Microsoft Gives In To Online Critics: Fires Seinfeld
from the what's-the-deal-with-that? dept
I recognize that I was in the minority of folks who actually thought the Microsoft Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld ads were good and entertaining, but I'm still quite surprised to see Valleywag report that Microsoft is ending the Seinfeld ads, despite plans for a huge $300 million ad campaign around them. Microsoft is trying to claim that this is all according to plan, but that seems difficult to believe -- especially since the "narrative" of the ads had only just begun. It looks like Microsoft basically caved to all the online critics, which makes no sense to me. Even if some people didn't get the ads, people were talking about them. Caving, rather than going through with the rest of the planned ads and laying out the message that they had planned to lay out, just makes the company look foolish. The first two ad segments clearly set the framework for numerous commercials that Microsoft could use to both humanize itself and inform people about what Microsoft was doing -- and now it's basically a dead end. Yes, there were some very vocal critics of the ads, but bowing to their pressure sends exactly the wrong message.
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Filed Under: advertisements, bill gates, jerry seinfeld
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Re:
Huh.
And that's it. Microsoft pulls the plug because a few loud-mouthed morons don't 'get it?' That must have been their target market.
I hate this country more every day.
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Looks like the ads are working!
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Perhaps all part of their cunning plan?
So, no doubt Vista will also soon be canned?
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Re: Perhaps all part of their cunning plan?
>>demonstrate, i.e. that even though they committed
>>huge amounts of money to a fundamentally flawed
>>venture, they do listen to critics and will react
>> appropriately.
>>
>> So, no doubt Vista will also soon be canned?
That can't be true, because it sounds too much like the plot to "The Producers":
Don't you see, Bill. Darling, Bill, glorious Bill, it's so simple!
Step one: We find the worst software in the world - a sure flop.
Step two: I raise three hundred million dollars - there's a lot of lost bald guys in this world.
Step three: You go back to work on the code. You can do it, Bill, you're a wizard.
Step four: We send the commercials out, and before you can say 'step five' you release the servicepack.
Step six: We take our three hundred million dollars and fly to Rio!
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Mimics reality
Microsoft has had decent advertising before so I'm surprised they went this bad.
Perhaps the next ad or two can be thought of as a service pack and fix the original blunder.
And does the use of celebrities to advertise your product really work ?
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Ads
I personally enjoyed the Senfield and Gates ads. It was nice to see two bestfriends together and watching their chemistry.
I'm extrememly annoyed that the ads were pulled.
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Re: Ads
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Re: Re: Ads
Only thing it provides is a medium for you to voice your poor convictions, all from your arm chair.
But I suppose you are from Alaska where it has recently been discovered exists a near total lack of common sense and morals.
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Re: Re: Ads
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Re: Ads
How can anyone not making money on the garbage proclaim them "entertaining"? Are you that lost to reality?
One thing is getting a chuckle from a funny add, another is defending adds even when they are a nuisance, like the MS adds of late.
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more of the same.
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Re: more of the same.
not that i believe it but:
Mr. Pilla said the company planned the three ads pairing Messrs. Seinfeld and Gates to be a "teaser" for the larger campaign. He denied a blog report that suggested Microsoft had dropped Mr. Seinfeld prematurely. "The ads that feature Bill and Jerry have done exactly what they were designed to do," Mr. Pilla said. "Any suggestion otherwise is untrue."
found here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122170413554850995.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
So next on the menu seems to be:
- Deepak Chopra,
- Eva Longoria,
- Pharrell Williams.
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The problem with the ads
When people say "all advertising is good advertising" they are only referring to ads for relatively unknown entities. Once a company is firmly established and nears saturation in it's market then bad advertising is indeed detrimental, as it turns into ads for their competitors.
Mike says "people were talking about the ads, so they must have been working". However, many people were comparing them unfavorably to Apple's ads. Very few people walked away from those ads with a positive impression of Microsoft. Most viewers, I believe, walked away comparing apple to Microsoft, and that's not something that Microsoft wants to happen.
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They were ads for Apple...
People have always been comparing Microsoft unfavourably to Apple. That people would then go on to compare the adds unfavourably to Apples adds shouldn't be surprising.
I really doubt there is anything Microsoft could do and not take flak for it, at least initially.
Mike says that the people that found these adds funny were in a minority, but lets face it, the only people who find Apple adds funny are Apple fans who are what, 10% of the population?
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Re: They were ads for Apple...
Yeah, 10% and growing - at the rate of something like 30% + per annum! Sorry, but lots of people find them funny, its just the Microsoft fanbois that don't, cause they're annoyed that they hit so close to home!
Microsoft was right to pull these ads. They were lame, made no sense to most people, and the inside jokes, while amusing to those that understood them, went right over the heads of most folk - who were presumably the targets of the ads!
"People have always been comparing Microsoft unfavourably to Apple. That people would then go on to compare the adds unfavourably to Apples adds shouldn't be surprising."
Yeah? I wonder why that is? Perhaps it is because their products compare unfavorably to Apple's products? That's the bottom line, after all.
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Re: They were ads for Apple...
Actually, no. I hate Apple products. I think they are overrated, overpriced, proprietary eye candy. I think pretty much everything said in the ads is an exaggeration or an outright lie (what's new?).
However, I still laugh every time one of the commercials comes on. They are clever and funny, and I can appreciate that even if I don't agree with the message. Just about everyone I know finds them funny. So, no, it's not just Apple fans that like them.
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Mistakerosoft Ads
I like the BS Ads Mistakerosoft has about some fake software that is actually Vista. Please, these people that say that Vista is great are not using the required Office Suite 2007.
If they did they would see the poor changes and know it was Vista and not Mohave or whatever Mistakerosoft called the Vista fake.
Mistakerosoft should fix the problems with their software before dumping it on consumers, and expect them to wait for a patch or service pack update to make their software work right. People should sue Mistakerosoft for selling them an inferior product.
Mistakrosoft, why not spend your money fixing your crappy software instead of making crappy Ads to go along with it?
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Re: Mistakerosoft Ads
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Re: Mistakerosoft Ads
Dude, that's worse than Micro$oft. Why now throw in 2 dollar signs and go with Mi$takero$oft?
I've been using Vista at home since launch without any major issue. I'm not saying that I'm the standard bearer, but it's not the hunking piece of shit that many tout it as.
I'm also confident in saying that XP is probably the best OS created so far in terms of usability and stability.
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Re: Re: Mistakerosoft Ads
Actually, that was windows 2000. XP just added some eye candy to win2k. Some of the eye candy was necessary, some of it... ew. (control panel?????)
Well, that and it made the win2k kernel the official successor to the win9x kernel, which was a huge leap of usability and stability.
I find it rather ...interesting... that windows 2000 was the last product to RTM while Gates was still CEO, and every product released since Ballmer took the reins seems to have been developed by the marketing department instead of by the programmers.
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Re: Re: Mistakerosoft Ads
Certainly you mean best OS from M$. I use Win2K at home and XP at work, and my vote goes to Win2K. Not as "dressed up for the prom" as XP, but more reliable.
If you mean best OS in general, then you sir are off your nut. And be careful of the cart leading the horse. Windows users have been suckling at the teat of right-clicking as an extension of the OS for too long. We have been well trained. When I started using OS X I realized that conceptually something was wrong with Windows. And then it hit me that while M$ has been playing catchup since DOS, Apple has been running a nearly identical UI for more than 25 years. Because it works! You aren't used to it, but for that matter you could have been raised thinking dog crap is chocolate pudding, and maybe you would have found the best and most nutty pudding so far, but it's still crap.
Sorry. That was excessively hyperbolic.
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Re: Re: Mistakerosoft Ads
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Re: Mistakerosoft Ads
You have got to be kidding with this? This site is called "Techdirt" and I would assume that someone reading this site would have a little bit of technical knowledge...just a little bit. There is no requirement to use Office Suite 2007 with Vista. If you believe that...then you have been sold a bill of goods by some superstore sales guy. Hold back on the MS hatred a bit if you don't know what the hell you are talking about.
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Re: Mistakerosoft Ads
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Re: Re: Mistakerosoft Ads
man, do you understand that is MICOSOFT fault, their lobby, and their way to PUSH and OBLIGATE hardware companies, to register with them, and create PROPIETARY drivers that only works with them , no linux .??? since the beginning, they where smart and evil, hardware was no compatible with other hardware, because THEY wanted to!!, if any hardware company open the source/ specifications of their hardware, you will have thousands of drivers for every linux desktop, and IS the hardware compatibility the MAYOR problem on the average user .
I belive this is enough to punish the company for what they have done, send the computer systems depending on them.
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Re: Mistakerosoft Ads
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If Apple had dome the same storyline with Steve Jobs, people would have liked them.
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More like, if Apple had done the same storyline with Steve Jobs people would be looking for the hidden meaning and speculating favorably as to what we can expect in the near future.
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Re: Re: They were ads for Apple...
Google will challange Microsofts dominance before Apple ever will.
Anyway, the only funny add apple ever pulled was the 'beep! beep! beep!' paper-girl. The PCvsMac adds border on the obnoxious. Promoting yourself by slagging off your competitors is a job for presidential candidates, not good salesmen.
Say what you want about the Vista adds, but at least they managed to rise above the ‘lol, Mac sux!’ mentality.
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Can't get it right
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Re: Can't get it right
You ever hear the phrase "too many cooks spoil the stew"?
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Serious business and research is done on Microsoft based computers. Vendors have absolutely no intentions of creating instruments or software that runs on a Mac.
Gas / Liquid Chromatographers, NMRs,Spectrophotometers, Mass Spectrometers, Particle Analyzers and many, many, many more. I won't even list the instruments in the robotics labs.
Do me a favor. While we're designing products that make your day to day life better or actually save your life one day, go out and drop 10k on a Mac! You can finally play Quake or paint a pretty little picture for your parents.
BTW, how's that class-action lawsuit over the iPhone going?
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Get real. Power users, such as anyone doing graphics or media, have been using Mac for years. Scientific equipment? What has that to do with a PC? Equipment manufacturers choose Windows simply because it's common, not because it's good.
I used to be a M$ "subject", and I'm still stuck with them at work. But the family I-Mac kicks my high-end laptop's butt, because OS X is what a PC OS ought to be. I'll get a Mac laptop next time, and use virtualization where I have to.
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meh
Short silly movies that didn't have to do with anything.
I'd rather see more of that than seeing ads about how I MUST BUY THIS CAR THIS WEEKEND!
Microsoft should buy all ad space on the major channels for one day and just play silly videos instead of actual advertising like this.
I know a silly idea, but THAT would get people talking about Microsoft in a nice way. Especially if were to announce a new technology that lets people ignore ads. (which we know they'd never do)
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I agree
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no one is probably reading this far...
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Sienfeld is the new BOB
If MS has Jerry Sienfeld, then Apple should have Brad Pitt.
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I also agree
However, if this 'canning Seinfeld' isn't just an add promotion I am very disappointed in microsoft. You can't do anything revolutionary if you just listen to the masses. You have to do something to inspire them. I really thought these ads were going to do that.
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Article makes no sense
Microsoft canceling the ads because no one (or very few) found them to be effective is not "sending the wrong message." It is, in fact, listening to consumers. It may be the first time Microsoft has actually done that.
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Does TechDirt Writers Have Any Credibility?
This is the second article in as many weeks that I have read on Tedhdirt has been factually inccurate. Seinfeld had not been fired. The promotion is just moving into the next phase.
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Apple's commercials, while annoying and downright untruthful at times, are clearly succeeding in promoting the good points around their product. Microsoft seems to have failed miserably on this front, because I have seen nothing in these commercials, absolutely NOTHING at all, that could possibly entice people to buy Vista. The whole Mojave experiment was far more successful in selling Vista than these sorry excuses for commercials. They may have been cute and entertaining to some, but they really fail on some basic Marketing 101 concepts.
No offense to Gates and Seinfeld, but Microsoft really needs to get some fresh, young talent in to start a real advertising campaign. Using too older fellas just further reinforces the idea that Windows is for older people, business users, etc. They need to appeal to consumers, and sorry, but this just isn't the way to do it. I will be anxious to see what they come up with going forward.
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Re: The problem IS Microsoft
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I've been using Microsoft products since DOS 1. I developed Windows software for 15+ years. I think Vista is a disaster and the blue-screens on the computer with an OEM installation of Vista have nothing to do with the user.
Maybe it works fine for some people. It did not for me. And furthermore, even when it did, it had literally nothing to offer that was superior for my wants or needs to XP, but it took a huge performance hit anyway.
By the way I use Linux on all my machines now, and have been working as a Linux developer for the last 3 years.
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Re: Re:
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Have you seen the new ads?
Problem with this kind of advertising is, if you have any kind of commonsense you know they didn't show all the people who said "this sucks".
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jerry seinfeld and bill gates are great television
any idiot can see that
when you laugh from the gut.....it's a good thing
watch for these guys in the future
they're just too good to be put on the entertainment shelf
of failures
wake up america ! ô¿ô
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Nothing new
They made Bill Gates look like a complete tard who can't afford a decent haircut, and Seinfeld is simply not funny.
Microsoft has to realize that if they just made a decent product in the first place, the viewing public would be more likely to forgive them for esoteric ads that aren't funny or entertaining.
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caving is lame
Remember, Seinfeld is all about comedy about nothing - and I thought the shoe store was very Seinfeldian. I can see how this might have morphed into something relevant to MS given enough time.
THE MAIN ISSUE HERE is that by changing the ad campaing, MS appears to lack a rudder. And that message is coming through way more than any moist and chewy computer message.
Not staying the course was their big mistake.
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...
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ALL WINDOWS USERS ARE IDIOTS
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STOP TRYING TO BE COOL
"Buy Vista and get on with doing whatever it is you have a PC for" - thats what they should be selling.
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Re: STOP TRYING TO BE COOL
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Re: Re: STOP TRYING TO BE COOL
How is Alienware's MarketCap compared to Apples?
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Re: STOP TRYING TO BE COOL
It would appear thats exactly what they plan on doing!
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Am I?
It accomplished the goal - get people talking about Microsoft, and the people I work with in IT that have a sense of humor were not against it.
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seinfeld
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It was planned! Get the REAL fact
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/business/media/18adco.html?_r=1&ref=technology& amp;oref=slogin
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Um... Urban Myth
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GROW SOME BALLS
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ALL WINDOWS USERS HATERS ARE IDIOTS
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Re: ALL WINDOWS USERS HATERS ARE IDIOTS
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Who do you want to see next?
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A few points
Second, yes, I saw both ads and both seemed "off", as if I was missing part of the joke. Bill and Jerry having fun in a shoe store? Um, okay, but what does this have to do with Windows?
Bill and Jerry getting into trouble because some girls tattled on them? Again, okay, and... what's the point?
To me, the ads weren't funny, but it is an interesting side to Bill Gates. I wonder if Microsoft was going for the "Dave Thomas (the CEO of Wendy's) is in the ad for Wendy's" type of thing?
The idea that Bill Gates and Microsoft have connected billions of people is a good motto, but it gets lost in the so-so-ness of the ads.
On the other hand, I can't stand the "It's really Vista" ads. You know, the ones that say "We told these people that they're using a new operating system called Windows Mojave, but it's really Vista".
I can understand the "We replaced this fine restaurant's coffee with Folgers" and "We replaced this fine restaurant's pasta with Pizza Hut", but the idea of giving your own product a new name just to fool people smacks of desperation. It's as if Microsoft is admitting that people don't like the words "Windows Vista", so they'll give it a new name just so people will try it.
Um, vomit-flavored jelly beans still taste like vomit even if you call it "Wonder Beans".
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Re: A few points
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Re: A few points
>>like vomit even if you call it "Wonder Beans".
Call them Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and watch them sell out!
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I used to be a M$ "subject", and I'm still stuck with them at work. But the family I-Mac kicks my high-end laptop's butt, because OS X is what a PC OS ought to be. I'll get a Mac laptop next time, and use virtualization where I have to."
You obviously know nothing concerning the complexity involved with the hardware that has to be installed inside the PC to communicate with the instruments. 90% of Macs can't even run Spore let alone a Variable Wavelength Detector.
Go back to drawing your pretty little pictures on your over-priced, under-powered computer. Leave the real work to the adults please.
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Microsoft can't do anything right...
I've said it before. Microsoft should just give up. They literally can't do anything well any more.
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What will they do with the rest of the commercials they filmed?
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I can see the next one
"Vista's slow, it's fat, my software doesn't work, I can't get drivers, the User Access Control's a pain in the ass and my network grinds to a crawl when I play an mp3! What do you call that?"
"... The Aristocrats!"
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CRAY VISTACOMPUTER!
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After the new ad aired tonight before Colbert...
http://techdirt.com/article.php?sid=20080905/1337532180#c578
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Finally pulled!
The screen shakes when you're not expecting it 'adjusting' itself it tells me. It shuts down for no apparent reason. I get the Blue Screen of Death frequently. All of this, I have been told by my IT people, is Vista.
And yet - my three macbook pros haven't had one issue. They've never locked up and had to be shut down. They can handle me having skype, photoshop cs3, lightroom, itunes, preview, bridge, firefox and safari all open and in use at the same time without slowing down. This includes having multiple raw image files open and in use.
So - yes, I find the mac ads amusing. Especially the Sad Song.
I was curious to see what Microsoft would do with the amount of money they spent and the fact that they hired Seinfeld, and comedian I love.
When I saw the first commercial I actually cringed in embarrassment for the two of them. Honestly, it was awful...and so were the others that followed along behind it.
Yes, I got the jokes. It didn't make the commercials any less cringe worthy. Not quite as terrible as the fake Vista ads...yet bad nonetheless.
So...I'm glad they pulled them. I agree with everyone who says the money would have been better spent on fixing Vista.
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Online Critics had little to do with it.
The $300 campaign is likely not around Seinfeld, but around Windows in general. Remember a few months ago, in Fast Company, where Cripsin Porter execs were talking about the campaign and mentioned that there would be accompanying print ads and billboards? There are: Only with the "I'm a PC" slogan. You really think they could fire Seinfeld, shoot new ads, create billboards, get an as in Wired magazine (October issue, which has a 2 week lead time) and put them on TV in 2 weeks?
Uh... not a chance. Not even for Microsoft. This was planned. ANd the buzz they're generating is (surprisingly) tremendous.
P.S. Even the NY Times article shows that the Seinfeld ads were negatively received only at first, but generated a huge amount of positive buzz by the end of their run.
http://tinyurl.com/3q3fq8
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