Daniel Jalkut’s take on Microsoft’s $300 million ‘Bill and Jerry’ advertising campaign -

Imagine yourself in Microsoft’s position. you’ve got some 90% of the market share for computer operating systems, and you’re facing increasingly negative reports about the public’s impression of your place in the world. You’re a cold, hard company. You’re not very much fun. You don’t care about innovation. You’re a sleeper in a dancer’s universe. You’ve got no soul. You’re a plain old, boring, damn it all ridiculous stick in the mud. Microsoft, you suck.

If you’re Microsoft, and you’ve grown tired of these assessments, you wouldn’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that owning 90% of the market and having a bajillion dollars … is a pretty good place to start from, in turning around your public image.

The overall consensus around the Internet seems to be that the ads are ridiculous: having a seemingly senseless plot and a hint of wry humor. Daniel Jalkut takes the opposite stance saying that the Microsoft ads are “genius”. They defy the traditional methodologies of advertising by attempting to shift the public view of the company to something more modern.

Apple and Microsoft are two very different companies with different approaches towards advertising. Part of the reason behind the popular ‘Get a Mac’ ads was to turn the public perception regarding Macs, and dispel common Mac myths—which I think it’s safe to say succeeded. Over time, however, Apple decided to play off the negative reaction to Vista to in turn, sell more Macs.

Microsoft is in a much different situation. They own 90% of the PC market. They don’t have to sell anything to consumers. They just have to stop users from feeling inadequate with what they have, and eyeing the viable alternatives. All they have to do is change Microsoft’s impression from a old, boring company to whatever-they-want-Microsoft-to-look like. And they have that vision. I commend that.

But their implementation? No matter how many ‘geniuses’ there are at Microsoft, it seems that everything gets messed up in their implementations. They’ve created a five minute advertisement about nothing. I watch it, and can’t help but feel confused and queasy. Five minutes of my life I will never get back.

Not putting Vista in their ads is probably the best decision Microsoft’s actually made. Ads don’t need to be about a certain product to be successful. To take the obvious example, look at the Think Different ads of old. Those ads were a last attempt by a dying company to return to it’s roots and change the way the world viewed them. And it worked.

Think Different vs. Bill And Jerry

People are comparing Microsoft’s new ads to Apple’s Get a Mac campaign, which is the wrong comparison to draw. Microsoft’s campaign is much more reminiscent of the Think Different ads.

Both campaigns refrain from mentioning any specific product. Both campaigns are a last ditch effort to turn the company around in the public eye. But that’s where the similarities end. The Think Different ad hovers at a minute in length, while the latest Microsoft ad clocks in at an astounding 4 minutes and 30 seconds. It’s more of a movie trailer than an ad at this point.

Think Different has no humor, no special effects, even no colour—just good writing, whereas the Bill and Jerry ads are accompanied with the typical Seinfeld jokes and Gates’ quirkiness. Most importantly though, the Think Different ad has a message.

That’s right. Even if you want to do an ad campaign that goes against the typical “buy me cause I’m better” approach, you still need to have a message. You still need to have something to say. Something that gives me satisfaction when I reach the end. I hate listening to people who have nothing to say ramble on—especially for five minutes at a time.

But that is the taste left in my mouth after a Microsoft ad. I don’t feel inspired, excited, enthused, or satisfied. I feel like I’ve just watched a movie that was a couple hours too long, and didn’t really have a story. That’s not exactly the kind of message I’d want to be sending my customers.

Microsoft has proved that if you take away all the products and bugs and reviews and users, there is nothing underneath. No substance. No innovation. No passion that drives them. They are just a company past it’s prime, paying an actor past his prime to make an ad. Period.