New MS Ad Campaign to Feature Jerry Seinfeld

[Gazz]

Seinfeld and computers, kind of an odd mix.
UPDATE 1-Microsoft enlists Seinfeld for ad campaign--source | Markets | Markets News | Reuters
Microsoft enlists Seinfeld for ad campaign--source
Thu Aug 21, 2008 5:25pm EDT

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Comedian Jerry Seinfeld will star in a $300 million marketing campaign for Microsoft Corp aimed at burnishing the image of its computer operating system, a person familiar with the effort said on Thursday.

The centerpiece of that campaign, to debut next month, is a series of television advertisements in which Seinfeld, 54, best known for his eponymous NBC sitcom, will appear with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, the person told Reuters.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported details of the marketing effort, said Seinfeld will receive about $10 million for his work.

Seinfeld's representatives were not immediately available for comment and Redmond, Washington-based computer software giant Microsoft (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) declined to discuss the matter.

But the source who knew of the ad campaign said an immediate goal of the commercials is to counter public perceptions that Windows Vista, Microsoft's latest PC operating system, is clunky and hard to use compared with rival products from Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

The overall objective of the campaign is to rejuvenate the brand image of Windows generally, the source said.

Devised by the Miami-based ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the spots will employ some variation of the slogan "Windows, Not Walls" and the theme of removing barriers that prevent people and ideas from connecting, the person said.

The ads will begin appearing Sept. 4. The Wall Street Journal said the $300 million marketing campaign is one of the largest in the company's history.

For now, Seinfeld is the only celebrity, other than Gates, taking part in the campaign, although others were considered, including comic actor Will Ferrell, the source said.

The attempted image overhaul comes in the wake of Apple's "Mac vs. PC" ads featuring a geeky PC guy who vaguely resembles Gates being unable to keep up with a better-looking, hip Mac counterpart.

Those ads, painting Windows as stodgy and unreliable, have reinforced criticism about Vista's performance, stringent hardware requirements and lack of support for other software and devices such as printers.

Despite selling more than 180 million licenses since its launch in 2007, Vista continues to suffer from the perception the release was a dud, although Microsoft has said early problems with the operating system have been resolved.

The Windows operating system is the crown jewel of Microsoft's $60 billion software empire. It sits on more than 90 percent of the world's computers and profits generated from Windows bankroll the company's ventures into new businesses such as Xbox video game machines and Zune music players. (Additional reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi in Seattle; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Andre Grenon)

And while MS is spending 300 million on an ad campaign starring someone who makes people laugh by pointing out what he does not understand about a situation or appliance, Linux is conquering the (currently) 300 million userbase in China (market off the future blablabla we all keep hearing about) with the chinese made Red crown Linux. It must be noted that we are talking about legitimate installs here. If you counted pirated copys of windows the marketshare would have been different. The entire Chinese government works on Linux btw, funny how it's suddenly possible to use if there aren't a lot off MCSA brainwashed system admins who can't install anything without a graphical interface telling you it's impossible. It once again reminds me why I grew tired of those IT apes who always seem to have mental issues and stuck themsleves behind a pc for that reason and are now trying to control the world. Ranting at them is so much fun, however I can't do it in real life because reality has shown me they call in sick the day after and you should try getting their loser asses fired after that. "End of personal rant about some current issues at work!"



It's also worth noting that the uprise of cheap subnotebooks (like Asus's EEE pc) with a 50/50 installerbase of linux or Windows is rapidly changing the market percentages aswell.


Anyway, Seinfeld in an MS campaign. Any thoughts on that and I am the only person who found that show extremely generic and Elaine the definition of everything that is wrong with women these days......?

[Nxs]

I suppose it just depends on how the ad goes. I liked the tv series Seinfeld and his comedy is not that bad. I do hate Elaine though. That bitch is right up there with Deb from Everybody Loves Raymond.

You never know it could be the ads with Jerry are right up there with the Mac/PC ads I love so much. As for Linux, I could care less about that OS. Mainly because it is not game friendly. You can say want you want but, we all know that games that do come to Linux are usually six months to a year behind when they come out for Windows. I may not like MS and Windows all the time but, I am sure as shit going to stay with the OS cause that is where all the games are

[Richard_Rahl]

Macs are to expensive for most people (wich forms a barrier for potential customers) and the "common man" has never heard of Linux (or has, because of his subnotebook, though does not realise it is a "full-graded" OS).

So instead of making such campaigns, they should consider making windows more fool-proof (and cheaper, but that is a different matter). Because most Vista-trouble I heard people talking about is being caused (for a major part) by ignorance of most users.
Like complaining about programs not running (correctly). I tried some old stuff in compatibility mode on my laptop and it worked fine. Hell, Tiberian Sun (from 1999) ran even better on V. then on XP! That is, that game crashed less on Vista and there isn't such a troublesome sound playback during the movies between the missions.
Or the screen "doing weird". That is more sounding like a driver problem or so.

And a campaign like that probably won't work at all. Partially because people like to blame someone else then themselves (if you get my meaning).

[Magus]

I hope they add in that slapped bass sound they used with the seinfeld theme. It remembers me of pestering my little brother, setting the seinfeld theme to minimalise in windows, so it would play everytime he minimalised a window, i could just hear the song from his speakers with his shouting not long after!

[Gazz]

@NXS: the number of people playing games on their pc is just a few procent of the total amount of users (that's not counting the ever popular flash games ofcourse as they can be played on Linux and Windows alike). The biggest reason why Linux is being held back is because of fear of re educating the working staff to handle Linux based pc's, thus my rant about MCSA people who can't do crap when a pc functions on anything else then Windows or even worse, when it's text based... They are mainly responsible for holding back competition in fear of losing their own jobs. Being an Microsoft certified system ape (MCSA) is pretty pointless on any Unix config afterall. Also, not everybody loves Raymond. The show got cancelled here just recently due to poor ratings. Never watched it my self. There's something repulsive about that Raymond guys head.

@Richard: Yeah, you are probably right.

[Richard_Rahl]

Originally Posted by Magus

I hope they add in that slapped bass sound they used with the seinfeld theme. It remembers me of pestering my little brother, setting the seinfeld theme to minimalise in windows, so it would play everytime he minimalised a window, i could just hear the song from his speakers with his shouting not long after!

hahaha! That's some nice bit of humor!
I confess I don't know the Seinfeld theme, though. I usually don't watch American comedies since British humour is the way to go!

[AKADeadly]

Vistas awesome, nuff said =/

[interman]

I would've thought they'd go for someone younger, so I assume they're not going directly for the hip, young, designer crowd. Seinfeld is one of the world's best known comedians though, and I'm sure they'll make something funny.

[KamisoriX]

they should have hire Berny Mac to get the bla....oh wait...nevermind.

[AKADeadly]

Originally Posted by KamisoriX

they should have hire Berny Mac to get the bla....oh wait...nevermind.

Awww..... lol