The First Microsoft Seinfeld Ad

For about 8 TV seasons Jerry Seinfeld and producer Larry David produced a show about "nothing". It had some remarkable episodes - one of my favorites being something called the "soup nazi." All of the episodes revolved around the petty little things of life of four characters who lived in New York. Now, for a new $300 million campaign Microsoft has hired Seinfeld to pitch their products. At one point Microsoft was at the cutting edge but has lost that edge. That is in part their problem, a lot of their software is bulky - although some of it is pretty useful. In the last few years they have had a lot of issues. They produced a music player called Zune that is an also ran to the iPod. They spent lots of time and effort bringing a new version of their operating system to market only to find that most people did not want to buy it - disappointing sales on Vista is an understatement. They seem to have missed the boat on open source software with Microsoft's CEO making disparaging remarks about the movement in a number of venues only to look more like a churlish child than a commentator on technology. They have been ridiculed for the last few years in a series of Apple ads called "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" - some of which are very funny and all of which are creative. So they decided to create this ad campaign to recover some of their lost position.

Their loss in position may also be a reflection of where technology is moving. Collaborative software, like Google Docs and Wimba (or Go to Meeting) seem to be increasingly useful. Technology does not revolve around one's PC. And Open Source products have proven to be more nimble and plenty reliable. None of those developments play to Microsoft's strengths.

When Seinfeld first debuted it had a very small following. The humor was subtle and a bit quirky. You could not get it by watching one episode. Evidently, that is what they were trying to achieve in this set of ads. I am not sure the same thing will happen. The connections here between the company and the ad are remote. Both Seinfeld and Bill Gates are playing themselves. But from my view, I am not sure that this first ad builds to anything. The Apple ads start with a theme and tell a short message. This first one looks like a mini-Seinfeld episode with one new character, Gates. This could build into something like the TV show or it could sell like the Zune. For my money, with the first installment of the campaign, it looks a lot more like the Zune.