Microsoft To Announce Jerry Seinfeld Ads Cancelled

An anonymous reader writes "Valleywag says the Jerry Seinfeld ads are over — In a phone call, Frank Shaw confirms that Microsoft is not going on with Seinfeld, and echoes his underlings' spin that the move was planned. There is the 'potential to do other things' with Seinfeld, which Shaw says is still 'possible.' He adds: 'People would have been happier if everyone loved the ads, but this was not unexpected.'"

Comments

Penny Arcade called it

[QuantumG]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/9/15/

Re:Penny Arcade called it

[Goldberg's Pants]

Glad the ads are dead. There's "cool" surreal. (See: Rutger Hauer Guinness commercials in the late 80's and early 90's) Then there is utterly retarded. That was these.

I never got "Seinfeld" either. I saw a few episodes and it was okay I guess, but I never understood why it became so huge as it wasn't that funny. "No soup for you." Indeed.

Give me "Larry Sanders" any day over that.

Re:Penny Arcade called it

[Daengbo]

That's because the first few seasons were his comedy routine written into skits. Really. If you watched his stand-up before the show aired, nothing in the first season was new at all.

Re:Penny Arcade called it

[cayenne8]

"Glad the ads are dead. There's "cool" surreal. (See: Rutger Hauer Guinness commercials [youtube.com] in the late 80's and early 90's) Then there is utterly retarded. That was these."

And the thing is....someone, probably multiple people in a committee...actually thought these commercials were a GOOD idea!! I mean, even a company with the assets MS has doesn't just throw millions of dollars around on ads without a lot of people approving this.

Was there not a single, normal person that saw these say said...WTF?

Someone in charge of marketing at MS really needs to be encouraged to find greener pastures at another company over this one....

Re:Penny Arcade called it

[Kabuthunk]

Perhaps Microsoft should stop hiring yes-men for those committees :P.

Re:Penny Arcade called it

[mhall119]

And the thing is....someone, probably multiple people in a committee...actually thought these commercials were a GOOD idea!!

Probably the same committee that thought Vista was a good idea.

Re:Penny Arcade called it

[Pippinjack]

That's a great idea, I'm with you...

Re:Penny Arcade called it

[wcrowe]

And the thing is....someone, probably multiple people in a committee...actually thought these commercials were a GOOD idea!!

Actually I imagine the truth was simpler than that. There was probably a boardroom of people who were each unwilling to admit that they didn't understand these very esoteric ads. Each one outwardly proclaimed them "brilliant", while inwardly they had no idea what was going on. Nobody was willing to point out that the emperor had no clothes.

Re:Penny Arcade called it

[caluml]

That's not funny.

Re:Penny Arcade called it

[Hoi Polloi]

Let me take a guess, you don't like "Jewish" style humor in general, e.g. comedians like (early) Woody Allen, Gary Shandling, and Larry David? Much of the show was based on picking at social awkwardness and standards of behavior. The Office (especially the BBC original) takes it even further with the violation of codes of conduct taken to painful levels. Common themes were people lying and having to then keep that lie alive, obsessive thoughts and behavior, and being caught in petty selfish acts.

I found the acting, especially from Julia Dryfuss, to be great. Her body language was instinctive. George's neuroses were great and his parents were perfect foils for him. Michael Richards could be hit or miss. Sometimes I felt he was overacting but usually he was very good in a slapstick, cartoonish way. Jerry was, of course, the straight man but he also indulged in a well done theme of pretty selfishness.

The writing was also excellent with multiple plot threads all being tried together in clever, unexpected ways at the last second. The show's frequent use of established standup comedians (Sarah Silverman, Brian Posehn, Larry Miller, etc) as character actors was also an excellent move.

Re:Penny Arcade called it

[ghjm]

Consider:

1. The ads are just plain freaky. It's hard to imagine any focus group reaction other than possible mild laughter and "WTF?" which means that middle managers would be too scared for their jobs to approve them. The approval for these ads had to come from a top executive.

2. The message is oddly mixed regarding Microsoft itself. The idea is that there's some new stuff on the horizon that will solve all the problems the current stuff has. Why pay to advertise that your current stuff has problems?

3. Bill Gates is prominently featured throughout--the ads focus most of their attention on him. From the 70s drivers license photo to the Conquistadors to reading the story about programming, it's all about showing us who Gates is (or wants to be).

4. If I remember correctly, the word "Microsoft" does not appear - either spoken or as text - anywhere in the ad. The only reference to Microsoft is the Windows logo.

So: The purpose of these ads is to rehabilitate Bill Gates' image as he exits Microsoft and starts his new career as a philanthropist. The middle managers responsible for marketing and communications probably argued against it because it goes against any possible message they might want to convey. But Bill Gates gets what he wants.

These same middle managers are then put on the spot to answer questions about the thing. "This reaction was not unexpected" means "we knew it sucked but we were overruled." And "People would have been happier if everyone loved the ads" means "Gates now realizes it was a mistake and blames us, even though we told him so."

Plausible?

I enjoyed them!

[Solokron]

I for one actually enjoyed those ads! To see those two together in a commercial was uncanny.

Re:I enjoyed them!

[sleeponthemic]

Yeah, I agree. Atleast, I enjoyed the second one. Not as an ad though.. more as an interesting short. I can't really fathom how the intention could be anything more than that given the way they were made/scripted.

Re:I enjoyed them!

[sessamoid]

Not anymore. Product awareness is what it is about.

Not for Microsoft. I don't think product awareness is much of a need for Microsoft Windows. What they were trying to accomplish was to change their brand image, to make themselves appear "cool". They failed miserably. What a massive waste of money.

Just as I was getting into it!

[PinkyDead]

Problem was that the sexual tension between those two guys was too intense - it would never have ended well.

Microsoft's New Ads Revealed!

[CuteSteveJobs]

FADE IN

A Chair

VOICEOVER: Vista. Use it. Or Else.

FADE TO BLACK

We win, you lose!

[FornaxChemica]

"We made these ads because we knew you wouldn't like them. Yes, it was all planned. We made them so we could pull them. Now Vista's sales are not going to improve in any way. This is also planned. It's all part of a very clever plot in which we look like a bunch of idiots wasting time and money. Amazing! Fantastic! This is why we're number 1."

Re:We win, you lose!

[Linker3000]

Surely Microsoft will just push for all marketing agencies to use Seinfeld in *ALL* TV ads so 'their way' becomes the defacto standard.
   

Made sense to me ..

[Layth]

It was an advertisement about nothing.
Haven't you guys ever seen an episode of Seinfeld?

Re:Sadly expected

[ZarathustraDK]

Rather re-invent the joke.

Person: "Then I forced the ethernet-cable in the slot, rebooted while tearing out my nosehairs and slapping my dick at the computer in a vain attempt to feel superior...(5 minutes later)...then I did a defragmentation of the hard-drive but the damn things IS STILL TOO DAMN SLOW!".

Talent-agent: " What do you call that?"

Person: "The Vistacrats".

Re:Gates and Seinfeld....

[CrackedButter]

Hands up if you saw the word 'clit' first, rather than 'cult'. I have thought with all the stories about scientology on slashdot my subconscious would let me see the second word first.

Am I missing something?

[MarkKB]

I must be missing something. Cancelled?

Cancelled is what happens when a contract is revoked. As far as I know, Microsoft is continuing with Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

Cancelled is what happens if they were planning to make more of the same vein. I see no indication of that, but of the expectant bloggers.

Microsoft had always said that the Bill & Seinfield ads were not a campaign unto itself, but an icebreaker, or rather, "phase one". Indeed, it would not surprise me if Microsoft's announcement was all about the new ads, and didn't mention Bill & Seinfield at all.

Me thinks Valleywag focused on what they wanted to hear, not what was actually said overall.

Re:George Orwell and Grammar!

[Anonymous Coward]

"Not unexpected" isn't actually the same thing as "expected", though. The former is closer to "we saw that it could happen".

Put another way, on the scale from "unexpected", through "unsure" to "expected", the former includes everything but the left end, while the latter is only the right end.

Re:The ads weren't that great.

[AngryNick]

Like the OS, the ad I saw was bloated with themes and disconnected ideas that never seemed to come together to be anything amazing. Maybe there was going to be an SP1 for the ad that was going to explain it all?

Mind Bogglingly Bad

[Phoenix666]

I saw the awful Gates & Seinfeld commercial last night where Gates does the Robot, and commented to my wife that Microsoft must have the lowest advertising ROI of all time. It's mind boggling that a company with that much money could do so poorly with their advertising campaigns. They can certainly afford to do better, so why don't they?

It's surprising that Crispin Porter is their agency, since they're about the highest rated in the advertising game. Perhaps it's something about Microsoft that exudes a lameness that overwhelms all else.

Re:The ads were perfect for Vista

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, so you agree, it is much better than Vista.


(Damn Ubuntu fan boys always pointing out how much better they have it;-)

Re:People would have been happier?

[Lumpy]

I tell them the secret meaning...

"Bill gates is so rich that he's simply showing off to the world that he pays Jerry to hang with him. It's basically a giant hey America you suck sign, as he rubs in your face that you are forced to give him money and there is nothing you can do about it.

He's goading you at the fact you dont have a choice and are forced to pay him money and you cant do anythign about it."

They usually stand their open mouthed and then say.... "you're right! you cant buy a pc without windows! OMG! OMG!!" and they run off to tell others.

I love their new advertising arm. they help me screw with people daily.

Larry David

[AlpineR]

If they wanted to make commercials in the vein of Seinfeld, they should have hired Larry David. He seems to have been the real genius behind that series.

people would love the ads

[nimbius]

if they were discordian. penny hits the nail on the head. i have no idea what shoe squishing, churro munching jerry seinfeld is trying to sell, or for that matter what bill "wiggle-ass" gates has on the horizon besides hip displacia and a completely unrealistic scenario of him being spotted in the local mall by a million dollar celebrity.

Re:People would have been happier?

[Sancho]

Truly, the Seinfeld ads were the MS Bob of marketing.

Apple's response...

[oahazmatt]

I can see Apple's response to this admission of failure, now.

Mac: Hello, I'm a Mac.
PC: An I'm a PC.
Mac: What's wrong PC you look a little down?
PC: Well, Mac's got this slick advertising campaign-thing going, so...
Mac: You mean like how the benefits and ease of using a Mac is explained in contrast to the competition?
PC: Yeah, and--
Mac: And your new ads don't represent any of that?
PC: Well, yeah, but--
Mac: In fact, the only thing your ads really did have was a shoe-squeezing, churro-munching, butt-wiggling figurehead and a worn-out comedy act that's staler than month old toast.
PC: Well, it's not all bad. It got people talking--
Mac: Yeah, "WTF" maybe, that's not good talking.
PC: But, those ads did do wonders to show off the capabilities of the Mac, y'know?
Mac: Wait, what?
PC: Yeah, the ad agency uses Macs for all of their productions.
Mac: Gimme a break.
PC: I will not. I'll have you know the entire campaign was done in iMovie.
Mac: That's bull--
PC: Oh yeah. That horrible ad campaign? We wouldn't have been able to get it done without the ease of use of a brand new iMac. I guess it's really your fault.
Mac: Oh jesus--
PC: Do you feel it, Mac? The darkness wriggling inside of you?
Mac: I'm gonna be sick--
PC: This is your fault, Mac!
*Mac doubles-over and throws up on the floor.*
PC: Yeah, that's it. Now bend over and take your Vista install like a good little--

The future. Deceitful.