Microsoft launched a new ad this past weekend showing a delightful four-year-old girl using Windows Live Photo Gallery to upload, edit, and share pictures. At the end of the ad, she shows how "easy" it is to perform those basic functions and says, "I'm a PC and I am four and a half."
Once again, Microsoft is trying to show that there's a lighter side to its operation, which has taken a beating from Apple over the past few years. During Apple's "I'm a PC and I'm a Mac" ad campaign, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company continually suggested the software giant is dull and that Vista can't compete on any level with Mac OS X.
Microsoft's public image declined as Apple gained control of the topic. The average consumer only heard one side of the story.
Microsoft was forced to fight back against Apple and it started its $300 million campaign by enlisting the help of Jerry Seinfeld. The Gates-Seinfeld spots didn't discuss the value of owning a Vista machine and said little about Microsoft itself. Instead, they used Seinfeld's image and humor to convey a message: "Bill Gates is synonymous with Microsoft and just like him, we're able to loosen up, poke fun at ourselves, and we want you to realize that although Apple has painted us in a certain light, we're nothing like that."
Those who follow the tech world, readers of this column, and others [like your editor, Don] believed those ads failed to capture, well, anything positive. They believed that Gates looked awkward on camera. The humor was lost on them, and because they didn't discuss Microsoft products, they saw them as a waste of money.
I couldn't disagree more.
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Microsoft's dismissal of Jerry Seinfeld is a blunder of epic proportions. And in the latest video, I explain exactly why.
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The Bill Gates-Jerry Seinfeld ad series is back for its second installment and after watching the latest commercial, I'm not nearly as impressed as I was by the first.
My dislike for this commercial has nothing to do with the content. (I still think that mentioning Vista and talking about the product is a mistake at this juncture because Microsoft needs to paint itself as a more likable company.) Instead, I don't like this ad because it paints Gates as the geeky rich man that he is. And for an ad that's trying to change a company's image, that's unacceptable.
When I watch a commercial with Seinfeld in it, I fully expect George Costanza, the pudgy, bald sidekick from his show. Call me crazy, but if Seinfeld is in a commercial, don't we need someone to complement his comedic style?
A screenshot from the latest Microsoft ad starring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld.
(Credit: Microsoft, CNET)After watching Gates for a while, it's utterly apparent that he doesn't provide anything of the sort. Instead, he shouts one-liners like it's his job (maybe it is?) and has no delivery, nor comedic sense to get him through the commercial.
And please, don't even get me started on the robot scene at the end.
... Read moreEverywhere I turn today, I find a story by colleagues or comments by readers saying that the new Microsoft ad with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates fails on almost every level. Some complain that it doesn't mention Vista at all, which makes it useless, while others say that watching Gates' derriere waggle at the end of the commercial was just a bit too much.
Either way, Microsoft is getting killed from all sides by people that think the ad was nothing more than a waste of time and money. "Apple's ads are so much better!" they say until their hearts are content. "Who would want to buy Vista after watching that ad?" they exclaim.
Do me a favor: sit down, put your MacBook Pro away, and be quiet.
"The first phase of this campaign is designed to engage consumers and spark a new conversation about Windows--a conversation that will evolve as the campaign progresses, but will always be marked by humor and humanity," Microsoft Senior Vice President Bill Veghte said in an e-mail to employees.
That logic seems perfectly acceptable to me. The way I see it, Gates & Co. have been looked at for years now as the evil tech company that bullies others and tries to form monopolies. And yet, when it tries to put a human face on, it's heavily criticized in the media?
I don't get it.
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