Microsoft Ad Nails It

Well, after all the hullabaloo about the Microsoft Seinfeld ad and my criticisms (see post and Brand Bandits Podcast), it seems that Microsoft got smart and did it right. I'm sure it was after they read my wise comments.

So, the new ad takes a shot at the very successful Mac vs. PC ads and defends those of us who work on a PC as not being the nerds portrayed in the Mac ads. As my colleague Simon Ashton pointed out, compared with the Seinfeld ads, Microsoft came out looking better in the Mac ads! So very smart that they latched on to the success of the Mac campaign.



What they've done is given a voice to all the cool people who use a PC and through that, given a personality to the PC that is not nerdy (All the Seinfeld ad did is reinforce that, I thought). It's people from both political parties; it's scientists, it's enviromentalists; it's teachers, it's students... You get the point. I have to say it even gave me the warm fuzzies a little. Loved the part of the people who work for both Obama and McCain.

So, two thumbs up Microsoft. Glad you heeded the negative banter and fixed your mistake.

Though I must quickly add that the whole backlash over the Seinfeld ads got so much attention that it really set this second round of ads up to be noticed. Do you think we'd be talking about this ad otherwise? I think not. Think they planned it that way? If so, I have to give them way more credit.

Pranks as Promos

I was intrigued with an article in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend entitled "The New Pranksters" about young people across the country who are gathering and participating in silly stunts to break out of the daily monotony and enjoy a sense of camaradie. Things like sets of idential twins mirroring each other on each side of a New York City subway car, bursting into song at malls, standing like statues in a public park.

What does this have to do with Web 2.0? Well, it turns out these things make great fodder for YouTube and online video, as well. Which brings me to how it relates to public relations.

It's always been a standard in public relations to create an event or "stunt" that will get the media's attention. Well, these are just the kinds of things that do it. It's almost sad how easy the media is to manipulate if you just know the types of things they are looking for. I mean, shouldn't they be covering serious news instead of a bunch of people dancing to music no one can hear at a park? But, alas, that makes for good TV, doesn't it?

So, lesson here, sad though it is, if you can dream up a stunt that's funny, quirky and ridiculous, yet that underscores your brand or involves it as a key portion -- and get it on video -- you're likely to have a media hit and a viral hit online.

Think about something that people would enjoy watching, that fits the old journalistic standard of "man bites dog" instead of "dog bites man", that's in a place that's easy to get to at a time that people and the media are more likely to be available (ie don't hold it during the first presidential debate).



In the article, they cited as an example Taco Bell, who hired a group to help them perform a stunt to promote their new Fruitista Freeze drink. The group posed as employees and patrons in one location and "froze" in place, much to the surprise of real customers. The video has been viewed more than 500,000 times online. Pretty good exposure for Taco Bell, I'd say. Oh yeah, the twin/subway prank? More than 700,000 views on YouTube.

Who's Watching You on Twitter?

Although in theory I understand that anyone in the world can see my Twitter posts, I tend to forget that on a day-to-day basis as I reveal my thoughts to the world. Well, my friends, don't forget. I was reminded today in a very funny, and shocking, way!

Sure, you realize that anyone can "follow" your tweets and read what you say, but did you know that by going to Twitter's search function (formerly Summize) you can find what anyone is tweeting about? Additionally, tweets now come up in the main search engines. I have a Google alert set up for myself and my companies (something everyone should do), and every day it shows me some of my tweets from the day before.

Well, apparently, a New York Times blogger who was writing about the new game show "Hole in the Wall" searched on Twitter to see what folks were saying about it. He found my tweet about what a crazy concept it is, but how I was still compelled to watch and used it in his blog post.

So not only is Twitter great for business, apparently it can get you media coverage too. Pressure's on now to say something clever and insightful, huh?

I was also reminded how transparent I am making myself on Twitter the other day after I met someone I follow and who follows me on Twitter at a presentation I was giving. I regularly tweet about a hip hop dance exercise class I go to. He said to me "The whole time you were presenting all I could think about was your hip hop moves." Which, believe me, is probably not a pretty image. Anyway, I thought that was really funny, as I do forget how much I am putting out there to people, many of whom, I've never even met.

Anyone had a similar experience with something you posted on Twitter?

Twittering the RNC

Well, I had just about the most fun ever Twittering the last two nights. I love it anyway, but really saw how cool it can be to twitter with others during a live event.

I decided to watch the Republican National Convention the last two nights on my computer, so I could do some work during down moments. Because Twitter was up on my computer, I started offering up my thoughts as Governor Palin spoke Wednesday and Senator McCain spoke Thursday. I had great fun chatting with others live as the speeches took place, laughing at funny moments (Palin's daughter licking her hand and swiping the baby's hair), discussing the issues they raised, weighing in on how they were doing and a lot more.

It truly made the experience all the richer to share in the moment with others watching it and demonstrated the power of Twitter. I can really see how this would be a nifty tool to use at a conference, a sporting event or any other live event.

You may ask, how did you pay attention to the event and Twitter? Well, that's the thing about Twitter. It seems like it would be a distraction, and it is a little, but it takes only a millisecond to read 140 characters of copy and not much longer to write 140 characters of copy. So you can glance down, take in the latest comments, jot out one every so often and still pretty thoroughly pay attention.

Anyone else Twitter a live event with success? Or hated it? Please share!

Microsoft Seinfeld Ad Debuts

So recently I noted that one thing that Microsoft was trying to do right to improve its image was a new ad campaign with Jerry Seinfeld. Well, folks, it's debuted and well, it sucked... at least to me.

Why? It feels like Microsoft, despite being the resident aging geek, is making a last ditch effort to be a part of the cool crowd. Wow, the effort shows and it's painful. Take a look at the video.


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I mean first off, Bill Gates is TERRIBLE. How stiff and awkward is he? That's exactly what they should be trying to get away from -- stiff and awkward -- and all they did is magnify it here by bringing so much attention to the ad.

And poor Jerry, his stuff just doesn't make any sense. I mean, I'm all about off-the-wall comedy, but this just misses the mark and isn't just off the wall; it's out of the universe completely. Hopefully, this is not Jerry's doing, but Microsoft's. Microsoft, in their defense, says the ad will make more sense as the campaign moves forward.

What does this have to do with Microsoft? They're going to invent something really cool down the road? Well, enough already. Invent it now, or really gosh darn soon, or the game may be over kids.

I hate to be so hard on Microsoft and Bill Gates. He is an amazing man and it is an amazing company that took computing forward in huge ways. I just want to see them adapt and be successful, and this just ain't the way.

What do you think?

What Microsoft is Doing Right

Per my earlier post, I railed on Micrsoft for not keeping up with the times and being reactive instead of proactive. But, that said, Microsoft is doing some things right and it's important to share that side of the story, as well.

One of these things is the image above: Photosynth. Dreamed up by Microsoft Live Labs, an arm of Microsoft whose mission it is to "advance state-of-the-art Internet technology and products," Photosynth lets you take a group of photos and essentially "synth" (in English: paste or join) them together to create a 3-D image that allows you to sort of virtually walk through the scene.

Here's how it works according to Microsoft:
"Using techniques from the field of computer vision, Photosynth examines images for similarities to each other and uses that information to estimate the shape of the subject and the vantage point each photo was taken from. With this information, we recreate the space and use it as a canvas to display and navigate through the photos."

So, they're trying. Keep it up.

Secondly, they're trying to "hip" up their image. How? Well, wonder where Jerry Seinfeld's been since Seinfeld (besides "Bee Movie")? It looks like he's got a new gig: the spokesperson for Microsoft. The company is investing $300 million, according to MSNBC, in a fall ad campaign featuring the comedian.

Not sure just plugging in a seemingly "cool" person (is Seinfeld really cool anymore?) into your ads is going to solve the problem. I think it starts at home and the type of products they're developing, but if they keep paying more attention to LiveLabs and less toward creating operating systems that don't work, they're on the right track at least. What do you think?