6 ms·
The First Bill Gates + Jerry Seinfeld Microsoft Ad Makes No Sense
- river_styx 18y agoIt's nonsensical, unfunny, and just lame. Sorry Microsoft, but you will never be able to catch up with Apple culturally.
- volida 18y agotry understanding the ad. it's actually a very smart ad
- Kilimanjaro 18y agoOh I see, so the ad is targeted to mensans only?
- fauigerzigerk 18y agoI think that's exactly the point they're trying to make: We may never catch up with Apple culturally, just as Warren Buffett may never catch with some sleek hedge fund type culturally. We're normal people, but we're still kind of funny and get things done (such as earning a billion or ten) without worrying too much about fashion.
- sdurkin 18y agoYou can almost hear the money being flushed down the tubes.
- JeremyChase 18y agoI'm not a fan of Microsoft, but I liked the ad. One purpose of media is to get people talking, and there is plenty of buzz about this advertisement. Jer
- acesamped 18y agoHave you guys watched the Seinfeld tv series? Its really the same kind of humor. lol. I found it funny As much as we may hate to think it, in the end, I think Microsoft wins again because we DID watch the ad didn't we? Jerry and his comedy is the bait. We now know microsoft is up to something "delicious." whoopie.
- Dobbs 18y agoI think Microsoft wins again because we DID watch the ad didn't we? The problem with your statement, is that watches mean nothing if they do not sell the item. Selling the item means nothing if people don't view the ad. One does not work without the other. In this case its getting views but its not selling, educating or performing anything to those views. This ad is nothing but empty views.
- acesamped 18y agoHonestly, I think no matter what we do we are doomed to be consumed by microsoft. I love linux. I have some friends who are staunch Mac users and others who eat, sleep, and pee linux. All of them have microsoft products on their computers. Schools, offices, homes, microsoft is everywhere all over the world. The sad fact is that pc's are cheap and most people (general population) are lazy or uninterested in installing (or even learning about) other operating systems. The product is sort of forced upon us. All we can really do is cope. It seems like a lot of people upgrade their windows operating system when a new one comes out (except with vista because of all of the bad reviews).
- andreyf 18y agoThe problem with your statement, is that watches mean nothing if they do not sell the item. Ads aren't just for selling stuff directly. This ad doesn't sell anything, it changes brand image.
- gaius 18y agoExactly. Another example is the recent Honda ads. (Tho' actually I suspect those are are more about changing the company's image as an employer)
- volida 18y agofor those that didn't get it: the ad shows a normal conversation between two people. it wants to show that pcs are for normal people. this is achieved because it makes you think: hey look here are two famous people discussing something normal... that's the thought that runs in your subconsious and thats what microsoft wants, where instead the message of Apple ads is hey "we use mac, we are better than you" bullshit...which apple's message is annoyingly imprinted in their users mind, reproduced in an annoying way by most of them.
- chaostheory 18y ago"the ad shows a normal conversation between two people." maybe if those 2 people lived in the world of seinfeld it'd be normal... but I didn't feel it was very normal; it was weird like the sitcom hmmm to me the message of the Apple ads isn't 'we are better than you', it's more like 'why put up with this crap anymore? life can be easier if you try something new'
- swombat 18y agoThat was most definitely not a normal conversation.
- ars 18y agoThe only thing I was thinking while watching it is: What in the world is bill gates doing in a shoe store? (Everyone knows he's a billionare.) And: Why was seinfeld acting like his servant and/or worshiping him.
- mixmax 18y agoIf you have to explain an ad then it has failed.
- fauigerzigerk 18y agoAn ad that people talk about cannot have failed. Whether that talking is explaining or not doesn't matter.
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- snprbob86 18y agoI guess they feel the first step towards humanizing Microsoft is humanizing Bill Gates.
- rglovejoy 18y agoThe reason the ad makes no sense is that it is about nothing.
- acesamped 18y agoseinfeld humor. "Its a show about nothing." (like everyday life nothing).
- ShardPhoenix 18y agoThank god you're here to save us, Captain Obvious!
- josefresco 18y agoApparently Captain Obvious needs to spend some time with the Gizmodo bloggers.
- mdasen 18y agoI don't know what you all are talking about: clearly this is just a teaser ad for Microsoft's new Edible PC. It comes in three editions: moist ($100), chewy ($150), and moist and chewy ($350).
- kul 18y agowe're all talking about it
- rms 18y agoI thought this was great. Surreal seems very appropriate.
- trominos 18y agoDid you guys see Bee Movie? Did you see the Jerry Seinfeld ads for it? Compared to the BM ads, especially, this is pretty funny. (I actually think it's decent on its own, but I've always been a big Seinfeld fan.) It doesn't do much for MS's image, though, as far as I can tell. I thought Bill Gates was already popularish? The problem is the company.
- kajecounterhack 18y agoI don't understand why Microsoft needs to advertise on TV...most people I know don't see it on TV and use windows anyway.
- brandonkm 18y agoI think the ad is rather brilliant. The whole "wtf" vibe is what they were going for. You have to always remember that this ad and the followup ads are part of a much larger campaign that is basically going to be a saga of microsoft advertising. Think of this as one of the first few pages in a chapter within a long book.
- tialys 18y agoThe 'wtf' vibe is also generating all kinds of noise about the ad. Every Mac related website in my RSS feed had an article about it, and it's on every news site I visit. The average consumer may be slightly confused, but the internet large is having it shoved in their face. Isn't that what you'd want with an aggressive ad campaign like this?
- ca98am79 18y agoyeah maybe - but from a purely humor standpoint, it wasn't that funny I prefer "wtf" AND funny, like these skittles commercials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUJ4uorYPoY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUJ4uorYPoY
- jhickner 18y agoThe ad is brilliant, but it's even funnier how many people don't seem to get it. (full disclosure: I loathe MS as much as anyone)
- mattmaroon 18y agoI would agree if it were funny. It's really not. And people stopped reading long books 10 years ago. Now it's all Dan Brown type crap you can polish off in a day.
- vaksel 18y agosure it does...it says: "look at us, we are microsoft, we have a ton of money"
- Angostura 18y agoMy main thought watching the advert was, "that's sad, Bill Gates steps down from running Microsoft, and now spends his time in discount shoe stores?" I'm honestly not trying to take a dig at the ad, but it did feel rather tragic.
- mixmax 18y agoThis reminds me of the huge campaign they ran a couple of years back, the one with the dinosaurs, I'm sure you remember it. The idea behind it was that a load of people in offices ran around with dinosaur heads. The point of the ads were that you were a dinosaur if you didn't upgrade to the new office. However what the ad accomplished was that Microsoft got associated with dinosaurs - they managed to brand their own software as old and cranky. I was absolutely flabbergasted that a company with that kind of resources couldn't at least find an intern to tell them that this was a really really bad idea. This looks like more of the same...
- jgamman 18y agoi liked it. it reminded me of the way william shatner has reinvented himself by hamming up his old cliche. he is now way more interesting. if bill gates could PR himself the role of 'PC genius doofus dropped back into normal world' with the help of some off the wall humour of JS - i think this could be a really interesting ad-war.
- watmough 18y agoYeah, maybe John Hodgeman could be tapped to play the part of the doofus. I'll await further installments with interest. Maybe someone a bit more young and trendy could be be picked to play alongside the Gates / Hodgeman PC-analog...
- rrf 18y agoSpending $300m on an ad campaign to inspire consumers to reconnect with Microsoft not only feels desperate, but seems such a waste when it could have been channeled into making better products or hiring better hackers.
- JoelSutherland 18y agoMicrosoft is spending all kinds of money on both products and great hackers already. The biggest problem they have is their overall strategy. With the cash they have on hand, I have never understood why they aren't doing more parallel development in smaller groups to let the good ideas happen organically. They continue to try to fit every new product into the existing Microsoft ecosystem -- something that is beginning to fail.
- pwk 18y ago"They continue to try to fit every new product into the existing Microsoft ecosystem" As companies get both bigger and older, internal politics seem to have a larger impact on company policy. There are surely many Microsoft employees who have a vested interest in keeping things exactly how they are, investing money and resources in existing projects that maintain or expand their power base, regardless of the benefit or lack-thereof to the company as a whole. It's a type of corporate inertia that's difficult to overcome once in place.
- dotcoma 18y agobeginning to fail? it has failed. big time, too. do you want a Zune? ;-)
- jmtulloss 18y agoMicrosoft just took the cream of my graduating class. Their college recruiters are amazing.
- rms 18y agoThis advertising campaign will be a great critical success. It's a sublimely entertaining advertisement and a really nice thing to do for Bill Gates. This 300MM blitz will really humanize Bill Gates to the TV watching public. Of course, even the best advertising company can't save Microsoft. They need a miracle. How long do you think it will take for the market cap of Amazon and Google to surpass Microsoft? In 100 years and beyond, Microsoft will disappear and Google will achieve immortality, at least until we abolish capitalism.
- pwk 18y ago"In 100 years and beyond, Microsoft will disappear and Google will achieve immortality" I suspect that, in a mere 25 years, Google will get the same respect that Microsoft does today (ie some, at least from some quarters, but much less than heyday levels). Some young bucks will come along with the same combination of smarts and business savvy and build the next big thing, and lots of the bright people currently at Google will have retired or moved on to other things.
- rms 18y agoSure... I suspect that the market cap of Google will have surpassed Microsoft in 5 years. Amazon, in 25. In 100 years, Microsoft will certainly be entirely irrelevant if not completely gone.
- caveman82 18y agoSince when do ads need to make sense?
- senthil_rajasek 18y agoCan buying a shoe that fits your feet be so difficult? Actually it is, for me at least... Personally, for me it is the shirt. Even if you find a shoe that fits you there are onlookers criticizing that its not the right fit for you. Now, how about getting the right operating system for your personal computer? Can some company satisfy every customer find their perfect operating system?. Its a challenge, I would say... and then there are some who want it moist and chewy, not dry and crunchy. Just my interpretation and a thought that crossed my mind as I was trying to download a patch for my machine...
- joshu 18y agoI am infinitely freaked out by the text "delicious" at the end of the clip.