Lube The Mind

The next installment of Microsoft’s controversial ad campaign featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates is out. And you know what? It’s pretty good.

It’s crazy that an ad campaign starring one of the least-edgy comedians out there and the world’s foremost philanthropist could ever be controversial. But the first Seinfeld/Gates ad was just that: Microsoft had for months touted an upcoming ad campaign that would strike back at Apple’s Mac vs. PC spots and would help set the record straight about Windows Vista; it delivered 90 surreal seconds of Seinfeld and Gates shopping for discount shoes.

The second installment isn’t much different in tone from the first one, and it’s three times as long. In it, Seinfeld and Gates move in with a stereotypical suburban family so they can experience life in the real world. It’s too long, but it does feature some clever lines, Seinfeld clipping his toe nails, and Gates reading the world’s worst bedtime story – proving again that he has a rare talent for deadpan self-mockery.

Again there’s no mention of Windows. But we’re OK with that. And in a weird way the first ad makes a little more sense now, although we still feel that it pushed absurdity a little too far.
Here’s a rather sane interpretation of the ads and the initial response – overwhelmingly negative – that Microsoft’s Chris Flores posted on the Windows Vista blog:

“Will seeing Bill and Jerry enjoy each other’s company make people run out and buy a new laptop? Or correct misperceptions some non-users might have about Windows Vista? Certainly not…When you set out to create advertising, the thing that keeps you up at night is not ‘Will some people not get it or like it?’ Rather it’s ‘Will anyone pay any attention and notice?’ I think we can safely check that box.”