Jerry Seinfeld to shill for Vista
Sep 5, 2008 at 7:57 PM Post #76 of 123
That's three.
 
Sep 5, 2008 at 8:58 PM Post #77 of 123
I guess a lot of people are confused by the commercial. My take is that they are trying to humanize the MS brand, not so much take shots at Apple, or establish Windows' superiority. When you control nearly the entire market, there's no need to expand further, so you take it to the next level by working on your corporate image.

I think the commercial succeeds on that level: one of the world's wealthiest men shops at a discount shoe store (not to mention is registered as a member), runs into multi millionaire Jerry Seinfeld, and the exchange between the two is quirky, unpretentious and charming. The inclusion of an everyday Latino family commenting on Gates' purchase further cements their goal. Quirky and awkward is definitely in if the recent success of the string of Apatow/Seth Cohen films and Michael Cera's popularity are anything to go by.

I think it's fairly obvious that MS is trying to shed the monopolistic, productivity oriented image that people commonly associate them with. Their goal of a delicious cake based future makes me think of "Portal" too, and that doesn't hurt.
 
Sep 5, 2008 at 10:22 PM Post #78 of 123
^ Those are excellent points. Too bad this first ad is not that funny. Looking at most of the reactions out there, they feel the same. We'll see where this goes.

Having Bill in there was a nice move but they could have been more original and skip Seinfeld IMO.
 
Sep 6, 2008 at 8:11 AM Post #79 of 123
That's open to interpretation. I saw a cheap person that bought some shoes too narrow and got the advise to wear them in the shower to enlarge them so they might fit. I think that's the image they want to push about linux users. Cheap bastards that use something that does not work unless you go to the extreme ridicule to -maybe- make it work uncomfortably.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Idsynchrono_24 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I guess a lot of people are confused by the commercial. My take is that they are trying to humanize the MS brand, not so much take shots at Apple, or establish Windows' superiority. When you control nearly the entire market, there's no need to expand further, so you take it to the next level by working on your corporate image.

I think the commercial succeeds on that level: one of the world's wealthiest men shops at a discount shoe store (not to mention is registered as a member), runs into multi millionaire Jerry Seinfeld, and the exchange between the two is quirky, unpretentious and charming. The inclusion of an everyday Latino family commenting on Gates' purchase further cements their goal. Quirky and awkward is definitely in if the recent success of the string of Apatow/Seth Cohen films and Michael Cera's popularity are anything to go by.

I think it's fairly obvious that MS is trying to shed the monopolistic, productivity oriented image that people commonly associate them with. Their goal of a delicious cake based future makes me think of "Portal" too, and that doesn't hurt.


 
Sep 6, 2008 at 8:50 AM Post #80 of 123
Quote:

Originally Posted by dvessel /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Having Bill in there was a nice move but they could have been more original and skip Seinfeld IMO.


Having Gates be quirky on his own with no point of reference (the Seinfeldian world of everyday nothingness) might not have worked so well. Seinfeld's unique comic aura actually made Gates look good, much in the way that it did for the Seinfeld cast. The ad seems to be almost developing Gates as a cameo character in the Seinfeld world, albeit a decade after the fact.
 
Sep 6, 2008 at 3:51 PM Post #82 of 123
From what I understand, this first commercial was just an ice-breaker of sorts. Microsoft wants you to get friendly with the characters before it lays out the Mac hate and Windows love.

Was it successful? Meh, it was OK. Seinfeld is a better actor than I give him credit for, and showing some personality won't hurt Bill's image. I'll certainly catch the next few ads online, though, before I deem the entire campaign a success for failure.
 
Sep 6, 2008 at 4:30 PM Post #83 of 123
Apple fans will hate it and flame it, Microsoft fans will defend it.
Why people are so emotionally wrapped up in a computer operating system is beyond me.
Ford/Chevy, Vanilla/Chocolate, Apple/Microsoft.
Who cares.
 
Sep 6, 2008 at 4:54 PM Post #84 of 123
Who's flaming? Nothing really emotional so far. I generally don't like MS and commercials. So, go figure.. heh

The Apple PC vs. Mac commercial I don't like either but at least it was effective. Will this MS ad accomplish anything? Only time will tell but I realize it really doesn't really concern me.

::slowly steps out::
 
Sep 6, 2008 at 5:00 PM Post #85 of 123
This ad is just a sign Microsoft has too much money sloshing around and ineffective upper management. It will do nothing to increase sales. Increasing brand "likeability" is a fantasy that poor managers have that is extremely unlikely to produce any return on investment.

Microsoft needs to pay out another huge dividend. Forget about this nonsense.
 
Sep 6, 2008 at 5:28 PM Post #86 of 123
Quote:

Originally Posted by AlanY /img/forum/go_quote.gif
This ad is just a sign Microsoft has too much money sloshing around and ineffective upper management. It will do nothing to increase sales. Increasing brand "likeability" is a fantasy that poor managers have that is extremely unlikely to produce any return on investment.

Microsoft needs to pay out another huge dividend. Forget about this nonsense.


How do you figure? I bet Microsoft did many focus groups and asked them what do you think of when you hear "Bill Gates" or "Microsoft"

and they probably got a lot of answers like; rich billionaire, nerd, prick, greedy money grubbing company, poor business tactics, monopoly. . . you get the point. Microsoft and Bill don't have the best image in the public's eye. So improving their image is a huge priority and a smart thing to do. Making Bill Gates seem like an average Joe is a good idea.

How you've come to these conclusions of this being a waste of time and money, nonsense, not going to increase sales/ext. is all BS you pulled out of you ass for what ever reason. Improving "brand likability" or their image will directly improve sales (amusing they can accomplish the former). And I mean they already have the majority of the market, so there really isn't much else to do but improve their image (well improving the OS would be one thing but that's just wishful thinking).
 
Sep 6, 2008 at 7:56 PM Post #88 of 123
Quote:

Originally Posted by MoonShine /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Apple fans will hate it and flame it, Microsoft fans will defend it.
Why people are so emotionally wrapped up in a computer operating system is beyond me.
Ford/Chevy, Vanilla/Chocolate, Apple/Microsoft.
Who cares.



The rest whatever, but I don't know how I feel about those chocolate lovers.

edit: first read chocolate people but I don't want to offend anyone..
 
Sep 6, 2008 at 7:59 PM Post #89 of 123
Quote:

Originally Posted by xnothingpoetic /img/forum/go_quote.gif

How you've come to these conclusions of this being a waste of time and money, nonsense, not going to increase sales/ext. is all BS you pulled out of you ass for what ever reason.


There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of fans of the show Seinfeld in here...
 
Sep 6, 2008 at 8:39 PM Post #90 of 123
Quote:

Originally Posted by SweetAdeline /img/forum/go_quote.gif
There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of fans of the show Seinfeld in here...


Seinfeld is one of my all time favorite sitcoms..although I haven't been watching any shows in the past 10 years.I mostly watch the Science Channel, Discovery, History, etc. when I have time.
 
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