Comment posted by Bill09/05/2008 12:14:21 AM
Homepage: http://www.billbuchan.com

Ah. Subtly brilliant. You see:

- They have Gates as a long term customer in a discount shoe store. So he's 'connected'. The 'normal' family, the particular type of shoe that they identify with, etc. Nice touch. In 30 seconds, we all think Gates is Normal (amazing given ivy league parents, rich background, harvard, etc).

- They have this dialog between Seinfield and Gates - building trust. Clearly, Seinfield doesnt know Gates that well at the start. So this will be about Seinfield 'discovering'..

- The story is now introduced, the characters in place

- A couple of wee snippets for the geek fanboys. Such as the photo of gates on his clown card is the police photo from his speeding ticket.

- And the last bits - 'mind meld' - is getting Seinfields approval and recognition for Gates intelligence and those at Microsoft. (This bit is really clunky compared to the rest, and I suspect was shoehorned in there. This isnt pitched at the Trekkies - its pitched at Ma+Pa trailerpark/hockey mom)

- Leaves us on a 'whats happening next' bit.

So granted by itself, this is a bit pants - but as a series - such as the 'Mac vs PC' ads - its a very good, subtle start up. They're up against very strong sentiment with the Mac vs PC ad's and aren't doing the usual Ballmer: 'Desert Storm' marketing effort. This is a recognition that the aggressive approach has failed.

So - standing back and thinking about it - yeah. I cant see how else they could have done it given the hand they're holding (sentiment against MS, Gates has retired and Vista is shit).

This'll be interesting.

Now: Is this even worse than Lotus Marketing: No. This is well thought out, and given the characters, EVERYONE will seek this out. This will run on TV and gain positive customer acceptance and recognition. And since its clearly part of a 'story' gives them far more customer attention span than a Domino Pizza ad, for instance.

If this was Lotus Marketing, it'd run for a few weeks on a web site, be shown at Lotusphere, and then put back in the crypt. It'd star someone who is only famous in the US (for instance), and some faceless, nameless IBM VP. Or worse the 'fat manager' from the ads. Because IBM doesnt run Personality Cults, it doesnt have someone for the public to love or hate.

Love or hate Bill Gates, you do respect him for his intelligence.

---* Bill

Comment posted by Jeff Gilfelt09/05/2008 01:06:13 AM
Homepage: http://www.jeffgilfelt.com

Not bad. Gates' comic timing and delivery here is actually a lot better than Sienfeld's.

Comment posted by Ian White09/05/2008 02:10:31 AM
Homepage: http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/it-collaboration-technology-blog/

It is a bit painful to watch but as Bill points out its not aimed at 'likes of us'. I think they may be giving Apple fodder though ?

Comment posted by Colin Williams09/05/2008 02:32:41 AM

I think its crap too...but they've got people talking about it at least :p

Comment posted by 09/05/2008 03:35:38 AM

Well...my son was just watching this over my shoulder as I was checking it out for the first time. The conversation after went exactly like this:

Matt: "Wooooow...was that a real Microsoft commercial?"

Me: "Yes"

Matt: "Man, Microsoft sucks"

and there you have it...the younger generation vote.

Comment posted by Chris Blatnick09/05/2008 03:36:56 AM
Homepage: http://interfacematters.com

Hmmm...and that last comment was posted by me. Guess you allow anonymous comments. hehe

Comment posted by Bruce09/05/2008 06:22:52 AM

@Chris,

You need to get him back behind the drum kit!

Comment posted by Bill Brown09/05/2008 12:57:15 PM

I can't wait to see the Apple ad responding to this one.

Comment posted by Henry Ferlauto09/05/2008 07:25:10 PM
Homepage: http://www.geniusinside.com

Talk about wasting the talent of two brilliant minds. This ad had so much potential squandered away. Amazing.

They created an ad that tried to hard to be clever and never talked about the product. Yup, Microsoft stole a few more IBMers away!

What is this world coming to? What will happen next? Maybe Microsoft won't change Outlook's user interface for the next five years!

Comment posted by gayle elgort09/10/2008 04:02:23 PM
Homepage: http://gaylelgort.wordpress.com

I saw the ad this weekend....they'll never be as clever and unique as the Apple ads in my opinion.