Jennifer Van Grove, Social Media Strategist and San Diego Blogger » Microsoft Pays $300 Million to Tell the World They’re Cheap?

According to the Wall Street Journal, Miscrosoft’s latest ad campaign is costing them $300 million, of which the lead, Jerry Seinfeld, is getting $10 million. That’s a lot of dough to throw around, but going head-to-head with the “I’m a Mac” commercials can’t be cheap.

So here’s the first installment. A bizarre 90 second spot that definitely draws the viewer in with anticipation of a funny repartee or, at the very least, a great punch line. But does it deliver? The ZDNet post begs the question, “was this ad supposed to be funny?” It points out the following…

For 90 seconds, it’s two middle-aged guys in a discount shoe store at the mall, talking about, well, discount shoes.

Watch it for yourself.

Comments on the ZDnet post point to brand awareness, celebrity appeal, and a myriad of other reasons why the campaign could be successful. As an analytical viewer of most advertisements, however, I find it hard to ignore that the underlying theme of the entire spot is—cheap. Bill Gates appears to be a cheap discount shoe shopper, with a membership card to boot. Jerry Seinfeld’s comedic sensibility leaves us speechless and possibly craving that churro he holds (but doesn’t really eat). And what’s with the churro?

Could Microsoft being trying to tell us that these two huge celebrities are really just regular guys, normal people like us? Are they subtly trying to hint that Apple products are overpriced and only for yuppies? I don’t know about you, but I’m not sold; the whole commercial just feels cheap, well except for the price tag.

What are your thoughts? Am I missing the punch line here? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.


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    I found it to be an odd attempt at being quirky and viral. Viral can not be planned, it simply is. I'm not really sure of who the target market is. The demographic that would take stock in what Seinfeld says are more prone to buy off the shelf with Vista already installed since you can't get a XP license through regular channels anymore. Millenials, (born 1978-2000) who thrive in an environment of instant gratifical and access to information, IMHO are not going to be moved by the call to action of Seinfeld's "take a long time to say nothing" comedic delivery.
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    Microsoft is big enough (money-wise) to burn some cash (not cheap) in launching a marketing campaign that simply makes people scratch their heads and wonder WTF? People talk, people blog, chatter ensues, and then their next commercial comes out, slight variant, same characters and theme but slightly different message, and people talk some more.

    Don't be surprised if near the end they are showing off Unified Messaging, Jerry is listening to his emails and scheduling appointments on his cell phone, etc.

    In the end, it's a mini-series of spots that grab people's attention, is completely unexpected, but ends up promoting Microsoft solutions to non-technical people - stuff that is way beyond listening to music or selling shiny computers - it's the future of technology in everyday life.

    The Future. Delicious.
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    Rob, you're a smart a guy and I think in many ways you're right. Here's the problem - the commercial somewhat mirrors the style of a typical Seinfeld episode and, as Loren Feldman points out, it's a commercial about nothing. The problem is that Seinfeld started off as completely foreign to audiences because they couldn't relate to a plot about nothing. It wasn't a hit until a few years in, but event then, each episode did have funny at its core. To mirror an ad campaign off an outdated series and to completely miss the humor of the situation (the shower scene is just strange) is a potential way to alienate customers.
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    Just posted an email from MS regarding this, then saw your reply.

    Remember, think of this particular ad as just a small quirky intro into the entire campaign that will follow... I guarantee a multi-million campaign wasn't given a greenlight if the campaign as a whole doesn't make sense, and over time, I think it will. Initially with this one ad, it simply gets people to notice that Microsoft is advertising, finally, and that the stuff to come is going to be funny, different, and obviously unexpected.

    The main issue - if you're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars that this one ad costs to run as often as it is... this is the type of ad that you'd run? Probably not... But as part of a campaign, telling a story over dozens of ads to come, this is more of an introduction... a beginning... and definitely not to be judged by itself.

    If it were a normal ad, you wouldn't have blogged about it - that's the point perhaps.
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    Oh, and Seinfeld is probably a very good choice if they are trying to go for someone people can relate to, a typical non-technical guy known for being funny about nothing really, and Bill will lay out his vision of how Windows can be a part of the interaction that (non-technical) people have every day.

    I think it's meant to be quirky, make people notice, (shower scene was off the wall, which is the point), the drawn out intentional pauses (Leather), it draws you in questioning it's motives, you try to process it using normal reasoning and stumble, and that's the point of that style - to be noticed, to stand out, to be talked about.

    That's marketing done well - even if it doesn't resound exactly positively with everyone right off the bat, that's ok.

    (Only large campaigns can pull it off in this way, it takes lots of time, dozens of ads, and tons of money.)
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    From an email regarding the new campaign:

    From: Bill Veghte
    Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 5:37 PM
    To: Microsoft - All Employees (QBDG)
    Subject: Telling the story of Windows

    <Initial paragraphs removed, to get to the point regarding this ad campaign...>

    "This first set of ads features Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Think of these ads as an icebreaker to reintroduce Microsoft to viewers in a consumer context. Later this month, as the campaign moves into its next phase, we’ll go much deeper in telling the Windows story and celebrating what it can do for consumers at work, at play and on-the-go. At that time, I’ll be back to share more information about our plans to further strengthen the bond between consumers and Windows – one of the most amazing products, businesses and brands of all time, and, with the right tenacity, passion and agility from all of us, a story that has many great chapters to come."
 

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