Tonight Microsoft has aired its second installment in their ridiculously irrelevant $300 Million media extravaganza. The new ad, titled “New Family” comes in at 4 minutes 30 seconds long and features Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld living and interacting with real people.
I’ve previously written that “The commercials do demand attention, and by attracting buzz, Microsoft is attracting eyeballs, which is the end goal of any successful ad campaign.” For the millions of tech addicted twenty and thirty somethings out there with ADHD, a 4 minute and 30 second commercial is pushing it. Especially one as unfocused as this one. Microsoft’s first Seinfeld commercial was called “Shoe Circus” and can be found here.
PS – No matter how hard Redmond tries, nobody will ever liken Microsoft » PC » Perpetually Connecting. Taking two of the richest people our culture knows, throwing them in a middle class home in (Indiana?) while they read and eat like “normal” folk, isn’t a really good way to relate to many users, especially not within our tech culture. Good luck Microsoft, keep em coming!
2 Comments to “Video: Microsoft Airs New Jerry Seinfeld Commercial, “New Family””
In your PS, “Know” should be “No”… And yes, I’m not sure what demonstrating how rich people have trouble relating to ‘regular’ people does for Microsoft, given that Microsoft is an ultra-rich corporation, which is having trouble relating to ‘regular’ users [in that regular users don't want Vista]. It is a parallel story, but not necessarily one I would think Microsoft wants to draw a big red circle around.
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“No” has been fixed
Thx.
In regards to Microsoft pointing out how rich they are. I completely agree. I’ll keep watching these commercials as they come out, simply because I’m interested in them. But, so far other than the obvious “please like Microsoft, we’re a nice company” message, I’m having trouble getting any depth out of this.
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