Mathew's comments - Latest Comments in Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

Re: Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

Pyrmont — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:05:09 -0000

http://valleywag.com/5051455/microsoft-to-annou...

Re: Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

delmar — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 11:56:43 -0000

i think you miss the point of the apple ads. despite the cult affectation - especially the obsession among the web 2.0/techmeme echo chamber - fact is that apple's share of market remains puny. to the degree that the ads trumpet the mac's technical prowess - and convinces more "switchers" - then it's all to apples advantage. i'm reserving judgment on the effectiveness of the microsoft/seinfield bits. most of the commentary posing as analysis on the marketing campaign are simply premature, imho

Re: Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

Hal O'Brien — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 06:00:38 -0000

"(W)hat is it they say about marketing? A tax you pay for being unexceptional."

No wonder Apple is the best marketing company in the world.

Pity for their shareholders they have only one client, though.

Re: Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

Pyrmont — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 01:19:16 -0000

Two things:

First, I think you miss the point of the Apple commercials. Unlike what the Microsoft ones are trying to do (or perhaps trying to do since no one knows for sure) the Apple commercials have a single objective: make people think Macs are easy to use. Whether you like Justin Long after the commercial or whether you'd rather have a beer with John Hodgman is beside the point. None of the ads leave you in any doubt that using Windows is a pain and that things would be so much easier if you just owned a Mac. These ads are particularly effective on people who do not own a Mac and assume that it really will be as good as they make it out to be.

Second, the trouble with the Microsoft ads is that they're not addressing Microsoft's actual problem. This problem is not that their company is perceived as inhuman, it's that their products are perceived as bad (or at the very least poorly designed). This campaign may well be successful in humanising Microsoft (certainly they're helping Bill Gates seem cool) but if Microsoft thinks people aren't flocking to Vista just to stick it to the man they're sorely in need of a reality check. Vista's problems are the hardware requirements, compatibility issues (or perceived issues), and it's 'helpfulness'.

To be fair to Redmond, I do think part of the reason people aren't flocking to Vista is that with XP they actually created a pretty good operating system that does what most people want it to do and which everyone's quite used to after 8 years or so. But the ads don't address this problem either.

Finally (OK, so maybe there were three things), I think it's quite legitimate for people who may not be the target audience to look at what a marketing campaign should be aiming at achieving and say whether it is falling short of that mark or not. It doesn't matter whether I get the ads or not, it's whether the ads address the problem or not and in the case of this campaign they don't.

Re: Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

gregorylent — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:59:41 -0000

the acting, editing , pacing, and story/through line seem ragged to me. at this level it must have been part of the spec. i don't enjoy watching them. they seem to be a dumb-down mocking of banality....

300 million would hire enough programmers to reinvent the operating system. good luck with trying to change perceptions through advertising.

Re: Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

AGORACOM — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:58:25 -0000

Mathew, can't agree with you more. I friggin' love these ads. Brilliant. "I have so many cars I get stuck in my own traffic" Priceless and a great connect with Joe public.

From a biz point of view, I think the "what is next" angle is brilliant. They spend 95% of the time entertaining and 5% of the time teasing about what is next. Brilliant.

Finally, I love the fact that Arrington and the SV Geeks are spinning....as if they would have ever gone out and bought MSFT products in their lifetime.

Re: Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

Robert — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:35:49 -0000

This is one of the smartest commentaries on the new ad campaign I have read yet. I really like where this is going. It is helping me anticipate more what microsoft is doing with all their currently existing and future products.

Re: Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

mathewi — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:48:10 -0000

Yeah, she's wicked smaht, as they say in Boston :-) and I think you
might be right about the Seinfeld choice -- that was one of the things
that occurred to me as well, that he's a little old for the target
market. But then, I don't really know what the target market is.

Re: Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

leigh — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:28:58 -0000

Your marketing friend is clearly brilliant. And i'm guessing that she was giving a professional opinion about the ad not a personal one. The truth is, without knowing who their target is, it's all a bit of a shot in the dark. However, having worked on brands that lose relevance over time, my guess is that their concern is less anyone over 40 and more about the growing brand power of companies like Apple and Google in the under 30 market. For that reason, I have to wonder how Seinfeld as a choice and how these ads are going to further their cause.

Re: Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

mathewi — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:53:37 -0000

I think it's largely a knee-jerk "Microsoft can't do anything right" kind of response. Plus, there's no question that Bill Gates and comedy aren't words that normally go together :-) Which is why I think it's perfect to use Seinfeld.

Re: Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

mmasnick — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:46:29 -0000

Heh. I think it's a great ad, but what do I know? It humanizes Microsoft and it opens them up to doing a lot more ads in the future that do promote Microsoft. I'm somewhat confused by all the complaints about it.

Re: Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

Ben Lucier — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:25:25 -0000

Take II:

I love the Apple ads Matt, but I do think they're starting to lose their appeal. Everybody knows Vista was a mess to start with and like anything, a single topic can't be funny forever. If that were true, why would comedians bother writing new material?

As for Bill and Seinfeld, I may not fit in their target demographic, but it didn't strike me as a failure. I admit that Bill Gates is my personal hero, so I think I might be biased. Any chance to see him in action, whether it's a commercial, or an appearance at a local university, I can't get enough.

I don't know much of the campaign (I've seen both commercials), but if I had to guess, I would say the agency is hitting the mark their aiming for. The commercial doesn't offend, it's engaging and it makes you feel a little bit uneasy, with a slight twist of humour.

As usual, in today's day and age, people judge things on immediate payback. This commercial fails in its goal to relate to the masses and let people know that Microsoft is learning from its past. A commercial that does that could not be produced.

Microsoft will need to work hard at building products that people love and can rely on in addition to a lot more commercials like this to support its efforts.

Re: Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

mathewi — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:24:43 -0000

That's a good line, Daniel -- I hadn't heard that one before.

Re: Humanize Microsoft? That’s impossible!

bluelines — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:22:29 -0000

I think they are brilliantly deadpan, and like you say much more appealing than the Mac / PC ads (there's an idea not just being done to death but done until the worms have eaten the corpse...).

And anyway, what is it they say about marketing? A tax you pay for being unexceptional.