Seinfeld-Windows TV Ad Anything But 'Delicious'

CWmike writes "Microsoft's $300-million ad campaign for Windows starring comedian Jerry Seinfeld launched Thursday with a long TV commercial almost entirely devoid of any talk of Windows, Microsoft or anything, really. With co-star Bill Gates, the scene is set in a shopping mall. Seinfeld, who did most of the talking, helps Gates buy a pair of shoes called the Conquistador. The commercial ends with Seinfeld asking Gates if Microsoft will "come out with something that makes our computers moist and chewy like cake so we can just eat them while we're working." Gates wiggles his rear to answer in the affirmative. The commercial ends (see video inside the story) with the Windows logo and the phrase 'Delicious.' Preston Gralla writes, 'I just saw Microsoft's much ballyhooed Jerry Seinfeld ad, and can say without equivocation it's one of the worst, most pointless ads in history. If this is Microsoft's response to the 'I'm a Mac' ads, it should fold up its tent and tell the world to switch to Apple."

Comments

Its Marketing ... no information required

[Merlin42]

Clearly the OP does not really understand what advertising is usually about. Most mass market advertising does not try to provide information, it is providing associations. It presents something enjoyable (here it is assumed that Seinfeld+Gates==Enjoyable) and then presents the branding that they want to be associated with that enjoyable feeling. The crazy part is that this works, and in a weird way can be suggested as actually improving the product. Since the next time the subject of the advertising uses/sees the product, they will subconsiously access that association with enjoyment ... therefore the product is more enjoyable as a result of the advertising.

I am not saying that this is a good thing, but it is how things work in the real world.

Now you can argue either way as to whether Seinfeld+Gates=Delicious ... I didn't actually watch the comercial myself ... but they might be reaching as far a transitive association all the way back to the Seinfeld show, which almost everyone agrees was enjoyable. In any case I don't think there was ever any intent to have actual informative content in the comercial ... they are just "building the brand".

See Seth Godin's book "All Marketers Are Liars"
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/all_marketers_are_liars/

or a quick review of it here:
http://www.businesspundit.com/lying-marketing-and-perception/

Re:Its Marketing ... no information required

[tknd]

I've come to suspect that this in fact doesn't work at all

It may not work for you, but step back for a second and consider your background. You're knowledgeable about computers, probably a geek of some sort, and tend to be subjective of anything. Given that, this ad may not have targeted you at all. Instead, depending on the show, time, location, and where the commercial aired, will give you hint as to who they are targeting. If it was during a mid-day soap opera then they are probably targeting stay-home wives. If it was during an American football game on ESPN then they're probably targeting low to mid income men. My guess (I can't watch the commercial right now) is they are targeting the average Joe who gets his computer from Best Buy. If that's the case, this may already be a success. We'll have to see how sales of computer manufacturers like Apple, HP, Dell, etc fair after this ad campaign to see how effective it really was.

Re:Its Marketing ... no information required

[_Sprocket_]

Clearly the OP does not really understand what advertising is usually about. Most mass market advertising does not try to provide information, it is providing associations. It presents something enjoyable (here it is assumed that Seinfeld+Gates==Enjoyable) and then presents the branding that they want to be associated with that enjoyable feeling.

And that goes a long way to explain the commercial. Jerry Seinfeld for a bit of comedic glue to set the absurd scene. Shoe shopping. Churros. And a promise to offer computing so enjoyable that its like eating moist cake as you work. Which ties in to the churros and also sets itself up to be compared to someone else's "lickable" interface.

Totally Agree, Practially Worthless Ad

[BigAssRat]

If I didn't know that it was Bill gates I would have had just about no idea what that commercial was about. It was pretty stupid and pointless in my opinion.

Just more of the same.

[jellomizer]

These adds are just suppose to make people think that Microsoft knows the average Joe, that they are a approachable friendly company. Kinda like how Exon Mobile has those commercials to show their R&D in alternative energy aka "not placing all your eggs in one basket" The goal isn't to switch Mac or Linux people to Windows but keep Windows people on Windows. Most likely Seinfeld (a 1990s star during Microsoft PR heyday period, where they were considered to be the most innovative products out there, by many people) help bring back the feeling of the 1990's where running Windows was considered the cool thing to do, and running Mac or Unix was just prolonging the death of an obsolete platform, and Linux was just a Fad OS that will go away once Windows 95 is released.

It is kinda like see how good things use to be when Microsoft was your favorite OS.

Re:I thought...

[KeatonMill]

I should specify that I was watching it with some buddies of mine and had (up until this point) been quite raucous throughout the football game. But this commercial confused the hell out of us.

"Is it for charity?"

"Is it for shoes?"

"Is it for some sort of policy initiative?"

Nope. Windows. ...delicious.

Re:I thought...

[azav]

But the end... the end... that setup, the punch line/butt wiggle and Jerry's response? Uhhh, just non funny, dumb and baffling. There are many things about Bill Gates that are not funny. The body he inhabits and all parts contained within qualify under that designation.
 
Just. Bad.

Re:What Are You Talking About?

[dotancohen]

I think it is actually an ad for churros. I anticipate huge churro sales spike following this campaign.

Actually, I think it's an ad for ads.

The ESB and T3 ended exactly as this commercial ended: a set up for the next one. This is going to be a chain of commercials and obviously the first one is out of context and sucks.

Just wait for commercial 3.11^w 95^w 98^w 2000^w xp^w vista^w 7: it won't suck. It will be delicious.

Re:It's a good ad, actually.

[CastrTroy]

Why advertise to people who are already buying your product. The people who are old and stuck in their ways wouldn't switch from Windows anyway, so there's not point in targetting them. They need to target the younger crowd, both those who have switched, so that they switch back, and those who haven't switched yet, but are getting annoyed with releases like Vista, and may switch in the next 5 years.

Re:It's a good ad, actually.

[phyrz]

as someone who helps out on ubuntu forums from time to time, that idea scares the crap out of me.