Microsoft's ad campaign is still fuzzy post-Seinfeld

We are not a bunch of pudgy, bespectacled, suit-wearing doofuses shouts the new Microsoft ad campaign, firing back at the widely admired Get a Mac campaign from Apple. But OK, well, if we are those things, we're proud of it, 'cause those are good things! The spot, which debuted Thursday night, features a John Hodgman lookalike saying "I'm a PC, and I've become a stereotype," followed by quick-cut clips of various multi-cultural successful types declaring "I'm a PC," some claiming the nerdy traits ("I wear a suit!" "I wear glasses!" etc.) made famous by Hodgman's PC character.

So here we are in Phase 2 of the Microsoft campaign, according to the company. The unpopular and confusing Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates ads have been halted, for now, at two installments -- reportedly there's one still left to be aired, but no date is set. Microsoft is strenuously asserting that they planned the campaign just this way all along. But after the firestorm of criticism, the whole thing has the smell of Plan B.

The first new ad, called "Pride" and made by the same agency who did Seinfeld/Gates, Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, is shiny and peppy on the surface. The counterattack on Apple is clear enough: Don't you stereotype us, you snarky slackers! As Michael Arrington points out at TechCrunch, it does succeed in making Apple seem like the mean, name-calling kid, reminding you that lots of worthwhile folks are fine with their PC.

But the rest of the message is still, alas, a vast, undifferentiated wilderness. The tag line this time is "Life without walls," which doesn't mean a lot. So the ad zooms around the world to show us that the whole world is really one, and Microsoft plays a big role in that oneness. It's the "connection" alluded to in the Jerry and Bill ads. But it seems very pre-Internet to put yourself out there as a connector. If anything, in this age of e-mail/Twitter/IM/Facebook/RSS feeds, we could use a little less connection at times. It's way beyond Windows at this point.

Then there's that multicolored cornucopia of achievers from around the world: a black astronaut, a "green" architect, a mysterious-looking white guy with a beard. (Who is that guy anyway?) There's a lawyer, a graffiti artist, a mathematician, a fisherman. There's Tony Parker and Eva Longoria reclining poolside? Pharrell Williams? Deepak Chopra in a book-lined study proclaiming, "I'm a human being, not a human doing"?

Mixing celebrities and normals does not represent democracy -- you'd think this would be clear by now, especially after the Seinfeld debacle. Were the everyday people compensated, I wonder? If you pay a bunch of average people to say "I'm a PC," they'll say it, but it doesn't make it ring true. I'm trying to find that out, and will post if I get a response.

Somehow, the ad manages to make the concept of globalism, which has been reality for quite a while now, seem a little retro. In fact, the whole campaign is feeling a little bit too 20th century, from the ol' hands-across-the-world meme, to Jerry Seinfeld, to, in the end, Microsoft itself.

Update: A Microsoft spokesperson has confirmed that the participants were compensated. I'll have a full statement from the company on that in another post soon.

-- Maria Russo

Comments

[Mr.Gates]

I'm a PC, and I like having more than one button on a mouse.

I'm a PC, and I believe it's idiotic to put "Ctrl" anywhere but on the very bottom left edge of a keyboard.

I'm a PC, and I believe in function over form.

I'm a PC, and Safari sucks, stop forcing me to download it.

I'm a PC, and I don't think charging suckers $800 upgrading to 4GB laptop ram is fair (they really do! check yourself!).

I'm a PC, and I'm smart enough to set up a HTPC instead of buying that POS Apple TV.

[Bored]

The ad is a desparate cliche contrived attempt to make Windows and Microsoft appear cool...Mich Matthews and gang couldn't market anything to save their lives and Microsoft really doesn't care whether it works because they already have 99% of PC OS market sewn up before it ships....it's amazing the marketing group has jobs given the money they waste and it's non effectiveness....the only winner is Cripin Porter because they got paid to make the ads although in the end even their brilliance couldn't save the campaign

[Paul T.]

Microsoft as victim? Get real.

[Jeff Brown]

The Shuttle cockpit portrayed in this ad is a very old cockpit that hasn't flown for many years. The new cockpit displays, called MEDS, replaced the old "steam gauge" instrument panel with a "glass cockpit" design.

How fitting that Microsoft is using outdated technology to push their has-been technologies.

[Marc]

I'm a PC; and, I wasn't paid to say that.

I paid lots of money for my macbook; and, I'm not proud to declare, "I'm a Mac." Why? Because it runs on Windows XP.

Yes, I'm a Windows PC.

[bob p.]

So now the sloppy, unattractive geek is whining in the corner? Yeah, I wanna be like him.

I find the whole "I'm a PC" concept anti-human at its core. We and our computers are one indistinguishable blinking mass. How to soften your image, Microsoft!

Do they actually pay agencies to come up with this tripe?

If Apple is smart they will respond with: "I'm a PC Cursor" - and if they do, I'll claim copyright infringement. : )

[Robbie]

Microsoft has said from day one that the Gates Seinfeld ads were just the first phase. It's a simple formula. You start with the Gates Seinfeld ads, start a new phase of ads that push vista but still show the inexplicable gates ads throughout, then come January the purpose of the Gates ads are reveled, Windows 8. I love how an apple fanboy wrote this article.

[Jeremy]

The very fact that a person believes Apple users are smarter and will volunteer this opinion publicly only shows that they are in fact not smart.

Apple does great marketing, so much so that they have fools millions into thinking the Macs are the cool people computers. Props to them for pulling this wool over so many people's eyes, but guess what? It's a computer just like PC's are computers.

I mean, when you get down to it, Macs are something like twice, if not 3 times more expensive than PC's, and they deliver the same basic outputs (word docs, pictures, internet access, etc). So who are the smart people, the ones duped by emotionally based, materialistic very savvy marketing, or the people unwilling to pay triple the price for a competing product that is functionally no different?

Steve Jobs and Apple are making a lot of money on people's low self esteem if you ask me.

By the way, I haven't even seen these new ads, and I'm sure they're just awful. You know what? Screw Microsoft AND Apple, Google is the way of the future, let's see what they have in store.

[snowdog]

What's the deal? The ads aren't "mean," as every tech blogger and psuedo-journalist says. I have a pc and a macbook. It seems to me like mac makes things "different" just to say "We're different." In fact, I think the smarmy, falsely cool dude in the mac commercials is a dweeb more than the pc dweeb. I mean, renaming a folder on my macbook is a pain in the backside. Finding a usable program worth a darn is horribly painful on a mac.
My mac sucks. It's not intuitive, but then again, so is my pc. Both have help items that seem like an complete idiot was in charge. PC seems a little worse though to be honest. But mac isn't much better. I mean, 2 lbs of dung isn't really that much easier to swallow than 2.5 lbs of dung.
The one thing though, at least the most important to me, is that in over 2 years my macbook hasn't crashed or come down with a virus. It takes a super nerd to make a system that stable, not some starbucks, semi-vegetarian, androgynous sophomore mac dude. So what I've decided is this, PC's aren't as nerdy as mac.

[Kel Varnsen]

It seems I'm virtually alone in enjoying the newest ad...just like the sitcom Seinfeld, the ad campaign would have taken a little while to find its footing. Give it a little time, Microsoft! You can certainly afford to be patient. After all, even Vandelay Industries wasn't built in a day!

[Kel Varnsen]

It seems I'm virtually alone in enjoying the newest ad...just like the sitcom Seinfeld, the ad campaign would have taken a little while to find its footing. Give it a little time, Microsoft! You can certainly afford to be patient. After all, even Vandelay Industries wasn't built in a day!