There’s been a lot of buzz around the new Seinfeld/Bill Gates Microsoft commercial, so I thought it only right that I chime in with my two cents on the topic, which, interestingly, is about all that spot was worth though I believe they paid Jerry Seinfeld a jillion dollars.*

*give or take a jillion

Aside from the fact that it was just a lame attempt to try and elevate Microsoft’s ‘cool’ factor, it immediately struck me the same way that the ‘Pepsi Challenge’ did way back when.  Pepsi was never content with their share of market, always trying to compete with Coke with a series of elaborately overproduced commercials like the one where Michael Jackson’s head went up in flames.  From their ‘blind’ taste tests to their MTV video-inspired spots, their efforts were misplaced on making their marketing sexy instead of focusing on the product attributes themselves, and delivering on that. 

The bottom line is that Apple is cooler.  There’s no question about that.

Macs are slicker, sleekier, sexier and just ‘ier’ all around than PCs in almost every way. 

And the multimedia capabilities, fuhgeddaboudit.

But, to me, it’s never really been a contest.  So why is to Microsoft? And to such a degree that they are desperately clinging to a syndicated pop television icon hasbeen to re-ignite their popuarity.

Macs have their place.  So do PCs. 

Mac OS X has some key functionality. So does Windows.

Safari and Internet Explorer… OK, so that one gets a little dicey but the fact of the matter is that the entire planet is not ever going to completely switch to Apple no matter how impressive the apps unveiled at the developer’s conference are or how many kazillion Gigabytes the new iPhone has.  Short of teleporting you to another location Star Trek-style, mass conversion is not imminent.

What Microsoft should be doing is focusing on the people who are loyal users of their brand and reach out to them instead of trying to appeal a whole other segment of the population who is never going to convert to Microsoft even if they do develop the ‘moistest,’ ‘chewiest’ new products. 

And while we’re on the subject……………… moist? 

This is an adjective best reserved for those peddling lubricant or touting the right-out-of-the-oven moist and chewy goodness of a Tollhouse cookie. 

But it should never be used to describe software.

Never.

I think that’s in the Ten Commandments actually. 

Thall shalt not use the word ‘moist’  in vain.

Shame on you, Crispin Porter.

I wonder if they were motivated more by the media frenzy circus resulting from this spot or winning an Addy award than advising Microsoft effectively about their brand. Or maybe the Creative Director ‘lost’ the strategy brief because it certainly doesn’t seem to be meeting any sound communications objectives.

In my opinion, all Miscrosoft’s succeeded in doing is alienating their current customers while becoming the laughingstock of the diehard Apple disciples. 

Bill, you’re not hip. But that’s OK.

You’re a trillionaire ten times over; isn’t that enough??! Just focus on what it is you do, and do it well.  Leave the glitz and glam to Apple and focus on your productivity suite. Quit spinning your wheels on ‘delicious’ concepts and sharpen your business game before the forbidden fruit takes a bite out of that too.

In the end, remember it was Coke who taught the world to sing and Pepsi who said, ‘we’re better than Coke,’ and Coke is still the market leader.