11 Comments For This Post

1. Judie Lipsett Says:
   September 4th, 2008 at 9:47 pm

   I thought it made Bill look more…I dunno…human? I mean, he is a legend. I loved when he pulled out his ID card and it was his mugshot.

2. Christopher Gavula Says:
   September 4th, 2008 at 10:58 pm

   I just saw this commercial and I have to say I didn’t get it. But then, I never understood what was supposed to be funny about Seinfeld either. He just never struck me as funny and so far, this commercial hasn’t really done it for me either. Hopefully, later ads in the campaign will be more interesting.

3. Alison Says:
   September 5th, 2008 at 5:34 am

   It’s quite random, but also pretty funny. I think it will get people talking about Microsoft, and for them that’s a good thing.

4. Wayne Schulz Says:
   September 5th, 2008 at 5:50 am

   Compare this to the successful Apple commercials — which very definitely caused people to think about Apple in a new light — and I don’t get it.

   This is obviously part of a series of commercials but Bill Gates is already widely known. If I know more about Bill from commercials — what impact does that have on my use of Microsoft. Do I go into the office and recommend Vista because Bill has a funny commercial with Jerry Seinfeld where they are trying on shoes?

5. Judie Lipsett Says:
   September 5th, 2008 at 7:06 am

   These commercials may not impact your use of Microsoft products, and they may not be effective for anything other than a slight chuckle (if you like the Seinfeld style), but I think Alison is right…this one certainly got us talking about Microsoft, even if it was just to bag on how much money they were spending to make us do it.

6. Allen Hong Says:
   September 5th, 2008 at 7:13 am

   at the end “the future” , “delicious”
   hmmmm… microsoft is going to expand and starting yummy dessert treats?

7. lynnriley68 Says:
   September 5th, 2008 at 7:44 am

   Awww, it was funny! I don’t get the whole Seinfeld thing either and never laughed more than once an episode–if that. But, Judy is right, it made Bill Gates look more human. It makes you wonder what’s around the corner for Microsoft.

8. Wayne Schulz Says:
   September 5th, 2008 at 7:49 am

   Special news bulletin:

   Bill Gates is retired.

   He no longer runs Microsoft (though many think he does)

   Putting money into promoting his image fits right into what appears to be Microsoft’s strategy of trying to stay back in the old days.

   Judging a campaign from one video isn’t really fair.

   However if the rest of them are like this it will go down in history as a “don’t do this” example of what happens when someone tries to create a “viral” ad campaign with a $300 million checkbook backing them.

9. reidme Says:
   September 5th, 2008 at 8:09 am

   I enjoyed it. I think they are just trying to take the edge off the “evil empire” image. I’m still not using Vista.

10. questionfear Says:
    September 5th, 2008 at 9:06 am

    That was actually really goofy, and kind of funny. Will it raise awareness of vista? Probably not, but it did make me giggle. And if they continue with that random type of style, it might make MSFT look less stuffy, which is really what they want.

11. Christopher Gavula Says:
    September 5th, 2008 at 9:18 am

    I get what they are trying to do, I’m just not sure that this commercial series does that (yet). It definitely doesn’t get me talking about MS at all - it just gets me talking about the commercial.

    Maybe later “episodes” will get me talking about MS, I don’t know. The “Get a Mac” ads got you talking about Macs right away (positively AND negatively sometimes). This new MS ad, however, just didn’t get me there -I didn’t even get a chuckle out of this one - it just kind of left me scratching my head. I could see what they were trying to present as cute or funny, but it just didn’t hit me as either so I guess I’m not the target audience!

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