Microsoft Seinfeld Ads – Love them or hate them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIjNJZpRtj8


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBWPf1BWtkw


I wanted to hate them but I couldn’t help liking them. By now you’ve seen the new Microsoft TV/Web commercials. I can’t remember many videos that polarized people like these. You either love them or absolutely hate them. It’s worse than the Kennedys.
There has been a lot of buzz online about these – more in the geek world than perhaps elsewhere.

One thing that has surprised me is how often the haters say “they don’t say anything” or “where’s the message” or “what’s this got to do with Vista”. We are so conditioned to what we think commercials are supposed to be that then they are different it bothers some of us. I remember when I found out the secret to watching foreign films. I was always frustrated because I couldn’t find the story line. American films always have a plot – we are conditioned to look for the plot. A foreign film may be about a town or the study of a character and not have the traditional Hollywood construction.

I believe these were designed to break through the noise and were aimed at the geek influencers. There were several inside references that geeks would appreciate (Bill Gates membership card has his mug shot from when he was arrested for speeding in 1977). After these ad’s ran there was a huge spike in the Microsoft buzz – it even exceeded Apple’s. Microsoft rarely has any buzz – they are about as interesting as a Ford Taurus. They put Microsoft on people’s minds. If they would have run the (very predictable) “I’m a PC” ad – no one would have noticed.

Microsoft knows they can’t go head to head with Apple. They can’t possibly make the claim to be hip. It will never be cool to own a Zune. Wisely they avoided that and did a bit of an end run. I’m a PC - it’s ok not to be hip.

I don’t think that it’s Apple that Microsoft should be worried about... it’s Google.

~George