design over matter

The third ad by Microsoft has dropped Jerry Seinfeld in favor of a direct rebuttal to Apple's "Mac and PC" ads. Microsoft creatively calls it "I'm a PC". It shows a lot of regular folks as well as celebrities saying "I'm a PC". They even had an employee from Microsoft who is a knock off for John Hodgman (PC from the Apple Ads).

My response... lame

Really, you're dumping Jerry and going with this lame response to Apple.

My post about the first Microsoft/Sienfeld ad said ...

Looks like we've got a Microsoft BOB on our hands. Seinfeld won't make it into a third commercial.

Who's running this ad campaign for Microsoft? John McCain's team?

I was surprised to see the first add for Microsoft featuring comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Just a few weeks ago they announced the deal that would pay Seinfeld $10 million to appear in a series of Microsoft ads. People speculated the ads would respond to the negative image of Vista.

All I can way is "What is Microsoft thinking?"

Here is a run down of the commercial. Seinfeld finds Bill Gates at a discount shoe store and give him advice on his shoe purchase. At the register Bill pulls out his discount card with the notorious photo of Bill taken in his twenties, but he looks fourteen and very geeky. Ok, ha ha. Bill and Seinfeld leave the mall eating chiros. Seinfeld asks Bill is computers will be moist and chewy so we can eat them. Bill stops to adjust his underwear to signal yes. The windows logo appears.

Huh? What was that?

I hit rewind on the DVR to show my wife the commercial. Her reaction was the same as mine and after a short discussion. I can only guess that Microsoft was trying to create a "Seinfeld-like" commericial. The TV show known to be about nothing.

Not a smart move. Look at what Apple has done in the Mac/PC ads. The PC is sneezing. He tells Mac to stay back, he's got the latest virus. Mac assures him he won't catch it. Bravo apple. You've taken a problem many computer users encounter and demonstrate how the Mac differs from the PC all in a humorous and memorable way.

Hopefully, future Microsoft ads will follow their software development trends. Version 3.0 of their commercial should finally hit the mark. Or at least suck less.