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Microsoft Causes Internal Family Strife
techmuse writes "Fresh from its ad featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld eating churros and discussing shoes, Microsoft has introduced a new advertisement in which the aging former CEO and comedian take up residence with a family, causing infighting and malicious plots by the family members. Although the ad does not mention Microsoft's operating system directly, it does mirror the real world experience of the company's products — appearing where not wanted, hard to remove, causing administration headaches, and finally being forced out in hopes of getting one's living space back."
I'm not sure that personifying Gates will appeal to the masses. I saw this ad with my 11-year old daughter, and the first thing out of her mouth was "Whoa! Bill Gates is OLD!!!"
It's hard to relate to someone when they are ancient (and you are young). Why do you think the Apple guy is young while the Vista guy is older in Apple's TV spots?
'Nuff said.
Attention all planets of the Solar Federation! We have assumed control! - Neil Peart
You would have no idea that it's a commercial about an OS.
I guess it's not really an ad for an Windows, but rather an ad for Microsoft in general. To clarify ads these days are rarely about the product. Really, the next time you're watching TV, watch all the ads carefully, and ask yourself regarding each one, "What does this tell me about the product?"
Established brands rarely tell you anything about the product unless they're introducing something new. For example, Coke commercials. They might have someone holding a coke bottle or maybe even taking a sip, but the commercial doesn't have any "information" about Coke. McDonald's is the same way. Unless they're introducing a new sandwich or something, they don't talk about the product. They just show someone holding the bag or taking a bite out of the sandwich. But you know what? Everyone who takes a bite of the Big Mac or a sip of that Coke have some things in common: They're happy and attractive and having fun!
Current advertising theory holds that there's no point in giving people information, because people don't make "rational decisions". They make their decisions based on emotional attachments. So what advertisers aim to do is to attach a positive emotion with a product on a subconscious level, so that when you think about that product, you feel good. That good feeling makes you more likely to buy that product.
The holy grail of advertising is to be a part of an entire subculture that's attractive and happy and cool, a subculture that people want to be a part of, and to have their product be synonymous with their product. They want to make you feel like you can't be a part of the culture that you belong to without owning that product. They want you to feel like you're not yourself without that product.
Now I don't know how successful these ads will be, but it's clear that they're trying to remake the Microsoft image. They're trying to construct the emotional response you feel when you think about Microsoft, because the current emotional response from a lot of people consists mainly of frustration. So instead, they're trying to make Gates, as the embodiment of Microsoft, come across as a quirky fun guy that you'd like to have around even if he is a little hapless. He may as well be saying, "Hey, I'm not perfect, but I'm kind of nice and fun and even helpful, so invite me into your home."
I found quite a few bits funny. Gates reading a bedtime story to the kid about polymorphism was pretty hilarious (from a Geek/Nerd stand point) "Does this story have monsters?" "Yes, but there's a firewall".
If you can't find the hidden message about "bringing people together", and how they talk about it near the end. It is an advertisement about the OS, but a more "off" way to market it, like MOST COMMERCIALS.
I didn't watch the other commercial, but I thought it was a nice -entertaining- way to spend 4 minutes of tv ads than other commercials.
Disclaimer: I am not god.
We may not be created equal
But we can be treated equal.
Where are my mod points when I need them, the parent is bang on target. The holy grail of marketing, at least according to the presently ascendant theory, is to market and sell a brand image and NOT the products associated with that brand. This is far more profitable, assuming that it can be accomplished, because good products come and go and they cost money to research, develop, and produce, but if I can sell you on the concept of a brand then you will buy almost anything, regardless of quality and especially in the short run, that is associated with that brand. The real value and the highest potential for profit are selling the brand, not the products. Now, obviously this does not always work and it doesn't work on everyone, particularly not on intelligent people who think for themselves, but it does work on Joe Sixpack and that is the majority of the non-niche markets. Microsoft is attempting to develop and expand their brand so that they can sell their products to an American public that is becoming increasingly ignorant about how technology actually works and concentrates mostly on what is cool or in style over functionality.
Yeah, because TCP/IP, SMTP, and the Web are so valuable without an OS. Love 'em or hate 'em, Microsoft did connect billions by putting an OS on the desktop that made those technologies worth something to Joe Average.
Let's give credit where it is due. But only where it's due. Microsoft didn't invent the Internet. They didn't make the Internet possible nor did they even make it popular. And they didn't provide the only viable platform.
What they did do is provide one of the key components Compaq needed to start the Clone market and prime the pump for the commodity hardware market we enjoy today. It is possible someone else would have done it if it wasn't for Microsoft (CP/M was essentially the business model for DOS). But it wasn't someone else who did it - it was Microsoft.
But be careful how far you take that praise.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry when i see mac ads, i mean people actually believe them
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