The much-anticipated Jerry Seinfeld-Bill Gates commercial, intended to give a face-lift to Microsoft’s tired image, aired Thursday evening during the season’s first National Football League game, but it failed to impress critics.
The spot, dubbed "Bill and Jerry", which was developed by advertising firm Crispin Porter and Bogusky as part of a $300 million campaign, shows an odd conversation between the software giant's ex-CEO-turned-philanthropist and the stand-up comedian.
The ad opens with Mr. Seinfeld bumping into Mr. Gates in a discount shoe store and advising him on ways to break in his new “conquistador” shoes. Both leave the mall chewing on churros, with Seinfeld asking Gates when Microsoft will introduce something new and chewy like cake, a question that Gates answers by wiggling his butt.
There is almost no reference to Windows during the 90-second spot, and were it not for the presence of Mr. Gates, whose persona screams Microsoft, it would be unclear what the ad is all about.
“Microsoft’s new spot from Crispin is an ad about nothing … a classic Crispin Porter oddity, and the software maker can only hope that the weird exchange between Messrs. Gates and Seinfeld can garner the kind of buzz that Its peculiar iteration of the Burger King mascot did for the fast feeder,” ad industry publication Advertising Age wrote.
Microsoft's move was meant to counter Apple's constant hammering of PCs and Windows in its “Mac vs. PC” ads, where a hipper, tech-savvy young Mac guy ridicules an older, plump, and boring PC geek.
But Microsoft is going to have to work on the humor if it wants to compete with Apple’s witty commercials.
Windows Vista, the software company’s latest operating system and biggest moneymaker--accounting for 28 percent of the company’s $60.4 billion in revenue last year--has suffered numerous attacks in the press and was received coldly by the public when it was released last year.
Despite its image, Microsoft remains the distant leader in operating systems, owning 90 percent of the market.
Microsoft fell 70 cents to $25.65 at close of the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares have dropped 28 percent this year.