{"id":363,"date":"2008-09-12T14:56:36","date_gmt":"2008-09-12T18:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jeffclarke.us\/blog\/?p=363"},"modified":"2008-09-16T13:02:07","modified_gmt":"2008-09-16T17:02:07","slug":"microsoft-has-gone-senile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jeffclarke.us\/blog\/2008\/09\/microsoft-has-gone-senile\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Has Gone Senile"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second installment of Microsoft’s pro-Vista (and secretly anti-‘Get a Mac’.\u00a0 possibly VERY secretly) ad campaign emerged from the bowels of the beast today, after the first commercial came out last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I don’t even know what to say.<\/p>\n

The uncut version of this one is 4:30.\u00a0 It’s not really funny at all.\u00a0 It doesn’t say anything about their product.\u00a0 It’s a truly awful commercial — one that makes Microsoft honestly seem even more out of touch with their consumers than I had thought before I watched this commercial.<\/p>\n

Try it.\u00a0 See for yourself.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

It just feels like watching a train wreck.\u00a0 Of a train filled entirely with octogenarians.<\/p>\n

What on earth are they thinking?<\/p>\n

I think we should start placingbets on whether the next one will make even less sense.<\/p>\n

Microsoft talks a little here<\/a> about how these commercials are just icebreakers.\u00a0 And that they have done their job by just getting even negative attention:<\/p>\n

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?”<\/p>\n

Rather its “Will anyone pay any attention and notice”? I think we can safely check that box. Oscar Wilde’s quote on the subject may be overused, but it’s good to keep in mind when thinking about marketing products that can get taken for granted in today’s crowded media landscape: “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So by that logic, McCain’s negative campaign ads are just adding<\/strong> to Obama’s brand recognition!\u00a0 He’ll be elected for sure!<\/p>\n

It just doesn’t make any sense to me.\u00a0 Really.\u00a0 Unless this is some super old- or new-school ad campaign philosophy:\u00a0 ‘If people think your product sucks, make commercials that suck too!\u00a0 Then people won’t be confused!’\u00a0 or maybe Microsoft has some secret deal where they make money when people stop using their software.<\/p>\n

But in all seriousness… there are a few holes in this argument for me.\u00a0 Namely — it’s not like people haven’t heard<\/strong> of Microsoft Vista.\u00a0 They just don’t like it.\u00a0 These commercials do nothing for me than make me continue hating Vista (before I’ve even tried it, mind you.\u00a0 I’ve never used Vista.\u00a0 I know I’m not alone in this sentiment.) and think that Microsoft is out of seriously out of touch if they believe a campaign like this will in any way help their case — even if it’s just getting a ‘tap on the shoulder’<\/p>\n

Plus that guy from Microsoft is so smug in his response<\/a>.\u00a0 It’s hard not to disagree with him the moment one starts reading.<\/p>\n

My answer remains: Get a Mac<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second installment of Microsoft’s pro-Vista (and secretly anti-‘Get a Mac’.\u00a0 possibly VERY secretly) ad campaign emerged from the bowels of the beast today, after the first commercial came out last week. I don’t even know what to say. The uncut version of this one is 4:30.\u00a0 It’s not really funny at all.\u00a0 It doesn’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,4,25],"tags":[167,165,166,168],"class_list":["post-363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computers","category-flicks","category-nice-one","tag-bill-gates","tag-microsoft","tag-seinfeld","tag-vista"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jeffclarke.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jeffclarke.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jeffclarke.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jeffclarke.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jeffclarke.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/jeffclarke.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":365,"href":"http:\/\/jeffclarke.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363\/revisions\/365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jeffclarke.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jeffclarke.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jeffclarke.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}