The Adventures of Jerry and Bill: Shoe Circus

[Rocco Augusto]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1569' target='_blank'>http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1569</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"During the NFL season opener on September 4, Microsoft aired the first of the ads that it paid agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky $300 million-plus&nbsp; to create to help make over the company&rsquo;s image. No mentions or even thinly veiled references to Apple. And there is only an indirect reference to Windows."</em></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="344" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_5ZLhBAlXyc&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_5ZLhBAlXyc&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I was a huge fan of the <a href="http://www.wddg.com/projects/superman_seinfeld/" target="_blank">Adventures of Seinfeld &amp; Superman</a>. If you haven't seen those hilarious Jerry Seinfeld commercials, they were a little 2-5 minute webisodes that were used to promote American Express. One of the best marketing campaigns on the planet, at least in my opinion, because it actually had me going out and searching high and low for these commercials. Once again Jerry has managed to make lightning strike twice with the first of hopefully many Jerry and Bill dynamic duo commercials. If you have seen some of Bill Gates classic spoof videos of the past, such as Bill Gates' <a href="&lt;object width=&quot;425&quot; height=&quot;344&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;movie&quot; value=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/Xr5w3X4R8b4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowFullScreen&quot; value=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/Xr5w3X4R8b4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot; width=&quot;425&quot; height=&quot;344&quot;&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;" target="_blank">Last Day of Work</a>, you will be happy to know that this new campaign has the same feel. Whether you love Microsoft or hate Microsoft I think it is safe to assume that everyone will love on camera Bill Gates - he is hilarious.<br /><br />One thing I am grateful for is that these advertisements make a point to not mention Apple and the series of smear advertisements Apple has put out in the past few years. When I first heard about Microsoft's new campaign to combat the Apple advertisements, I just envisioned Microsoft's version of "I'm a Mac," which made me cringe a little inside. I've always felt Microsoft's products were better than that and now releasing something that will make people laugh instead of thinking they eat babies for breakfast will do wonders for their public image while at the same time making Apple look petty and negative for their series of commercials... which when you stop and think about it, if you have to mention your competitors products in your advertisements and bad mouth them the whole time only to sell a tiny fraction of the amount of products they sell, how good is your product, really?</p>

[Phronetix]

Whether you love Microsoft or hate Microsoft I think it is safe to assume that everyone will love on camera Bill Gates - he is hilarious.

No, that is not a safe assumption.

Mr. Gates is not hilarious, in my opinion. When I see him acting, he makes me feel uncomfortable for him. I think that it was a colossal blunder to throw him into an ad designed to change the image of Microsoft. Really, the solution was to use anyone but Bill Gates, wasn't it? Perhaps the length of this first ad was a factor and we will see how the future ads come across, but this one was chock full of nothing. Self-deprecation, and somewhat witty yet otherwise random statement made by Seinfeld are not good enough.

I wonder if the ad company wanted Bill Gates to do this, or if that was a criterion for their hiring. I guess, on the other hand, it is reassuring to see someone like Rocco who likes Mr. Gates' acting, because this at least gives me the impression that he, as opposed to I, was the target audience.

[virain]

It is nice commercial, and Sienfeld makes B. Gates look like a person many can relate to,,nerdy, geeky, whatever you call it. I think this ad was targeting kids to some extend. But it is all about what MS will do, the future. No mention of vista or ane other MS product. Does it mean MS has nothing to be proud of now?

[Rocco Augusto]

Mr. Gates is not hilarious, in my opinion. When I see him acting, he makes me feel uncomfortable for him. I think that it was a colossal blunder to throw him into an ad designed to change the image of Microsoft. Really, the solution was to use anyone but Bill Gates, wasn't it?...

I thought his awkwardness is what made the video work. As one of my ex-girlfriends use to say, he has that whole "adorable uncomfortable nerdiness to him." Bill being awkward and making fun of himself I fell gives Microsoft a more charming personality. Also, who doesn't love churros?! :)

[Rocco Augusto]

Does it mean MS has nothing to be proud of now?

I don't think it means Microsoft has nothing to be proud of, I think this is more of a "we understand their is nothing we can do to really change public perception" kind of deal where instead of trying to fix Vista's image, which would be near impossible (even though it really isn't that bas of an OS. I use it daily.), they are playing the whole "ignore the man behind the curtain card" and are attempting to get back on the good graces of the public with happy thoughts and smiles.

This commercial kind of reminds me of the 30 Rock episode where Jenna gained a bunch of weight so she started yelling "Me want food!" in her segments to turn that negative into a positive. :)

[Phronetix]

...they are playing the whole "ignore the man behind the curtain card" and are attempting to get back on the good graces of the public with happy thoughts and smiles.

This commercial kind of reminds me of the 30 Rock episode where Jenna gained a bunch of weight so she started yelling "Me want food!" in her segments to turn that negative into a positive. :)

Except in the 30Rock episode, that was a subplot.

They could have done this so much better, I think. They tried for funny. They end up with quirky.

If this is a response to the Apple ads, heck, Apple makes PC's look cooler.

[blazingwolf]

Except in the 30Rock episode, that was a subplot.

They could have done this so much better, I think. They tried for funny. They end up with quirky.

If this is a response to the Apple ads, heck, Apple makes PC's look cooler.

You can't please everyone can you?

[Phronetix]

You can't please everyone can you?

True. Giving the ad agency the benefit of the doubt, they likely had to spend some time introducing the genre of ad and the premise they wanted to use for the series.

At the same time, they have us talking about them, right? Will it change their image. This ad will not. The rest of the series might be better, right?

[landslide]

The advertisement perfectly sums up Microsoft 'quirky, and on occasions just doesn't work'...

I wouldn't exactly call it a re-branding. Why did they decide to bring Bill.G back into the picture? They should be looking forwards... not backwards.

I sure hope it leads into something... I really do.

[wmm]

The one word that best sums up my reaction to this ad is "pointless." I can't imagine what in the world it was intended to accomplish. As I recall, Seinfeld's show was supposed to be "about nothing," and I guess that pretty well sums up this ad, too. If anything, it made me less eager to buy something from Microsoft, because they wasted two minutes of my time with this drivel. I guess I'm not in their target audience, either...

[Jason Dunn]

True. Giving the ad agency the benefit of the doubt, they likely had to spend some time introducing the genre of ad and the premise they wanted to use for the series.

Indeed. Smart people don't judge the success or failure of an ad campaign based on the first ad - you look back at the start to finish campaign and judge it as a whole. But doing that doesn't make good headlines for today, so most bloggers are out there trashing it. Sometimes I hate the Internet - the immediacy of the medium is matched by the immediacy a rush to judgement and a lack of anything approaching thoughtful analysis.

I've seen what this ad company has done with other products and brands - I won't underestimate them and will be watching this ad series keenly (though I'll probably never see it on TV, which is a huge mistake in my mind).

[MAK11]

Indeed. Smart people don't judge the success or failure of an ad campaign based on the first ad - you look back at the start to finish campaign and judge it as a whole. But doing that doesn't make good headlines for today, so most bloggers are out there trashing it. Sometimes I hate the Internet - the immediacy of the medium is matched by the immediacy a rush to judgement and a lack of anything approaching thoughtful analysis.

I've seen what this ad company has done with other products and brands - I won't underestimate them and will be watching this ad series keenly (though I'll probably never see it on TV, which is a huge mistake in my mind).
Preach!!!:eek:

[virain]

I've seen what this ad company has done with other products and brands - I won't underestimate them and will be watching this ad series keenly (though I'll probably never see it on TV, which is a huge mistake in my mind). Actually, I/ve seen it 3 or 4 times on TV already, while flipping the channels

[Rob Alexander]

Well, in fairness to the critics, we only have the one ad to discuss right now so I'm not sure what you guys would have them base their opinions on other than that one ad. Are they supposed to just imagine how clever this may all turn out to be and comment about that?

I mean, this one ad is pretty meaningless. Now if it turns out that this is just an introduction to a series that really sells MS well, then we can talk about that as it happens. But in the meantime, I'm not sure what else anyone is supposed to say except that I wish I could get paid as much as they did for writing a commercial like that. After all, it really is an ad about nothing. (Well, okay... it does hint at the possibility of edible computers in the future, but that's not really a feature I'm looking for.)

[kdarling]

I'm older, well off, dry sense of humor. I liked it a lot.

I think it appeals to technical types simply because it goes out of its way to not talk about computers. Kind of also had a weird Office Space vibe.

(Too bad MS didn't simply air parts of the infamous Bill Gates Last Day at Work movie, which really was funny in many ways.

[Rocco Augusto]

(Too bad MS didn't simply air parts of the infamous Bill Gates Last Day at Work movie, which really was funny in many ways.

Hopefully they will. What made that video work was the slew of different stars, like Bono and Jay Z. If anything I would be happy if they had other celebrities in the commercial besides Jerry. :)

[Janak Parekh]

Indeed. Smart people don't judge the success or failure of an ad campaign based on the first ad - you look back at the start to finish campaign and judge it as a whole. Are people really judging the whole campaign, or just this ad in particular? On the latter note, like a lot of other people, I don't quite get it. It's a mildly funny commercial, but it doesn't do what a good commercial should -- sell a product or a brand. There's no Vista references whatsoever (wasn't that the point?) and the Microsoft references are muted at best. I only recognized the campaign because of the headlines that I've seen before.

Comparing this to Apple's Get A Mac campaign isn't really possible, because they're in completely different genres.

--janak

[Torque]

The one word that best sums up my reaction to this ad is "pointless." I can't imagine what in the world it was intended to accomplish. As I recall, Seinfeld's show was supposed to be "about nothing," and I guess that pretty well sums up this ad, too. If anything, it made me less eager to buy something from Microsoft, because they wasted two minutes of my time with this drivel. I guess I'm not in their target audience, either...

When I saw this ad for the first time, I thought to myself- "WTF"??? The only reference to Windows at all was the logo at the end. Nothing about this ad was funny. The ad was about "nothing". This approach didn't give me the warm fuzzies about Windows and I don't see how this ad could inspire anyone to want to wrestle with Vista. Here's a novel Idea- Adds that show what Windows Vista CAN do well that Mac doesn't:

How bout starting the ad off with Seinfeld walking in on Bill G playing a game (Crysis, Company of Heroes, COD4, take your pick...) on a Gaming PC (Alienware) hooked up to FOUR flat panel monitors. Jerry gasps (WOW) , says "That is incredible. How'd you get four monitors hooked up to your computer like that"? Bill replies- "I'm running two ATI 4870 video cards in Crossfire mode. Each card has two monitor inputs, so I hooked up four monitors". Jerry replies- "Hey, l can't run that video card on my Mac, or that game, can I". "No you can't Jerry. This card and this game only run on Windows PC's." End of story. Show us something Windows CAN DO that the Mac Can't do or doesn't do as well or as fast. THAT will spark interest in Windows, not a series of commercials about some nonsensical nothingness with a tiny Windows logo at the end. That commercial was a joke that wasn't funny.

As the poster above said, good advertising makes you want to go out and buy the product, not leave you with more questions than answers, scratching your head wondering "what were they thinking"? As an example, Audi's latest TV ad campaign is very well done and leads you to their website where you can look at more ads that all together make you want to go out and buy an Audi. Included in the online ads are information about the product that answers your questions and tells you why you want to buy an Audi. That approach works. The first ad in this Sienfeld/Microsoft comedy show, does not.

[Rocco Augusto]

As the poster above said, good advertising makes you want to go out and buy the product, not leave you with more questions than answers, scratching your head wondering "what were they thinking"?

I really think that they made a point to not mention any Microsoft product because the ad was meant to sell the company and not a product. No one is going to care that Windows can do something that the Mac can't if they hate the company. That is just what I picked up for it.

Now on the other hand, after working for a marketing agency for a bit, I learned that even advertisements that were completely random and abstract still told some kind of story that only the lunatics in the meeting room that worked on the ad know.

For instance if this was the old agency I worked for, the shoe store would have been like the experience of shopping for a PC - quality products at discount prices, why pay more. Tons of manufactures make Windows PC, you can find one that has the hardware you want at a fraction of what it takes to purchase a Mac... or in this case a designer shoe.

The shoe being a little tight and the salesman telling him they would stretch would have been like buying a Mac and the whole "Apple knows whats best for you" mentality. Instead of you getting something that fits exactly what you need, you have to adapt to something new and hope it blends with your life, or stretches to be more comfortable.

The Conquistador running tight references would have been related to how customizable a PC is. You can get one that completely fits your need, or in this case, one that runs tight and fits perfectly.

Showering with your clothes on and making a point to show the shoe is just to random and weird to not have some marketing bologna behind it. Probably a shot at Mac for being so sparkling clean. then again, that could have just been pure Seinfeld.

Jerry announcing Bill is a ten, more than once, gets it stuck in peoples head that Bill is a ten and usually when we say something is a ten its like giving it two thumbs up or five stars. That is just too blatant to not be some marketing mojo.

I think the Big Top points were just amusing and had no doublespeak behind them. On the other hand I definitely think the whole 'delicious' ending is going to be a convergence of Microsoft products, something we have all been begging for for years. Reason being is that convergence is the only thing I can think of that Microsoft can do that would be delicious - or at least mouth watering. To think for once, all of those programs communicating and talking at once? If this is true, the hub of the experience could be centered around the Zune or Windows Mobile platform seeing as how those are the two devices people usually carry with them everywhere.

Then again I am probably completely wrong with my predictions above but working for an ad agency that worked for Microsoft and Intel and constantly being in meetings with them working on projects, this is exactly the type of stuff that would fly around the room. :p

[Janak Parekh]

Now on the other hand, after working for a marketing agency for a bit, I learned that even advertisements that were completely random and abstract still told some kind of story that only the lunatics in the meeting room that worked on the ad know. Isn't this comment back up exactly our point? We need the majority of people to get it, not the advertising lunatics. ;)

I am up on many Apple-Microsoft metaphors, and it was totally not obvious to me that the shoes were a metaphor for that distinction. One could make the opposite argument, in fact, that one needs to work at ("stretch") Windows to get it to be comfortable. ;)

--janak

[Damion Chaplin]

Frankly, I wasn't really interested in how entertaining the commercial was. To me those 'Mac Guy' commercials are not entertaining - they're propaganda bordering on misinformation and they make me hot-under-the-collar when I see them. At least there was none of that here.

I just found it nice that MS was at last making a 'personable' commercial. It doesn't really matter whether they touted their products or made a recognizable point. What matters is that people hear the Microsoft name and equate it with something less evil than the devil. And what could be farther from the devil than Jerry Seinfeld?

After all these years of the Mac Guy commercials, I was beginning to wonder whether MS was going to stand by while Apple dirts them. MS's silence was pretty much the same as them saying "Yeah, that Mac Guy's right." Now that they're no longer silent (and didn't even mention Apple or their ad campaign) people will maybe begin to think that that Mac Guy is talking out his anus (which he is).

[virain]

There's second commercial of the series on TV. Bill and Jerry "connect to real people" and steal leather giraffe. Very funny! Have you seen it yet?

[Janak Parekh]

There's second commercial of the series on TV. Bill and Jerry "connect to real people" and steal leather giraffe. Very funny! Have you seen it yet? It's definitely more entertaining than the first, but I'm even more confused now. :confused: Doesn't Bill come across as totally disconnected? It's pretty clear now that Microsoft is trying to humanize their image, but... I'm not convinced this is the way to do it.

(Plus, the "ad" is 4:30 long. That's not a ad, that's a mini-movie. Does someone have a link to an ad-length version?)

--janak

[Jason Dunn]

How bout starting the ad off with Seinfeld walking in on Bill G playing a game...hooked up to FOUR flat panel monitors...I'm running two ATI 4870 video cards in Crossfire mode...

If they wanted to appeal to geeks who already know everything about Windows Vista, then yeah, that would be cool. But that's not who they're going after...

[Jason Dunn]

(Plus, the "ad" is 4:30 long. That's not a ad, that's a mini-movie. Does someone have a link to an ad-length version?)

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/windows/

The shorter versions are up there.

[Janak Parekh]

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/windows/

The shorter versions are up there. They're still not ad-length, are they? Or does Microsoft plan to air both 1:30 segments? :confused:

--janak

[Jason Dunn]

They're still not ad-length, are they? Or does Microsoft plan to air both 1:30 segments?

I'm not an advertising expert, but I suspect they'd air one 90 second spot early in the TV show, then the second 90 second spot later in the show. 90 seconds is a long ad, yes, but it's do-able. "Ad length" is whatever you're willing to pay for. And even Tivo users skipping ads might go back and watch the ad because it's unusual to see an ad still running after you've pressed skip twice.