What the hell was that? Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates for Windows Vista
Rob's right to theatrically yawn about Apple's 'Get A Mac' campaign. I'm a die-hard Mac user, and I always found it boring, insufferably smug and, well, ironic that the coolest, hippest and smartest guy in the campaign — John Hodgman — was playing clueless, curmudgeonly straightman to a good-for-nothing hipster doofus. A couple years later, it's more boring than ever.
That all said, Microsoft's attempts to come up with an equally effective and memorable campaign are pitiful. This ad, featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, was aired last night as part of a $300 million ad campaign, and... what the hell is this supposed to be advertising? It's a minute and a half long non sequitur with a Windows icon slapped at the end.
Granted, Microsoft has its hands tied behind its back by the 'Get A Mac' ads. It can't confront them head-on without looking desperate. But surely $300 million can buy more humor than this.
The ultimate Windows ad, of course? Hiring John Hodgman, putting him in front of a camera, getting him to say "I'm a PC" and then give him free reign to be awesome. I'd never tire of those. Unfortunately, Hodgman's contractually locked up. Perhaps Stephen Colbert could be wooed? He's got the right mix of stuffiness, self-parody, wit and intelligence. Stephen Colbert claiming to be a Windows PC, in character and on camera, would defuse the last two years of Apple ads in one thirty second spot. Establishment and counter-establishment rolled up together into one devastating avatar.
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I can't comment on the US Mac ads but the UK Mac ads are pretty funny. Mitchell and Webb of Peep Show fame star in them.
Wouldn't a Colbert commercial simply be making fun of Windows in the same way he parodies the far Right?
I was flabbergasted when I saw this last night. I kept waiting for Jerry to whip out his Amex card. When he didn't I thought for a femtosecond that it might actually be a shoe commercial. The MS logo at the end was like the punchline to an excruciatingly long joke.
Excuse me. Can somebody please explain how exactly this is a Windows commercial, or possibly a funny windows commercial? Because I really did not get it...
Sad. Am I the only one to remember that on Seinfeld there was always a Mac sitting on the desk by the window in Jerry's apartment?
Wow. Way worse than I thought it would be.
At the end, I couldn't help but turn my head to the side and raise an eyebrow like a confused dog.
Wait, how do we know this is even for Vista? Could it be the fabled Windows 7(AKA Windows Classic)?
#1- Woe is me! Mitchell & Webb do the Mac ads in the UK?! That's a must-see ... Guess I'll be hard-charging YouTube on my lunch hour.
#5- You're not the only one. I believe it was a Mac Classic that featured prominently for many years, by his window.
There was more hype about this commercial than there was substance in the commercial. The event kind of reminds me of the hype surrounding Spider-Man 3; all hype, and in the end you walk away wondering where the last 2 hours of your life just went. But, in this case more like 30 seconds of anticlimactic un-glory.
@10.... i agree about the spiderman comment. why wouldn't the sandman just fuck off and die? he kept coming back again and again untill i wanted to weep. then venom was crammed into the last 10 mins. grrr.
Um. You do realize that this is one of those commercials that will be a mini series, right? A different company did this on a season premier for some dreck show on MTV, where there are 5 or 6 commercials that follow a story line with the product in the end. So this is like watching only the first 5 minutes of an episode of Seinfeld.
Wow, I must be the only person that laughed out loud at this? I thought the picture on Bill's "Shoe Circus Clown Club" card and when the guy outside the window asks "Is that the coquistador?" were both hilarious bits.
Not sure about what it was advertising though. I do know that Billy Gates promised me cake computers. I'll hold him to that.
When I saw this last night I thought they were comparing Vista to new shoes... They are uncomfortable at first, but they will stretch and get better if you use them in the shower.
@11: lol
About the commercial again; so who do you kids think has the bigger ego? Jerry or Bill.
I liked it, actually. Smart comedy, better than most US sitcoms nowadays. I'd tune in, as long as there weren't too many commercials during the show.
...I'm not in marketing, but don't they usually like a "call-to-action" in a commercial? Also, isn't this guy a billionaire?
"I'll tell you why, Leelz -- It grows the brand."
It's amazing how few of the people on this post can grasp the concept of a mini series of commercials without instant gratification, although there were a few. For the others - you don't get it, so keep flaming, Simpletons!
Pretty funny IMHO - looking forward to the next.
I said it before, I'll say it again.
iPhone factory girl v. Zune tattoo guy.
Uhh, IF the next vista update turns my laptop into a chocolate cake, I might actually be happy with that purchase.
I don't know... isn't this the exact thing they should be doing? Come up with a format even remotely similar to the "Get a Mac" ad and everyone would rip into them as just copying something that's already getting old.
Wasn't one of the things people loved about the Mac ads the fact that they weren't your typical computer ad... they didn't show the product and only mentioned one or two features in each spot - they created a feel for what (and who) owning a Mac was supposed to be like. And they were funny.
Isn't that what MS is doing here... trying to take it even further than that to where you're not even talking about computers? At least not at first (as @12 mentioned - i'm sure this is just step one)
I'm not saying it's going to be totally successful (and it does seem VERY similar to some of Seinfeld's AmEx stuff) - but I think their concept is pretty good.
I was mildly entertained by that. But seriously, WTF? Unless there's a series of 6-7 of these building up to some monumental point about how Windows will really be awesome again soon, I can't imagine how this makes any sense.
This commercial is no good!
The commercial would be better if it told people that if you use a Mac you'll be thin and young and hip and hot geniuses will help you out, but if you use a PC you will be fat and old and stupid and no one will like you and you will trap hip young people by hiding in their food.
Or if it had a Steve Jobs lookalike with a Hitler mustache yelling some propaganda on a giant screen, and then Bill Gates throws a hammer at him, showing that Vista will free you from fascism.
Or if a bunch of zombified Justin Longs were marching in single file into a giant meat grinder, and then Bill Gates parts the clouds to a chorus of angels and tells the last surviving Zombie Justin Long that it doesn't have to be that way, and that he can throw away his Mac and buy a PC, and then the voodoo curse is lifted.
Wheeling Bill Gates the king of the maladroits out has never resulted in Windows looking 'cool'. So lets pair him with a personality-full partner huh? Great idea, make Bill look even more socially awkward.
Any of these recent 'hilarious' videos featuring uncle Bill 'acting funny' are like watching inept dad-dancing. It's squimingly uncomfortable for everyone involved. See Bill doing his unconvincing human interaction routine one more time tells me what?
Windows is a bit awkward?
The ad was funny, but it really didn't have a point on it's own. I'm beginning to suspect that was the point. Now people are talking about it. If they do some kind of follow up now you're sure to hear about it.
I'm with the minority on this one; I thought it was very funny, much better than I expected. And no one can accuse me of being a micro$oft fanboy, or a Seinfeld fanboy for that matter. But the extreme obliqueness worked, at least for me, and the familiar pic on the clown card put me in surrealist heaven. Major lulz.
Yeah that pic on the card was pretty good. The rest was bewildering.
The commercial is okay.
Vista not so much.
This ad is so incredibly stupid and bizarre it could only have been commissioned and approved by one of two people - Michael Jackson or Bill Gates. Which makes me wonder if Michael Jackson is going to replace Gates as Microsoft CEO.
Of course, Bill Gates is actually Microsoft's de facto CEO for life. He just pretended to step aside to run his other mega-corporation the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a corrupt investment firm masquerading as a philanthropy.
Anyway, I thought this ad was frighteningly unfunny the first time I watched it. However, I now find it kind of funny in the same way some really bad Grade B movies are funny. It's kind of like watching the entire Republican Party drive a car over a cliff.
To learn more about the cosmic lunatic who presumably approved this ad, check my "knol" Bill Gates: A Critical Biography.
David Blomstrom
I can't believe people don't like this commercial! I thought it was brilliant - pure Seinfeldian mastery. It's a commercial...about nothing! That's the point. I don't usually say this, but kudos Microsoft. The Hispanic guy saying "They run tight" was the high point...amazing in every way.
wait, i've got an idea for a good campaign. first, make a product people want. then, advertise it. works everytime!
It tries to do too much. Like #19 Cabbotage said, Get a Mac ads were nice because they only presented one or two features at a time. This ad crams too much humour in and drags on too long.
I'm also a fan of the picture, BTW.
if they wanted to make a rela life point they could emulate that conversation i have about 5 times a day
"sorry, no i can't do that, it's a mac"
people are talking about it...isn't that the point?
They don't want you to run out and buy the newest hottest thing, hence the missing call to action (CTA). they just want you to talk about it; good, bad, ugly.
they might have been looking for the next big viral video campaign. where everyone posts it on their blog and tells all their friends about it.
Frankly i think its a terrible campaign. it doesn't matter if its a series. its bad.
And i am in marketing.