Sep 19, 2008

Microsoft "Connects"?

Apparently, the ads portraying Seinfeld and Gates trying to "connect" with real people will not be aired anymore. There is a lot of discussion out there about the reasons, if the ads performed poorly or if it was the idea from the beginning to get the attention with these ads to switch to a complete different direction later. Now, from a strategy standpoint the ads are at least... really weird.

I mean -don't get me wrong-, I love to see Seinfeld and Gates making clowns of themselves showing that maybe they are not really prepared to live with "common people" after years of living in a different way. The duo is kind of funny (maybe not terrible funny but funny enough) and the dialogues do have some of the "Seinfeld style".

Just in case you have not seen any of the ads I am talking about, here is the sample I like the best, that is avilable online at Microsft's website:



Now, my problem with the ads is not the humor or the "acting" of Gates...

My main problem, the reason I find these ads very weird is the message they are delivering. Vista has been a headache for Microsoft and it seems like one of the worst products they have launched so far, something that Mac has been using to its advantage.

Vista has not really "connect" with users or if it has, it has been in some odd way. Almost like the girl in the ad, users that do have switch to Vista (at least most of them)are not really happy to "live" with the new operating system.

I am still scratchig my head trying to understand the strategy behind these ads. They seem to me like something a trainee would propose: a simple joke with a word game, without thinking twice how the joke could be perceived.

I mean..., the odd couple didn't really connect with an ordinary family the same way Vista has not really connect with ordinary users. Nevertheless, at the end of the commercial, they think they have connected "in a way". The problem is... in which way?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Even though Seinfeld (at least) is big here in Scandinavia, we haven't had the commercials here.

It's my opinion though, that the message wouldn't come across any clearer over here.