Jacob Morgan | Best-Selling Author, Speaker, & Futurist | Leadership | Future of Work | Employee Experience

New Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates Ad…WTF?

Now, I’m trying to find the right words here but my little brain is just struggling with trying to understand what the hell it is that I just saw.  If you haven’t seen the new Microsoft ad yet, it’s worth a gander, just to see how out of whack the people that created the ad truly are.  I’m not sure if someone was on an acid trip or was just high as a kite but I’ll tell you one thing, Microsoft needs a new ad agency…pronto!

I’m not going to verbally describe the ad because it has already been described by read write web,

techcrunch, and just about every other tech blog on the planet.  But, I will say that this ad is definitely not going to make me want to buy a Microsoft product any time soon.  If anything, I finished watching the ad and had a strong hankering for a churro…now where to find one?

22 thoughts on “New Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates Ad…WTF?”

  1. No, no Jacob. Don't blame the Ad agency. I want to hang them too, don't worry, but think about this: Microsoft approved the Ad. Bill Gates was IN it.

    In the evolutionary conceptions of life on planet Earth that Darwin postulates with great personal confidence, Microsoft is sending a clear message:

    Not fit to survive.

    So I love the Ad. Some day very soon, Microsoft will not exist. This is so certain that we might as well start celebrating it.

  2. haha good point. i suppose darwin would already tell microsoft to start packing it in.

    a world without microsoft oh my, then google will run the world 🙂

  3. Not quite! There is an invisible hand at work in software and it does not need to be acknowledged to be in power. The true guides of software have reverently remained in the periphery and will intervene together or one by one to accomplish their ends, not necessarily being noticed.

  4. um, yeah, I'm with you on this one Jacob. WTF?

    Being an Aussie, I had no idea what a Churro was, but I'm guessing it's that thing on a stick that everyone is eating!
    Also, being in the marketing game, this is just a shocking advert…

  5. I hear if you play the commercial backwards you hear “I bury John”. Uh oh, I just revealed I'm a Baby Boomer. Rats. All seriousness aside, I had heard the pans of this commercial but think the actual experience lagged below my worst expectations. “Churro?” was a funny line though. They should have cut there.

  6. Jacob,

    Thanks for exposing this swill – I've heard people say that this is their response to the Apple commercials.. To show that they're 'cool' too. It would have been better to say nothing.

    I saw the commercial and I must say that I thought it was quite good compared to that other load of crap they pulled. Where they introduced Vista to a few dozen people claiming it was a new operating system and then somehow magically they found that it was easy to use – then at the end they unveiled that they had actually been using vista the whole time. I'll find it for you if you haven't seen it. Quite embarrassed for them

  7. That's a remarkably good point. If they would have cut the commercial right there and then provided the remainder of the commercial in sections it would have been better. It would have still sucked. But it would have been better, created more interest.

  8. It's too quiet. There are too many moments of silence, as if the viewer is supposed to laugh. I smiled during the bit when Bill Gates held out his membership card, but otherwise stared dumbfounded at the odd commercial.

    I await to see the Nielsen ratings.

    On a side note, what does it mean when I can't hear any volume by playing the video above, but I hear it perfectly on YouTube?

  9. hehe im an aussie too, born in melbourne but now live in the states. dont have the accent some im bitter! that was a churro yes 🙂 and that's about the only thing worth watching the add for.

    thanks for reading and commenting!

  10. lol! funny guy. the ad was definitely sub par. it's almost as though microsoft is a bit scared to do something different, i mean is that ad really how they want to show off their products?

    agree, they should have cut after the first 20 seconds… “churro?” *CUT*

    thanks for reading and commenting!

  11. this ad is definitely not a good response to the apple commercial. i actually haven't seen that vista commercial you refer to but would be curious to see it if you find it.

    very curious to see what the next couple of ads are going to look like. let's hope nothing like the first!

    thanks again for commenting and reading

  12. hmm not sure why the sound didn't work for you, i just checked it out. sorry about that but at least you were able to hear it on youtube 🙂

    im curious to see the nielsen ratings as well, can;t imagine them being very good though.

    thanks for reading and commenting!

  13. It took me a minute to look it up and it turns out that it's not a commercial, actually it's just an interactive site – here is an article on Adage that describes it. If I were going to make a bad marketing compendium (which might be a good idea) This would definitely be in it! Their basic message is

    'Vista – it's not as bad as you've probably heard!'

    http://adage.com/adages/post?article_id=130003

  14. It took me a minute to look it up and it turns out that it's not a commercial, actually it's just an interactive site – here is an article on Adage that describes it. If I were going to make a bad marketing compendium (which might be a good idea) This would definitely be in it! Their basic message is

    'Vista – it's not as bad as you've probably heard!'

    http://adage.com/adages/post?article_id=130003

  15. Pingback: Seinfeld and Bill Gates Microsoft Ad, WTF?! Part Deux | Jacob Morgan's Blog on Social Media, Technology, Marketing, and Life

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