Seinfeld as Vista's new pitch man

$10 million deal

[Sharpseo]

How do you think the ads will be?

I suspect they may be painful to watch. Seinfeld's Bee Movie ads were hard for me to watch as a fan of his show. Pitching a product like Vista will be even harder to pull off.

[Quadrille]

How do you think the ads will be?

They'll be ads about nothing.

I wonder who was more desperate, Seinfeld or Microsoft.

Still, at least he's not promoting Cuil. Yet.

[LifeinAsia]

Instead, I think Apple should have hired him to do ads about Vista. I can just imagine some monologues about it:
"So, have you tried out Microsoft's Vista? I heard you have to attend 12 hours of anger management therapy after trying to install it."
"What is it about Vista and changing things for change's sake? I mean, XP was working fine- why change it. What's up with that?"

[Lord Majestic]

Vista brand is in my view damaged beyond repair - this idea probably came from the very top however so admitting the obvious would cause loss of face to some top people, so they prefer to force Vista down peoples throats and waste money on this sort of ads.

[StoutFiles]

Forcing Vista onto new computers should be good enough for Microsoft...Vista has so much bad press now that no one would actively seek it out.

[Reno]

Too too funny LifeInAsia -- you have a career on the stage waiting for you ;)

Given the reaction to Vista, I'm not sure that Seinfeld was the best choice in any case -- imagine what the commercials would be like with the "Soup Nazi"...

"I'd like a laptop with XP"

"NO, VISTA ONLY"

"Please sir, if it's ok, I'd really rather have XP"

"BACK OF THE LINE -- NO SOUP FOR YOU!"

........................

[Marshall]

Their pitch main should be Homer Simpson with his ubiquiteous line -

D'OH!

Marshall

[Sharpseo]

Just read that the budget for this new Vista campaign is $300 million.... Unreal.

Imagine the business you could build with $300 million. And they're spending that just to promote a marginal new OS.

Great comments all, that was hilarious lifeinasia.

[travelin cat]

The first ad is available om youtube. Search for Shoe Circus.

[jbinbpt]

The Shoe Circus commercial is pointless. I still don't know what they were trying to sell.

[StoutFiles]

I still don't know what they were trying to sell.

An OS that's like cake.

[LifeinAsia]

Quadrille: "They'll be ads about nothing."
jbinbpt: "The Shoe Circus commercial is pointless. I still don't know what they were trying to sell."

I guess Quadrille got it right! :)

[Jane_Doe]

The show was funny, but Jerry Seinfeld and his wife have gotten a lot of pretty negative press recently from being on the receiving end of a defamation and plagiarism lawsuit. He isn't someone I'd pick for a spokesperson.

[GaryK]

What I find particularly ironic is Seinfeld is reported to be a long-time Mac user. I saw the ad and about the only positive thing I can say about it is Bill Gates is actually a very funny guy. I still don't understand what the ad has to do with Vista. These ads are supposed to be trying to sell Vista right? As a stockholder I am not at all happy about this ad.

[jbinbpt]

A new one is out video [youtube.com].

Longer.....funnier.......Still about nothing

[Jane_Doe]

Still about nothing

Basing ads on a TV show that was popular twenty years ago isn't very innovative.

[g1smd]

300 Million!

Why the heck don't they use that money to actually fix the problems?

Nah. Too obvious.

[bill]

Why the heck don't they use that money to actually fix the problems?

One of the problems appears to be the Microsoft image. A lot of the Vista problems have come about from a general ill will toward the OS that is not altogether deserved. Those are some of the problems they're addressing with this outlay.

[LifeinAsia]

A lot of the Vista problems have come about from a general ill will toward the OS that is not altogether deserved. Those are some of the problems they're addressing with this outlay.

If those are some of the problems they're trying to address, they're failing miserably with these "ads."

Some people might get the idea that Bill Gates knows his company has created a piece of [insert your favorite derogatory noun here] and is looking to jump into a new career in comedy.

[GaryK]

Let's keep in mind this is going to be a long-running ad campaign.

The two ads so far don't make a lot of sense yet. This might just be a case of setting the stage for something much more meaningful and relevant.

Then again it could be yet another example of MSFT not knowing how to make meaningful or relevant ads.

[rj87uk]

I wonder if they advertise online using Google Adwords, Yahoo or .... MSN AdCenter?

[LifeinAsia]

The two ads so far don't make a lot of sense yet. This might just be a case of setting the stage for something much more meaningful and relevant.

I was sort of hoping it would be that way too- some sort of ongoing story line. However, usually when advertisers do that, they release all the commercials at once (like the Grey Poupon commercials during a Super Bowl many years ago) or at least fairly close together. Or at least make them interestign enough to keep people eagerly anticipating the next one.

Now I think about it, this seems somewhat like the Seinfeld/Superman commercials for (...um, was it AMEX?) I seem to remember that the ones I saw were mildly humorous, but I wasn't hanging on the edge of my seat waiting for the next one.

[StoutFiles]

As pointless as these ads are, I still am interested in actually watching them when they come on. I can't say that about other ads on TV.

We know computers. The people who Microsoft are trying to attract with these commercials are people who don't know computers. Our opinion on these commercials is then basically worthless as Microsoft may consider us a lost cause to begin with. Best thing to do is ask an average person what they think of the commercials...

[GaryK]

Are you referring to the one where Superman seems to fit all the gay stereotypes? That was hilarious and yes, it was AMEX.

But that was a one-off commercial whereas there will be MSFT ads a plenty.

And let's not forget, you can't put a price on the value of discussions like this one and others that are taking place on almost every website like WebmasterWorld where social interaction, whether personal or business, is a key component.

Everyone who gives a darn knows these ads are for Vista even if the ads hardly give us a clue what they're about. Sadly, everyone who gives a darn has probably already made up their mind about Vista.

Hmm, did I just contradict my previous post? Typical. :)

[GaryK]

I just saw on ValleyWag that MSFT announced it's dropping Seinfeld from the ads. An official from MSFT apparently has confirmed it. The official is quoted as saying, "People would have been happier if everyone loved the ads, but this was not unexpected."