad was just on where the guy did XXXXX just pressing one button!' as opposed to your claims that people will see the commercials silliness as symbolic for how much fun microsoft is as a company :<

[jmcj12]

Really, the Mac vs. PC campaign ads are not completely directed at Microsoft. In a sneaky way, they are really directed kind of at HP and far more so at Dell. While Microsoft could have just come out with just a "server" and a "end-user" version of Vista, instead of the complicated mess of different "versions" of Vista that have cause some problems, Dell and to some degree the other PC makers are the ones who really made a horrible mess of the Vista launch. They are the ones who were supposed to provide most of the tech-support and upgrade-path information to both enterprise and consumer customers, and instead really just bungled it up badly. I personally use Vista Ultimate on a home-built PC desktop, and use MacOS X 10.5 on a new unibody MacBook. Both work really fine, but I am aware of several of the backwards compatibility issues with the "less than Ultimate" versions of Vista. I am additionally aware of several of these versions security holes and stability flaws. Linux is another issue, but looking at what especially on the desktop/end-user side of that how Dell has really made an inconsistent mess of that as well. Doing something halfway is sometimes worse that just not getting involved in something at all. I do not blame Microsoft fully for several of Vista's pitfalls, I largely blame the PC makers for not testing Vista really well, testing Linux really well, and making a poor attempt to cash-in quickly on the Vista launch without whole-heartedly preparing their customers, let alone their employees for Vista. This is where Apple was able to capitalize in it's competition against the PC makers and Windows and Linux. Microsoft and the Linux community are not as much to blame for Apple's gains against them as much as Dell and the other PC makers are.

[wiredchicken]

Seinfeld finished filming ten years ago. Why could'nt they have used something relevant like, Randy from My Name is Earl? What kid is going to be able to relate to Seinfeld, especially if they were born in 1992?

[richard993]

Microsoft tried to be original with the Seinfeld ads, clearly it didn't work (just like everything else from Microsoft)... I don't know why some writers are repeating Microsoft's public relations BS and calling the ads as icebreakers. Here in Australia, we call them failures... and an icebreaker is when the ads are finally over!

[gigo1000]

"...and we want you to realize that although Apple has painted us in a certain light, we're nothing like that."

The Apple ads were successful and struck a nerve because Microsoft is exactly like that!!!

The Microsoft/Seinfeld ads were just dumb.