Can Two Rich Guys Humanize Microsoft? 19 comments
-
Font Size:
-
Print
- TweetThis
Anyone who isn’t talking about how dumb Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was in her interview (and that’s a lot of people) seems to be talking about the new Microsoft (MSFT) ad with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, and how they don’t get it. Mike Arrington doesn’t get it, and neither does my friend Mark Evans, to name just two. I think John Furrier comes close to the truth when he says that Mike not getting it is a sign that it’s working, because it’s not aimed at geeks. And part of what makes it hard to get is that it isn’t even about Windows, or Microsoft for that matter. Like Seinfeld, it’s not really about anything.
I made a marketing expert friend of mine mad recently when she said that the marketing professionals she knew didn’t like the original ad — and thought Microsoft was getting taken to the cleaners by its ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky — because it was a dumb idea, or at least not a smart one. I tried to make the point that I don’t think Microsoft cares whether she and her marketing colleagues think the campaign is “smart” or not. They aren’t the target market any more than Mike Arrington is. I think whoever put these together is really just trying to humanize a giant company, and that’s a tough assignment.
Seinfeld may not be all that funny in these ads, but then it’s tough to do his shtick without some energetic foils like George Costanza or Kosmo Kramer — and let’s face it, Bill Gates is no George Costanza. He has zero energy onscreen (hey, if he needs energy, he pays people to generate energy for him). But still, the idea as I see it is just to make fun of the fact that Bill is a billionaire and he’s kind of clueless and out of touch (and to get some buzz as well, no doubt), and Seinfeld is a great choice for that kind of ad. He’s filthy rich, and yet many people still see him as the sneaker-wearing funny guy and they love him.
When it comes right down to it, I like these ads better than Apple’s celebrated ads with the Mac guy and the PC guy. Those may radiate “cool” and “hip,” but the fact is that the Mac guy comes off as a snotty, arrogant little twerp. Most people I know — even those who adore Apple products — seem to sympathize with the PC character, who by contrast is genuinely likable. To me, the Apple ads are a total failure, and yet I don’t think anyone really cares, because Apple’s products are so great that they effectively market themselves.
Related Articles
|
-
The Seeking Alpha 100
See allThe top 100 stock
market authors
selected for publication
Seeking Alpha 100 » -
Fastest Climbers
Authors with the largestSee all
increase in followers
in the last 7 days
Fastest Climbers » -
Top Commenters
Top commenters,See all
as ranked by their peers
Top Commenters » -
Top Instabloggers
The 100 most activeSee all
Instabloggers.
Top Instabloggers » -
Top StockTalkers
TopSee all
StockTalkers.
Top StockTalkers »
This article has 19 comments:
I'll tell you what's dumb, Obama not picking Clinton as his running mate.
Now I see the connection, Microsoft and Obama are both dumb, they don't get it and will lose market share.
One minor point of contention, I don't think Microsoft is *just* trying to humanize the company... I think they will have additional specific, substantive communication goals that they try to achieve with future ads in the series. Humanizing Microsoft and re-establishing rapport with the audience will help them make those points more effectively.
The whole "strike back at apple ads" is a bit overblown, IMO. I think Microsoft has simply realized it's better if they define themselves instead of letting their competitors do it.
.... flip side is pc guys are hapless, out of shape losers.
that's why it works
from the very beginning in 1984 when they made Chiat Dey famous.
There Mac vs PC adds are a success.
Microsofts are the opposite, who would want
to associate with that
Now, the MS ads, who is their target demographic? How do the ads, stimulate the target demographic to buy more MS products? What's the bottom line? Where's the ROI?
If in your brief paragraph on what you think is going on, is true, that Gates is an out of touch, clueless guy, older white guy. Isn't that kind of like our President, is that a good association?
And, if the target demographic then are those people who "love" Seinfeld, well, that show hasn't been on in a decade. Are they really the target demographic, cause that's my demographic, and I hate the ads.
What does any of this have to do with Palin refusing to give ol' Charlie a headline like "Palin: NUKE RUSSIA!!!" or "Palin to Israel: NUKE IRAN!!!"?
This of course shows the poster has zero idea what they are talking about. It is shareholder money, Gates owns a small percentage of MSFT.
As to MS products are very good, apple is fine too, those who think otherwise are simply fanboys and poorly informed.
You know you watch the Seinfeld show and you think to yourself ....that was funny but it was about nothing... boring stuff that happens in everyone's life. And you can relate to it. His show were huge on the Network ratings And if Microsoft can get to that market that is great for them sales will go up ......The product does not matter. it could be selling dog s**t in a bag.... or ice to the Eskimos ,with the right ad campaign you can sell anything. Don't read into it . LOL!!!
that's precisely why this ad campaign would have been brilliant FIFTEEN years ago--- you know, right about the time microsoft was in ITS prime and its stock price per share actually went up on a consistent basis.