Seinfeld and Gates get in touch with regular folks
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Sep 11th 2008 11:46PM
posted Sep 11th 2008 11:46PM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted Sep 11th 2008 11:46PM
Segment of single women who said their next computer purchase would be a laptop.
Of 1,000 single men and women polled, 47 percent of women said they'd buy a laptop, while 47 percent of men were looking for a desktop.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
At least Jerry's still doing nothin'...
I HATE SEINFELD WITH A PASSION.
Bill Gates brought me XBOX and HALO as well as the ability to use DX10 on CRYSIS. I am eternaly grateful.
I don't know why he'd get this clown to help him. I'd have gotten Miley Cyrus. Or Penn & Teller so they could do an episode of "Bullshit" about MAC OSX
not likel...Penn is a Mac user
Indeed. Hell, I'd watch a sitcom of Jerry and Bill's misadventures if it's like this. It's very sad to say that I laughed at this way more than any recent TV shows.
"Where are we walking to?" "How about that pink house over there?" :D
@FlashPoint
Come on, Do we really need another 12 year old, Halo fanboy who for some reason likes Miley Cyrus over a great comedian and a rich CEO? No. Now go back to the Xbox your mom got you for Christmas and get the heck out of these comments, it is for big boys...
It's structured in a commedia dell'arte format. It's what Jerry is best at. You can see the difference from the last commercial to this one.
@Flashpoint:
I can't agree with making Miley Cyrus a spokesperson. The murder/suicide rate would spike everytime her commercial came on. I can agree that Microsoft needs a good walk-on to hit some common ground with the youth though. The only person that I can think of that'd fit in well (and relate to the younger audiences) is Michael Cera. He'd be awesome with Seinfeld/Gates and who didn't like Superbad?!
There's some gum in my roll.
OMg that was so funnY!
thank u for making that vid!
Microsoft commercials are strangely addictive now. Just put some cheese on it!
The best thing i can say is that this one was slightly better than the last. But hey theirs room for for improvement. Sorry Bill no internets for you today.
Gates & Seinfeld in another ad about "nothing", but this one is a grueling four and a half minutes long!!! That's 9 times the length of a normal TV ad!
It's both of them being jerks in a family's home (and Gates, the richest man on Earth stiffs the delivery boy out of $30). The "jokes", if you can call them that, aren't humorous at all. Are they selling something in these ads, or is it just to show the world that Gates is Seinfeld's buddy?
im looking forward to the next one...
Tell me Steve, will the next version of office have Mr. paperclip back ? if it is, just kiss me.
that grab more attention than britney/maddona.
All I got out of that was that gates and Seinfeld are out of touch douche bags.
Which seemed to be what they were going for....
...so i guess it was effective?
*shrug*
I like this show much more then the original Seinfeld. More please!
How long 'til it gets warm?
It's interesting to see how Microsoft is going at an older demographic with these ads whereas the Apple ads hit a younger demographic.
Bill Gates and Seinfeld definitely speak to a 30+ something group. A group that watched Seinfeld.
In the PC and Mac Apple ads, the undertone is that Windows is old and out dated and the Mac is young and cool and great. Which speaks to the iPod loving Teens and 20 somethings, that never watched Seinfeld because they were either too young or not alive yet.
If you look at these two strategies, in the long run if you get the teens and 20 somethings you're going to be better off.
That's why most advertising features and targets 20 somethings. So if Microsoft wants to get in with this age group, then need to switch gears and quickly or create a different campaign for that demographic. Though if they do, that's standard MS business technique, do everything for everyone. Which really isn't working for them anymore.
Funny ad though.
I enjoyed these adverts. Maybe the humors a bit dry for some of the audience (see low ranked comments) but hey I'm British we love this kind of stuff.
No mustard for you!!
Harvey: Bill is feeling the pinch now you know! He's not the richest man in the world any more, it's Warren Buffett!
The "gum" and other bad things (the broken car, swimming pool without heater, empty ketchup bottle, repeating the same stale meal twice) represent Windows XP- people getting by with the same old, day in and day out. The grandmother represents an old Windows user, clueless and bitterly disconnected, since she's been "around for 12 years". The scallop potatoes and "fancy" mustard represents XP's attempts to keep modern and with the times. The leather giraffe, here a carry over from the previous "leather" of the first commercial, represents Windows XP itself ("had it in the family 6 years"), and Gate's being planted with it represents the criticism that Microsoft encountered when it tried to take XP away from new machines in an attempt to push Vista. In reality though, the commercial claims that the real reason why people were upset was because Microsoft was infringing on people's space (Seinfeld clipping his nails in the girls room) and so this is why Jerry and Bill leave. And there's something big coming from Microsoft.
I'm no fan of Windows but for some strange reason I'm begining to like these ad's. Very weird indeed.
@az_runn
I dunno; I'm 20 something, grew up with Seinfeld, and loved the ad. Then again I already love vista, so I guess I don't really count.
"Bill Gates and Seinfeld definitely speak to a 30+ something group. A group that watched Seinfeld. "
Strange that you say that - while they were A group that watched Seinfeld, they certainly weren't the ONLY group that watched Seinfeld. I'm 21, and still do watch a lot of Seinfeld. I have friends with younger siblings in high school still that are watching Seinfeld. I think this comment is incorrect - I think they're trying to cater to everybody. :p
Harvey, dont be mad just because you dont get it
@Chuckles McGee
Dude,that all makes sense,
wow.
Props to you.
Hahahahaha
Oh my god, my life is complete with these ads.
Look it may make sense to the geeks and the techies but we aren't who need to here it, the average person does.
I'm 15 and I enjoy Seinfeld.
@Chuckles, an interesting analysis.
How about instead, MS is so out of touch that is convinced by Madison Avenue that this will get it alongside 'ordinary people'.
Instead, MS comes across as hopelessly out of touch and condescending to boot.
Reminds me of the UK song by Pulp, 'Common People' in which a 'star' wants to experience 'what common people do', though in a clueless and arrogant manner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EMd9zyJLgA
WTF?
I think Bill Gates was supporting Piracy...
Bill needs to get a Wii Fit...Oh wait, that wouldn't look to good for Microsoft's gaming division would it?
2008 is gonna end on a high note.
you need to get a wii fit, fatass.
bill is in shape, its steve jobs who isnt looking to healthy these days. zinnngg
Is anyone else getting the feeling that the Microsoft P.R. department is putting in some extra long hours posting up some positive comments and voting down the negative ones regarding these ads???
"Give me a sign, show me some Robot"
(Bill attempts to awkwardly show some robot)
"So, No?"
That was better.
Also girl was cute... like a young lindsay :)
I just saw this on Comedy Central a few minutes ago. I really felt like this was way worse than the first one. I kinda understood the first one, but this one just seemed awkward and made no sense. If you go to Microsoft's website and watch the full thing it makes a little more sense, but still doesn't make it any less awkward, especially the dinner table part.
The guy who thought of doing ads like this might have had some good ideas, but whoever is doing the writing/producing should be shot.
Oh this one makes perfect sense. It's all about integrating Windows into our lives. It's really intuitive and smart. I like it!
@Jeremy
I hope that was sarcastic.
Honestly, I'm tired of being force-fed products by companies. The Mac ads are just this; blatant and in your face.
I'm not AGAINST these style of ads, I just don't think this one (and to a lesser extent the last one) makes any sense. I really didn't understand the point it was trying to get across other than Jerry and Bill are REALLY out of touch. God forbid an ad should try and be straight to the point while ALSO being funny.
Regardless what you or anyone on this site thinks, the Mac/PC have been EXTREMELY successful and well received. I just don't see your average person being able to grasp these. Hell, they can't even grasp that if they vote McCain into office that we'll have our first ever president that dies of old age.
I am with jeremy - these are smart and really quite good. It is nice to see Gates representing his company through ads. It seems like he is really able to laugh at himself and his nerdiness through these commercials - makes me want to meet the guy.
Actually, CB17 don't you remember a few Decembers ago they did focus groups and found that the ads tested as being very negative. Then they stopped showing them for about a month and everyone rumored that they had pulled the campaign. Then they mysteriously started up again and kept playing. While the ads are really funny, and I laugh at most of them, the overall tone is very negative and very condescending. That's what didn't test well back then. But Steve didn't really care, and kept at it. Everyone loving the ads and being good for your brand image can be two different things.
What the ads did do is force fed information in a very funny way. If Microsoft changes their image, and starts putting out a quality first rev of their next OS version and my iPhone bricks again, I'll start to think twice about the information I'm being fed.
You guys are only saying that because you watched the long one, not the one that's being broadcast all over the country.
I don't know know if this is reverse psych just to get people talking about MS or crazy ads to make you think. They're getting news for now, but how long will it last.
I know I can't wait till my goldfish has a website! It already reads my iphone. And I might get an ameba if it will write a blog, though I might lose it!
(ok all fake, but you get my point!)
The humour in these ads are very subtle, with dry sarcasm. I think they'd have better success running them in the UK, as that type of humour appeals here more (I certainly lol'd), whereas the more "obvious" Mac ads suited the US market better.
I lol'd! Great ad.
This ad is kinds funny, but I still have know clue what it has to do with Windows!
At least these ads are better than "The Wow Starts Now" :) :)
The add was about connecting with real people and connecting people. Between the title and the tagline, it was really rather obvious.
Side Note: That was one mad robot Bill was doin'.
@Jupiterthunder
Maybe it was just me, but I didn't see a whole lot of connecting going on in that commercial. On the contrary...