Those Conquistadors Run No More

MayorBob.

Posted to Media on Sat Sep 20, 2008 at 09:17:48 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.

Most who sat through it ended up scratching their heads and wondering "what?"  It was the first in what was promised to be a series of Microsoft ads featuring former CEO Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld.  In the end, the sentiments that the ad was a remarkably subtle attempt to rebrand the software giant lost out to the chorus of boos and WTFs.  Thus, almost before it began, the Bill Gates-Jerry Seinfeld ad blitz was cancelled.

Not wishing to toss another penny beyond the (US)$10 million it already deposited in Seinfeld's bank account, Microsoft will be moving in a different direction.  The remainder of the reported $300 million budgeted on the rebranding effort is designed to take the software giant there. It will begin with what looks like a direct counterattack on Apple's ads promoting its overall awesomeness while emphasizing Microsoft's total stodginess.  The first in this new series of ads will use someone who resembles John Hodgman claiming "I'm a PC and I've been made into a stereotype."  The series will also feature average, ordinary PC users like Bill Gates and Eva Longoria.  Oh there'll be kids too, but, wait there's more - there's astronauts and Deepak Chopra.  The tagline for the new campaign becomes "Life Without Walls."

We'll have to wait for the jury to deliver its verdict on whether the new Microsoft campaign works or not.  Using a John Hodgman lookalike to get across the notion that you're more inventive than the other brand might be problematic.  One industry publication, which truth be told, isn't a fan of Microsoft observed: