Fast Talk

The new ad can be found here

It's too soon to tell if this campaign is effective. The general response online has been very negative, but I am not making up my mind yet. At least until I see how the rest of the campaign goes. I am sure CP+B knows what they are doing and somewhat expected this type of response because this first ad is very out there.

The internal email from Microsoft posted on TechCrunch explains their approach. Also, a high quality version of the ad is up on the Microsoft site here.

I watched it last night and it just wasn't that great. It was nonsense, which is what Seinfeld is known for. But the buying public doesn't want to see nonsense for a program that three months ago made absolutly no sense to any one outside of Microsoft. It was funny, but not in the right way...it sort of made it uncomfortable to watch...

I watched the commercial this morning online-- I may be stupid but I just didn't get it! What was the purpose. What did it have to do with selling computers?? And Microsoft is supposed to be paying $300 million for this series ????????

I agree with Johnny on this one. It is definitely too soon to tell whether or not this campaign will be effective. I actually thought the ad was pretty humorous with Seinfeld's classic style, but I still believe that the effectiveness of the campaign will ultimately be judged as a whole, not by one installment. Regardless, anyone who is betting on this being more effective than the PC vs Mac ads, please contact my bookie.

I love Seinfeld and think the ad is pretty funny. However, it is not going to make me go out and buy a crappy windows box or a Zune. I want one of those churros though...

Nice try Bill.

#1 Negative buzz is still buzz, and therefore generally beneficial.
#2 I had a completely different impression when I watched a low-res video on YouTube vs. when I watched the high-res version Johnny linked to. I'm amused and intrigued and looking forward to the next "episode" - what more could they be hoping for at this point?

A commercial about nothing, from the guy who did a sitcom about 'nothing' -- as a ground-breaking sitcom 20 years ago, it was innovative. As a "commercial" in 2008, it's simply useless. One of the posts earlier put it well, "It was uncomfortable to watch." It seems to highlight the celebrity of Bill & Jerry two things which are byproducts of what they once did, and very much not the point. Unless that is their point? "Buy Windows regardless of quality, because now we're famous."

In order to gauge or even speculate on the effectiveness of an ad, you first have to understand what it was trying to accomplish. Which I'm sad to say, eluded me completely.

Hmm. Let me think about this very carefully. I will write and write and you will read and read and perhaps you will notice that I am not really giving you any useful information about much of anything and then I write "Bill Gates pinches his butt cheeks" and you will cringe and then I stop writing. Any more questions?

Using the Microsofts' new for
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Again, fossil ad tactics can no longer mask product flaws. CP&B did a nice job of creating buzz, now its up to MS to deliver, not just a better but the new standard of experiences, products and services that can convert this buzz into sales.

No advertisement will ever make up for poor craftsmanship. No matter whether the product is 'hard' or 'soft'; if it doesn't perform as needed, or can't, there's nothing advertising can do to fix it. You can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

No advertisement will ever make up for poor craftsmanship. No matter whether the product is 'hard' or 'soft'; if it doesn't perform as needed, or can't, there's nothing advertising can do to fix it. You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Advertising is visual / mental slight-of-hand, dedicated to putting you attention on something other than what you would ordinarily focus on. Like the product's quality as it relates to YOUR needs.

It definitely requires you to think about the product more than the average "dumb it down for the viewer" commercials. Churros, discount shoes, spanish speaking onlookers asking if that's The Conquistador? There must be some correlation here. Otherwise, the whole campaign will be a sham.

How engaged are consumers during 15-30 second pre-roll advertising in video players, and are advertisers getting their moneys worth?

I don't think so.

If you have to ask, then I don't think they are that effective.

Although I am a big supporter of Microsoft technology and their current development platform, I must admit I see little value in the new commercial. What is their target audience? If it's strictly a brand building effort , I don't think it's going to be effective.

Nope. I've watched the ad 4 times with increasing levels of disassociation and confusion. If this is meant to be the Mac-killer campaign, it's toothless.

If my techie friend (we'll call him "Dave") is any indicator, absolutely. He couldn’t stop talking about it and eventually ended up reciting the entire commercial pretty much word for word.

I pretty much thought it was a shoe ad.

Yeah...maybe I'm not that bright, but I just don't get it. It was funny and memorable because of Jerry Seinfeld, not because of Microsoft or Vista or anything else. It has to be some sort of building block. I guess we'll all see.

Effective? Sure it draws lots of attention, but when I saw the commercial I couldn't help but make comparisons between this and the Apple campaign. Apple’s commercial subtly highlights their ‘more with less’ attitude. Apple is pointing out significant flaws in Microsoft’s product with a simple commercial shot in front of a white screen. I feel that Apple is painting a picture of Microsoft as too complex and nonsensical. So, Microsoft’s rebuttal is a nonsensical commercial with a high-paid celebrity? I wouldn’t call that an effective commercial. This just seems to drive home Apple’s campaign.

I thought it was great. "Irreverently geeky" is the perfect counterpoint to Apple's "Bemused and irrepressibly smug". And am I the only one who waits for new Mac ads to see what the PC will do next?

Clearly the ad does not stand alone, so I forgive it for not having a clear point. And I'm anxious to see the next installment, so that's a win. Meantime, they've set us up for a number of interesting metaphoric angles like, "Steve Jobs knows what size shoes you need better than you do".

Meantime, this is PR, not product promotion. There's only one purpose for a $300M campaign like this - convince consumers that MS has the ability to think outside the box and connect with users so they won't give up on whole company over Vista. Maybe they'll deliver and maybe they won't, but it's a great marketing aspiration.

Disclosure: I Tivo Seinfeld re-runs

Disclosure Clarification: I said Tivo out of habit. Like telling folks you're from [insert nearest metropolis] instead of your actual hometown. What I actually do is record Seinfeld re-runs on a Windows Vista Media Center.

And I guess I just illustrated that MS is indeed needing some serious PR work.

After viewing the extended 4.5 minute new story-- I'm firmly convinced this has little to do with Microsoft products and everything to do with restoring the image of Bill Gates -- perhaps for his FOUNDATION Activities.

The ads as MAC KILLERS are toothless. In fact I wonder how long before we'll be seeing a sympathetic exchange between the MAC guy and PC Guy over the ads failures to do anything. Now that would be funny !!

After viewing the extended 4.5 minute new story-- I'm firmly convinced this has little to do with Microsoft products and everything to do with restoring the image of Bill gats -- perhaps for his FOUNDATION Activities.

The ads as MAC KILLERS are toothless. In fact I wonder how long before we'll be seeing a sympathetic exchange between the MAC guy and PC Guy over the ads failures to do anything. Now that would be funny !!

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