I've seen the big budget Microsoft commercial a couple of times now. Bill Gates! Jerry Seinfeld! Woohoo?
It's dumb. I'm not a fan of either gentleman's product and this commercial does nothing to change that. It's silly but not in a funny sort of way. It feels contrived, sort of a 'hey, lets be wacky guys!' sort of way that doesn't feel natural to the players.
Most importantly, it doesn't change my opinion of Microsoft for the better. It doesn't show the product being useful. It doesn't have the brand rubbing up with a hip young entertainer that the young people might enjoy and pay attention to (it would be like Milton Berle doing commercials in the late 60's/early 70's, a decade after his tv success). It doesn't even really show Bill Gates in a good light either. 'Oh look, the billionaire buys cheap shoes, isn't he normal?' Whatever.
Just as importantly, I don't think it does anything for Seinfeld. I saw a recent article that noted an attempt to interest today's college students in his tv show. I didn't catch if they were successful or not. As an ad for the style of humor he used in that show I think it fails as well. Jerry showers full clothed? While he does the serious Jerry 'look I've thought this out' moment after that revelation, he comes across more crazy than anything. It's not a Jerry moment, it's a Kramer moment and doesn't feel right coming from him.
There is another Microsoft ad running around the channels now, one where they have unsuspecting people use the 'next Microsoft OS' and it turns out to be Vista the whole time. People saying 'once you see how to use it, its nice' does a lot more for the product than Jerry Seinfeld wondering if Microsoft will make computers edible.
At least that's what I think. But I didn't get paid millions of dollars to make a commercial for a company that really doesn't need to advertise. Once the money is in your account, what else matters?
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