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New Windows Ad Just an "Icebreaker" | |
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| Time: 13:06 EST/18:06 GMT | News Source: Gizmodo | Posted By: Michael Dragone | ||
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Anyway, an internal Microsoft memo explaining the ads to employees confirms what most of us suspected as Seinfeld compared PCs to some sort of chocolaty dessert—the first commercial was just an "icebreaker." | ||
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| #1 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 9/5/2008 1:27:29 PM |
| I saw the ad this morning and liked it. Bill's 70's mugshot in his Shoe Circus Platinum card was priceless. |
| #2 By 2231 (72.5.151.4) at 9/5/2008 8:12:51 PM |
| Is this the best they could come up with and Microsoft actually paid for this? It looks like a high school production. |
| #3 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at 9/5/2008 8:32:09 PM |
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if communicating how human and open to accommodating all people Microsoft seeks to be and Windows is was the goal - how inclusive, adaptable, approachable and flexible the platform can be... then it was a stunning success as an opener, and how refreshing for advertising to assume that the audience is intelligent and sophisticated enough to pick up on the intended message. This post was edited by lketchum on Friday, September 05, 2008 at 20:32. |
| #4 By 15406 (99.224.112.94) at 9/5/2008 10:15:42 PM |
| #3: You got all of that from the same 60-second commercial I watched? Wow. |
| #5 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at 9/6/2008 10:25:13 AM |
| #4, Yep, I did. I think about things. A lot. People do that. We used to sit around afternoons and at night after supper and write letters - for hours. We'd think about things and people and we'd write to them in a style that communicated as though they were sitting across from us. It was common to write a dozen pages, or more. We imagined a world better than we knew and we looked for it; worked for it and fought for it. What we get out of any one minute is exactly what we choose to. There are days when one more minute can mean everything. |
| #6 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 9/8/2008 8:20:55 AM |
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#5: What we get out of any one minute is exactly what we choose to.
Ah, OK. That explains how I saw a 60-second humourous vignette starring Gates & Seinfeld, while you saw a bold statement about Windows and how inclusive, adaptable, approachable and flexible the platform can be. |
| #7 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at 9/8/2008 9:53:10 AM |
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#6, Does the word "thoughtful" mean anything?
I think it was about 1993 when the world gave up on class in favor of crassness. |
| #8 By 1896 (70.146.35.114) at 9/8/2008 10:14:44 AM |
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It depends who you speak with: in my World we never gave up with class.
As for the subject of the post I do not like the spot. What is nmore concerning though is that, besides my personal opinion about the content, technically speaking, the quality of the spot is terrible: lights, camera angles, etc. It seems an amateur shot it. |
| #9 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at 9/8/2008 10:27:36 AM |
| #8, Many in my country did. I think it happened when the American Diner started using paper over porcelain coffee cups. |
| #10 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 9/8/2008 10:27:59 AM |
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#7: Fantasy springs from thought, too. That's what I was getting at with you; your over-the-top inference from that ad. Only a massive MS fanboy would see that ad and come up with you came up with. There no mention of platforms (other than shoes maybe), Windows, Vista or anything else of substance. And it didn't have to to be effective. I thought it was supposed to be a light-hearted "absurdist" ad that made you smile and crack the stodgy MS door open a little. You know, start with the small talk before you get to the business of more narrowly-focused ads. When I read that post of yours I had to laugh out loud. Tell me, which part of the ad made you think that MS is open to accommodating all people? When Gates shook his bonbon?
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| #11 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at 9/8/2008 11:22:30 AM |
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#10, are you always so obtuse?
Shoes. A shoe store. Yes... they are all shoes... however... they are all different in at least some way and even the "perfect shoe" needed some adjustment to work best for any one user... Choices... selection... lines suitable for different times and uses lots of them... Not all are suitable for all people or for all the same reasons. All will require some adjustment, or at least getting used to... Are you that damn dumb... or are you that thoughtless... or worse... that jaded? |
| #12 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 9/8/2008 12:05:42 PM |
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#11: No, I just know a crock of BS when I see it, and buddy -- you're it. Are you seriously calling me dumb for not seeing the ad for what it really was, instead of that PR Dept-generated crapspeak you posted? By your own words, I suspect everyone here on AW, nay -- the world, is dumb & obtuse for seeing the ad as a starting point and genesis of Bill & Jerry that will play out in future ads. You sound like you're reading from an MS Partner talking point list that got sent out just before the commercial aired. You're not just reading between the lines much too hard, you're reading between the paper fibres. But you may be on to something. Perhaps the Hispanic family signifies the 3rd-world that knows all about Windows but can't afford it and end up on the outside looking in? And maybe Windows is like a pair of shoes that are supposed to be right for you but need a lot of tweaking from some random 3rd-party before you can use them without a lot of pain? I don't know. I guess I'm just not a deep as you are.
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| #13 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at 9/8/2008 1:13:46 PM |
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#12, The Shoes/Windows Platform analogy was so obvious one would have to be dumber than a box, nay two, boxes of rocks to have missed it. I could go deeper into the messages and what they reflect upon, but it would be pointless with you - where "it's like yelling at a rock" is entirely appropriate.
"everyone uses shoes. Not all shoes are the same and few wear the same shoes all the time. Even the finest shoes are new and have to break in and the very best of shoes are repaired and retooled - not replaced" It isn’t rocket science! (and neither is getting the most out of high quality shoe leather... er Windows... as tried and true as a comfortable pair of shoes that sometimes allow you to run with like the wind, dance a step, or take a casual stroll...). And the people on the oustide knew more about the particular shoe than Jerry did, meat head. |
| #14 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 9/8/2008 2:02:46 PM |
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#13: Actually, the family knew exactly as much about the shoe as Jerry did. They both knew it was the Conquistador, and they run tight. I still think you're grasping beyond your reach for symbolic meaning in an advertisement.
I don't know if you're an MMA fan, but Rashad Evans this past weekend was wearing a T-shirt in the ring before and after his fight against Chuck Liddell. The shirt was the mugshot of Gates in the 70's. Now that's what I call guerrilla marketing. |
| #15 By 1896 (70.146.35.114) at 9/8/2008 2:25:50 PM |
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13: True: In the good old times a gentleman would not use a new pair of shoes until the butler had soften them for a couple of days.
The most important trick is: never wear the same pair of shoes two consecutive days; feet have transpiration as the rest of the body,the leather absorbs it therefore you have to let the shoes 'rest" at least 24 hours in order to allow the leather to expell the residual of the transpiration. Also if you rotate shoes between Summer and Winter before putting them away thoroughly clean them with she cream of the appropriate color, put them in a "breathing" box, no plastic, and stuffed it with newspaper pages; it will absorb the humidity. Do this and shoes, good ones of course, will last forever; i have shoes I bought in London 30 years ago that are like new. Yes I am serious. |
| #16 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 9/8/2008 3:30:29 PM |
| The last thing I will say on this topic is this: if you are a marketer and you craft an ad that requires deep thinking, then you have essentially failed. |
| #17 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at 9/8/2008 4:48:42 PM |
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"The family looking in.."
everyone (around the world) wears shoes... everyone (around the world) uses Windows... How terribly cryptic of them.... even the 70's mugshot photo (we've been around doing this (software thing) for more than 30 years)... the sneaky, clever devils... how they have hidden so much from my eyes... I cannot quit laughing... please Latch, post again... please... I haven't had cause to laugh this hard in many years... please tell me you're only kidding and really... really... really aren't as dense as you are trying to protray yourself as being in this case... |
| #18 By 15406 (99.224.112.94) at 9/8/2008 5:47:01 PM |
| #17: Seriously, what percentage of people watching an ad actually process anything other than the surface. I'm one of those people, according to you. I doubt very much that a significant portion of the audience was sitting there trying to make connections between the concepts & visuals in the ad and Microsoft products. I still maintain that the ad was a light-hearted starting point that carried no real message other than showing how Gates & Seinfeld bumped into each other and the roles they might continue in later ads. |
| #19 By 28801 (71.58.225.185) at 9/8/2008 6:53:44 PM |
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I have to go with Latch on this one. The ad was more potato than steak.
Lloyd - the Windows platform/shoes analogy is a reach. Advertisers know that they have to get your attention and hold it for that half minute. The only subtext they are interested in is the kind that's in your face. Fritz - I couldn't agree more. The lighting and editing was terrible. Apple will probably get a Seinfeld impersonator to add to the I'm a MAC commercial and put this MS ad campaign out of it's misery. This post was edited by rxcall on Monday, September 08, 2008 at 21:23. |
| #20 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at 9/8/2008 11:41:18 PM |
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#18, C'mon man... you're a bright guy and you work your arguments in well - even when the position is otherwise unsupportable...
Guys there was nothing subtle about the messages being delivered. They were so evident - as most things are and especially so when it comes to advertising. Latch, please tell me (seriously) that you really got it and you're pulling my leg...If not... kill me now, because where our species is headed would bore the leaves off a potted plant. |
| #21 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at 9/9/2008 6:53:00 AM |
| #20: the true test - stop 50 random people on the street and ask them what they thought the commercial meant. |
| #22 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 9/9/2008 10:23:27 AM |
| #20: I can say it again if you really want me to. The ad was what it was. No deep meaning. You're trying too hard and seeing things that aren't there. I could make all kinds of comical connections (and already did a few posts up) which are just as valid although not the message MS wants to send. And like I said in #16, it's hard enough to get people to pay attention to ads in general, you don't want to make them think too hard about a hidden subtext because they're not used to doing that with ads. |
| #23 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at 9/9/2008 11:46:02 AM |
| #22, otay... but candidly, I didn't think there was any effort required at all in understanding the message. |
| #24 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 9/9/2008 12:50:39 PM |
| #23: I think you could make clumsy analogies between the shoe store and Windows/MS. However, I believe that the ad's only goal in this instance was the show Gates (and, by association, Microsoft) aren't as stuffy and humourless as the Mac ads make them appear to be. It's been shown before that if you go looking for something, you tend to see it even if it isn't really there. |
| #25 By 23275 (68.186.182.236) at 9/9/2008 3:59:09 PM |
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clumsy analogies? Look, it took about 100th of a millisecond to see the messages. I didn't have to think much at all. I watched the ad, laughed a bit and thought it was cute. The messages and how they were delivered were very clear - as were the analogies. I didn't think about how to communicate the analogies until it appeared that pundits either didn't understand the messages, or they intentionally "didn't get it" - then I thought about how to share what they were.
I am sure that one of the goals was to show an open, human and lighter side to Microsoft via the charm brought to such pieces by Bill Gates. I am equally sure that not one second of film was wasted and the themes I have shared here were also intended. |
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