1995
Product: Windows 95
Campaign: "Start Me Up"
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy
The first TV commercial for which the Rolling Stones licensed their music. Of course, the Rolling Stones don't exactly scream new and innovative.
1996
Product: Windows 95/98
Campaign: "Where Do You Want to Go Today?"
Agency: Wieden+Kennedy
Montage of all the software that runs with Windows. Not trying to be cool -- just utilitarian, like Windows itself. It worked.
2003
Product: Microsoft Office 2003
Campaign: "Evolve"
Agency: McCann Worldgroup
Lame idea: implying that you're a dinosaur if you don't upgrade your software. Worse idea: insulting customers.
2005
Product: Xbox 360
Campaign: "Jump In"
Ad: "Zero Hour"
Agency: McCann Worldgroup
This short-lived attempt to be edgy shows commuters on a train platform engaging in a massive imaginary gunfight. Huh?
2006
Product: Windows Live Search
Campaign: "Ms. Dewey"
Developer: Evolution Bureau
Flash-animated site hosted by a "hot librarian" who gives sassy responses to viewer queries -- a blatant rip-off of the Subservient Chicken site Crispin did for Burger King.
2006
Product: Vista
Campaign: "The 'Wow' Starts Now"
Agency: McCann Worldgroup
These cloying ads -- comparing Vista to milestones like the moon landing -- managed to hype the new operating system while not saying anything about its features.
2006
Product: Vista
Campaign: "Clearification"
Agency: McCann Worldgroup
Webisodes starring comedian Demetri Martin of The Daily Show, who was signed three months after Apple started running its "Mac vs. PC" ads with The Daily Show's John Hodgman. The Martin spots were legitimately hilarious, but the virus didn't catch.
2007
Product: Halo 3
Campaign: "Believe"
Agency:McCann/>T.A.G.
Movie F/X whiz Stan Winston created a 1,200-square-foot diorama of a Halo battle scene, complete with 650 figurines in horrific poses. Cool.
2007
Product: Zune
Campaign: "You Make It You"
Agency: McCann/T.A.G.
Psychedelic TV spots show twentysomethings wandering through eerie music videos. It made some noise: Bloggers noted the ad with a Shins song is cooler than the song's actual video.
2007
Product: General Business Solutions
Campaign: "People-Ready"
Agency: McCann Worldgroup
Microsoft's big attempt at "conversational marketing" went south after Valleywag carped that influential tech bloggers (Michael Arrington and Om Malik among them) were getting financial incentives to use the slogan "people-ready." Not cool.
2008
Product: Xbox 360
Campaign: "Parental Street Cred"
Agency: MacLaren McCann
Experts in lab coats ironically "teach" parents how to communicate with kids: "You're lookin' straight up gangsta in those def threads, but if you plan on mackin' in that getup, you be stone cold trippin'." The real irony: the collective groan from gamers.
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Recent Comments | 8 Total
August 20, 2009 at 11:36pm by Maria Montana
I tend to see things going this way as well. I'm certain this won't stop at drug use and party behavior (which is actually a ridiculous qualifier as some of the best employees I've seen partied hard on the weekends). What happens when you're denied a job because of some political or religious views you espouse on blog that the HR person doesn't agree with? You know, the kind of information they aren't allowed to ask you in an interview setting. If it can't be asked in an interview they shouldn't be allowed to go looking for that info online. But, I guess you can always make your profiles private so only people you want to see them can.
October 17, 2009 at 4:05pm by Gabbos Gabbs
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