Which Do You Like Better, Steve: “No Mac for You!” or “Vista–Not That There’s Anything Wrong With That”?
The success of Windows is our number one job. With SP1 and the work we’ve done with PC manufacturers and our software ecosystem, we’ve addressed device and application compatibility issues in Windows Vista. Now it’s time to tell our story. In the weeks ahead, we’ll launch a campaign to address any lingering doubts our customers may have about Windows Vista. And later this year, you’ll see a more comprehensive effort to redefine the meaning and value of Windows for our customers.”
So Microsoft’s widely publicized “edgy” ad campaign, the one designed to counter the Apple (AAPL) ads that have so eroded its brand, is to feature Jerry Seinfeld as celebrity pitchman. And in many ways that does more to illustrate the sad differences between the two companies than the “Mac vs. PC” ads it’s designed to combat. Because Microsoft (MSFT) has chosen as quarterback for this campaign a tired ’90s sitcom star who not only used a Mac in the series that made him famous, but closed out Apple’s 1997 “Crazy Ones” ad–which, ironically, aired only once, during the series finale of “Seinfeld.”
So Microsoft, in an effort to overhaul its image and upstage the cool kids down in Cupertino, seems to have done little but confirm the message of its rival’s ads: “I’m a Mac, You’re a Dork,” or, in this case, a dated comedian. Really, the company might as well have hired Don Rickles for the job. Certainly, he would have come cheaper than the $10 million Seinfeld is rumored to have demanded. And there’s life left yet in that “What are you lookin’ at, you hockey puck?!” line of his.
Anyway, in the end, it’s not marketing that’s the issue here. It’s the product.
Comments
Concerning the Crazies ad for Apple - no wonder they only ran it once, and during a Seinfeld episode. Putting Jerry Seinfeld on the same level as MLK, Eingstein and others is a joke, and would not have held up to widespread scrutiny.
Posted by Paul Curran at August 21st, 2008 at 7:42 amSeinfeld always had a Mac on the desk by the Window. Who couldn’t see this coming?
“It became very clear to me sitting out there today that every decision I’ve made in my entire life has been wrong. My life is the complete opposite of everything I want it to be. Every instinct I have, in every aspect of life, be it something to wear, something to eat - it’s all been wrong.”
Posted by Eric Welch at August 21st, 2008 at 8:04 amSeinfeld’s agent: “Hey, Microsoft wants you to tell the world how great Vista is. Want to go for it?”
Seinfeld: “You have got to be kidding me. Say no, but say it politely. Quote them a price so high they’ll never pay.”
Seinfeld’s agent: “Ten million?”
Seinfeld: “Go with it.”
Posted by Robert MacLeay at August 21st, 2008 at 1:05 pmAnd I suppose that Apple didn’t pay to have their mac on Jerry’s desk?
Posted by Bill Collier at August 21st, 2008 at 6:35 pmMerchandising is Merchandising! I’ll bet if you walked up to 10 people even in your own office who haven’t read this article and you asked them what kind of computer Jerry had on his desk, well you might just be surprised. I personally like both mac’s and pc’s, right now I am writing this on the new HP 2133 mini note and I love this machine. If it were the air, I’d like that too. I love computers!
Robert MacLeay’s little tale about how Microsoft might have gotten Seinfeld sounds very, very much like the story I once read about how Microsoft got the Rolling Stones’ “Start Me Up” song for the Windows ‘95 rollout. I think it was an interview with Mike Jagger several years later (sorry couldn’t find the original). The Stones had never before allowed their songs to be used in commercials so Jagger threw out what he thought was an absurd amount ($4 million) and Microsoft accepted.
Posted by Hank Lavagnini at August 22nd, 2008 at 2:40 amANYONE who uses windows is a born again loser.
Posted by David Owens at August 29th, 2008 at 4:09 pm