Microsoft Picks Jerry Seinfeld to Spruce up Windows Stale Brand
Microsoft Picks Jerry Seinfeld to Spruce up Windows Stale Brand
by , 3:05 PM EDT, August 21st, 2008
As part of Microsoft's US$300 million advertising campaign, Jerry Seinfeld will be paid $10 million to help the company sprice up its stale brand, according to the Chicago Tribune on Thursday.
The new campaign has the slogan "Windows, Not Walls," and is intended to stress breaking down barriers that prevent connections between people.
The ad campaign kicks off on September 4. According to the newspaper, Microsoft officials privately acknowledge that Windows, the company's most important brand, has grown stale and has also been battered by Apple's "Get A Mac" ads which have been a continuing success.
Brand experts pointed to Apple's successful branding ads going all the way back to the famous 1984 Super Bowl ad. "They [PCs] are not seen as cool," said Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys, a branding firm in New York. "Apple is cool. Can anyone even recall a Microsoft ad? No."
A combination of effects have been given credit for Apple's rapid gain in market share -- with sales growing at about three times the rate of PCs. Its "Get A Mac" campaign is one of them.
Microsoft not only plans to use Mr. Seinfeld, but will also exploit the notoriety of Bill Gates who will join Mr. Seinfeld in the ads.
Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer recently explained the ad campaign to his employees: "Now it's time to tell our story."
Observer Comments
As another observer points out, Seinfeld always had a Mac in his apartment. I think that was actually a Larry David thing: for a season or so on his own show, he drove a Prius, then switched to a Ford Escape Hybrid.
Of note: "It will also focus on changing negative perceptions about Windows Vista."
Gee, hadn't heard anything about that.
And the new Mac ads are out: <http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/>
I like "Off the Air" best.
Seinfeld is one of the best sitcoms of all time - and my personal favorite, but Jerry doesn't always achieve that level of credulity (B Movie, anyone?) It's interesting the things that celebrities will endorse, regardless of their real connection with the product. Tiger Woods drives Buicks? Yeah RIGHT! Even Guy Kawasaki has unabashedly sold his soul for an inferior product, all in the name of the big mamoo.
It sounds like a lot of folks are making that "he had a Mac in every Seinfeld episode" connection, and I really have to wonder - especially since the show is still running in syndication - how credible his commercials will come off as. And on a side note, I really, REALLY have to question what he really uses at home. I seriously doubt it's Vista.
QuoteLMAO - that's a good one!Sir Harry Flashman wrote:
Is it a commercial about nothing
Because the people at Microsoft make all of their decisions by committee, they have probably determined through some arcane focus group-oriented logic that Seinfeld resonates most strongly with their target audience (I guess they've given up on young people all together at this point. Way to wave the white flag, boys). Watching the folks in Redmond just not get it, again, and again, and again, and again, i.e., trying to manipulate and hoodwink potential customers through what amounts to mega-funded propaganda is just staggering to me. Their avarice for a by comparison, small company like Apple is even more staggering. And yeah-every Seinfeld episode shows the Mac in his apartment; anyone still watching is going to notice. What a bunch of maroons.
Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:59 am Subject: admission of defeat
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