So the new Microsoft Ad is out. As much as I hate to say it; it’s pretty cool.

The Seinfeld series of ads was a miserable failure due to people failing to relate to it. Which indeed is a major fuck-up as far as advertising was concerned.

However, the ads did have some meaning. It’s kinda like an art film where to get it… you’d have to “get it.” I’m not claiming if I indeed “got it” but there is an angle I use to make sense of it. Which I’ll be discussing in a while.

The newer ads are much better in every sense, they’re simpler, and straight to the point. But people still are giving them shit because they see it as more of a defensive move rather than countering Apple’s excellent spots.

Before we go any further, I can honestly say that most of “sense” I gleaned from the ads are all rooted in what I’ve “learned” from the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley. I’m not so sure how accurate or sensationalized the “facts” in the movie were, but if we were to assume that the two contrasting disciplines between the two visionaries involed (Jobs and Gates) were fairly portrayed, then it will certainly shed light to all this.

I invite you to watch this clip from what I think contains the most important scene in the movie. The thesis is at the very end (literally the last few seconds of the clip).

Take note of where, when Jobs says

“We’re better than you are; we have better stuff.”

and Gates responds

“You don’t get it, Steve; that doesn’t matter!”

And simply points to the PC clone off camera - which makes the scene all the more poignant.

Burn that into your brain, because that single scene [at least to me] can explain a bunch of things. I will refer to is at the “thesis” here on out.

That is exactly the truth that makes Microsoft majority shareholder in the PC market. As much as we love having Apple products, most of us recognize that we will still be a minority in the market as a whole. It’s all due to this fundamental truth which Mr. Gates has stated.

Seinfeld Ads

I’ll just stick to the first one since that’s the most confusing of all. The second had a somewhat coherent plot; only it still failed as an ad because it seemed to have nothing to do with Microsoft… or did it?

This ad is what gets critics’ juices flowing because of how absurd it seemed if you tried to think of the context of which it was trying to convey (chances are you’d say it conveyed absolutely nothing). But again, if you recall our “thesis,” I think you could make more sense of it in its context.

Ultimately the ad was simply stating how you can get “quality” and performance at affordable prices. The name of the shoe store suggested it, but I personally think that the line where Gates answers “Leather” says a lot.

To me, that was an analogy on how we try constantly try to fit our needs and requirements to the machines, but ultimately, they’re just or should just be tools.¹ No matter the hype, the OS, etc. they’re computers plain and simple. They are tools. Just like that at the end of the day, the shoes being discussed in the ad are made of leather - nothing more, nothing less. I know I may be stretching it, but hey, better to interpret it this way than to be confused right?

I guess ultimately, it can be asserted that the point the ads were trying to make is that while there may be individuals who are extra critical of the finer details (e.g. Mac users, or extra tech-savvy people), they’re just critical of the fluff surrounding one simple “foundation.”² A foundation which Microsoft can execute just as well as any other computer maker.

So why does Microsoft seem to take this stance? Why not pay attention to the finer details which Apple utilizes to charm their users with? Again, ultimately as movie Bill says, it doesn’t matter to the majority. What matters is affordability and accessibility of the machines in different social classes. And Microsoft already has proved that by being as big as it is today.

New MS ad

The new ad is much better because it takes out all that cryptic messaging and just presents the same truth in a clearer way; just show that a PC is a PC. From the average joe, to the artist, rebel and superstar, the PC is a PC. and it may or may not do things as cleverly as the competition, it still gets things done.

The reason why I think MS is in a defensive position is just like the thesis; because Apple does make “better” stuff. So MS can’t effectively peddle a product which is demonstrably inferior to its competitor. But again, just like Gates’ said in the clip; that doesn’t matter. And the “pointing” to the PC as proof in the clip has been replaced with showing people of every race, class, and creed - all using the same platform.

Another angle that may be gleaned from the thesis is this: The proof is in the pudding. Microsoft owns the overall market share. Perhaps, just like it shows the different “PC” users, it’s trying to say that it doesn’t need to prove anything, nor explain/assert itself any more than it already has. The proof is in the pudding; the marketshare is their proof and they have translated that in the video through the diversity of people featured in it.

So take these interpretations with a grain of salt, but one thing is sure… people should be talking about Microsoft again soon… and isn’t that the real goal of advertising?

post updated on September 21, 2008 @ 04:27AM