Disclaimer: Touching Zune will not actually transport you into media-relevant worlds.

kodo

is the zune touch screen? the girl keeps touching the screen.
or is it just showing a special effects. the spot looks like
MS dropped a bundle for the commercial. where as apple
keeps it simple and elegant.
it's the product not the pink bunnies stupid(MS)!

tomaartist

i like this commerical. It's creative and we obviously know what the zune looks like so do we need to see more of it? anyone work in creative here, raise your hands and say, lifestyle.

cafeen75

This is coo.
And as a BONUS... no Friggin Feist!

ANoel

Whenever I see a commercial that is 90% not of the actual product, I always assume the product is crap. (As in, the product won't sell itself, only hype and propaganda will.)

Neat commercial, though.

sonicwind

@Tommo_UK:
lol, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
...zune rocks.

wetworker

Thanks Microsoft for having so little faith in your device you can hardly even bear to show it for more than a brief second before trying to distract viewers by using trippy and badly shot scenes from a poor take-off of Alice in Wonderland.

Poor show. Poor Microsoft. Poor little Johnny who gets given one of these turds for Christmas and then has to go and explain to his friends why "squircles" are cool.

Tommo_UK

Creative Zen Vision M: cool

vicsells

Much better than that crappy iTouch Ad thats been running. wtf were they thinking?

This is a great spot, nice live action with fluid transactions.

People who hate on commercials like this obviously don't know know anything about the advertising world. Would you rather have a Zune sitting on screen for 30 seconds and show the menu played with like Apple, since they obviously need to make every commercial a "How To" since nobody can figure it out. Rightttt.

Thanks Microsoft for having faith in me & my ability to use your device without a instructional video masked as an Ad.

noxdesign

Sad.

Tommo_UK

I like the ad; to me it is subtle, beautiful and ties in well with the print and web campaign. Just the right amount of "indie"-ness without putting off the mainstream, and would appeal to those who are "thinking different", i.e. not getting an iPod.

The graphic design of the website is especially good.

ZSX

@apeguero: I agree with you there. It desperately needs Mac-compatibility. My iPod is dying quickly and I need to upgrade, but I really, really hate the new iPod Nanos. Not saying I'd buy a Zune, but I would certainly seriously consider it if I could use it on a Mac.

As for the ad:
ROGUE WAVE, FTW! I love that band! The ad's clever. The product is shown clearly; you get a good sense of what it is and what it does. It has eye-catching visuals to accompany it. It reminds me of the abstract "loopiness" of the Target ads minus the overuse of the color red. :)

As for touch-screen:
I think you folks may be nit-picking. It didn't imply that it had a touch-screen interface for me at all. There was no scene anywhere where the character navigates through menus using a touch screen, yet it clearly showed her navigating using the Zune pad (or whatever it's called).

As for the site:
Um... I'm lost on this one. It just makes no sense to me... :)

DW

I've known OF the Zune, but never known a single thing about it because I found it aesthetically dull and redundant to my iPods. So as someone less informed than everyone else here on this matter, yeah. Not only do I still not have any interest in the Zune, I'm also left with the impression it has touchscreen.

This ad is horribly misleading.

ArrEmmDee

well everyone on here has an opinion about the ad, so it's done its job.
I'm sick of the whole silhouette look anyways.

...i like it.

wetworker

I like it better than the iPhone ads.

rususeruru

@nakmario: I like the sharing bit, but I'm simply pointing out the flaw in criticism against other players assuming that they promote antisocial behavior of some sort.

Kaiser-Machead

@JustEaton: interesting point. Kind of like how the original Zune featured something that really really looked like a scrollwheel except wasn't.

That said: the ad was nice to watch. Who knows whether it will sell anything, but it was at least enjoyable, unlike the ads for Zune 1.

bubba451

@Kaiser-Machead:

The whole WiFi thing is kinda cool, actually.

one of my friends had a cool background which he shared with me on the spot...

I think the idea is that in a few years, when (and IF) Zunes becomes somewhat as popular as the iPods you will be able to share instantly with others in your circle of friends and stuff.

nakmario

I agree with Justeaton. The ad is deceptive. They clearly make it look as though the Zune 2 has a touch screen. Pretty sleazy and desperate advertising. Call me crazy, but maybe it would be better to show people using the Zune to watch movies or listening to FM radio (or squirting their songs back and forth).

Obtusegoose

@ikelleigh: I was wondering if anyone caught this. I own an iPod Touch, so I don't really care to hate on the Zune, but it's interesting that the only real showing of the Zune is her touching the screen (NOT A TOUCH SCREEN), and then bringing her finger away. Why would they advertise that, and not the sensitive touchpad? Because Zune is a step behind. Shameful advertising.

JustEaton

Hmmmm so the Zune has a touch interface too? Or is this misleading the public into thinking it has a touch interface?

ikelleigh

Freaky, off the wall, and so much more interesting than the ham fisted gyrations and logo worship to corporate sterilized and co-opted sellout "popular" music that have become commonplace. I think for once, that they are taking advantage of the fact that they are the underdogs. I think they are headed in the right direction.

TonyTriple

Considering the imagery in this commercial is the sort of delirious illusions you imagine yourself when being high, it makes sense as one would have to be high to buy a Zune...

fusedinertia

I'm convinced they need to just hire ZUNE Tatoo Guy and let him speak for a few minutes. ADVERTISING COMPLETE.

Nice commercial. I still think it's ugly.

donlphi

I liked it. It's pretty cool. I like the start of the ad where it shows many initial screens with different tastes. I think it gets the message across. Hell, I might even buy a Zune now. Oh wait, it's not Apple compatible. F!

apeguero

@Saad Rabia: With all this talk of social, and how the iPod is isolated, the majority of Zune users will still be primarily using their devices in a solitary manner. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but this social push will not have too much an effect on people who are already social, and share music by other means. The Zune's concept of social networking is great, and I hope it goes far and drives the market, but let's not start going on about iPods and being alone, because WiFi won't help your social life.

As for the ad, I think that the best thing about it is the song. Other than that, there's a slightly deceptive visual when the girl touches the screen and starts doing things beyond that. We here know that the Zune has no touch display, but that subtle hint may register to the average person watching TV and suddenly think that maybe it has one. The ad as a whole has some nice visuals, but goes off on too far a tangent to be really effective for me. If I was watching television I'd probably change the channel without noticing the actual product, before the ad even finished.

You may be sick of how clean and straight forward iPod ads may be, but they do what this ad fails to do. It displays the product, makes the image of that product memorable, and shows what it can do outright, without messing about trying to wow us with visuals. They're nice, but this is a commercial. That artsy stuff is largely esoteric, and will be lost on virtually anyone who is still unaware of the Zune (there are still people who are).

Kaiser-Machead

God people! Stop talking about Apple ads for the love of god!

Whenever I see an Apple ad, wither it is their iPods or their iMacs I always get so freakin sick of how clean they are, too clean, nothing special, just some cool song and putting the product in front for a "little" bit improved product.

iPod got so much market share because of the "open field" hand held music players war they started in the US; iPod's shares around the world didn't rise as much as it did in the Asian or European market, and don't f**king give some websites numbers or statics, because this is all part of the game; I look around and find no interest on the iPod as much as I see in the USA.

The Zune is the first real competition for the iPod; the Zune is using a different perspective on music, a more social one, not setting alone with a scroll pad larger than the screen!

Its just that people would love to compare a "Zune" ad to an "iPod" ad, which doesn't even make any sense for two totally different strategy products.

For me, Zune right now, and before it is out is a "better" and futuristic idea product than the iPod's "every year same stuff" strategy.

I love how Microsoft is showing Americans that with the same price you get a better product. ;)

I will Zune my life! :)

Saad Rabia

At least they aren't doing the same silhouette dancing to some different song over and over and over. All Apple's ads are predictable.

PuckOTG22

Like the song. Like the visuals. Like the new zune.

...still not enough to make me upgrade my 5.5G iPod though.

Johnny Chimpo

Yeah because seeing sillouettes of people dancing around wearing a sillouette of an ipod shows me SO much more about the product than this commercial. Come on. Is an ipod only a music player? Apparently, because thats all I saw on the commercials.

Muttonchops

WELCOME TO ZUNNIELAND!!!

doctorSpoc

I love this ad; every element in that add was shining just like the Zune 2 menus and UI.

Lovely music in a world of your own with rules of your own! :)

The ad reminded me of a clean simple world with no fooling around involved; sun light, flying, swimming under the sea, no limitations, your world inside one place and with a simple touch you listen to that simple world.

People will still nag and hate this ad just for the fact that they put some other companies' ads as an industry standard, but sorry babies, the world is changing and "the other companies" are going down so bad.

Starting with this ad, I can already feel that what my pre-ordered (Zune 80) is unique and "Social" in a virtual world of my own, kind of like all the new great ideas around the world; virtual and social.

"Other" music and video companies, get ready for a new style in music a new genre I call: "Zune" :)

Saad Rabia

Ha! Thank you Wilson Rothman (;

korymatthew

@korymatthew: The agency is apparently T.A.G., a McCann subsidiary. And the song is "Lake Michigan" by Rogue Wave, in case you want to hunt it down.

Wilson Rothman

Like most ads, it gets you talking and you remember it.. for the product it is. That's the whole reason behind ads isn't it? even if they're horrible, they're still stuck in your head. and that song will now be stuck in my head all day! lol. =)

JustinDC

Microsoft never does anything right.... once again another example. Every successful ipod ad shows the friggin product.... If I were flipping through channels I would not know what the heck this ad was about. It could very well be a commercial for Maxithin feminine napkins for all I know.

andrebasso

Finally, no weird-ass indie ads. The player still is very appealing to the indie music market but seem's more compatible now stylewise.

gascan555

I like it...

At least we know what they are trying to sell unlike the previous Zune ads.

Hopefully the first of many.

kibets

Um.. I thought that was supposed to be a Zune ad? Where's the Zune? I agree with @korymatthew: but they could have done a lot better at "music transporting you to another place" and still showing the actual product that they are advertising. It was kinda like, "Oh a Zune commercial... look at the pretty pictures... Oh a Zune commercial." You forget about the Zune to easily about 2 seconds into the ad.

And the is my 2 cents /]

bjmorch

I actually saw this on TV last night. I think I was watching The Office on NBC, but I'm probably wrong as Apple usually BOMBARDS Thursday nights with iPhone and iPod ads.

Personally I really enjoyed the ad and was gonna chck today to see who the agency who worked on it was. I'm not sure how it can be said that the ad lacks "common sense," as to me it obviously is about music transporting you to another place (which I think most would agree it can do)

But that's just my lil' 2 cents (;

korymatthew

I'm pretty sure this ad (and subsequent others) are like the xbox 360 ads. They don't talk about the hardware, but rather the experience of listening to music and watching videos on their device. They want the Zune to stand out, to 'think different'. This ad isn't as off the wall as the original Zune ads, but its fun and original and the slogan "you make it you" is supposed to emphasize individuality with the Zune. Get it? Got it? Good.

BobbyMills

i know you really need to be creative to survive in the ad industry, but you also need some common sense. this ad lacks common sense.

saych

I was gonna say "This can't be worse than the original Zune ad". But I'm wrong, and it is.

Joseph

huh?

rthprog

hey, the ad is pretty damn good! good, clean, common concept and flawless execution. It's all about the user experience, ya know. Sweet.

psalmplasma

oh and the website is awesome, even if I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. :p

Connor

1) I admit the giant pink bunnies threw me a bit.

2) But it really doesn't matter. The very fact that this ad sparked so much interest - positive and negative - in the gadget world, means it was successful marketing.

3) Plus, the new slogan tells me they're finally stepping out of their freaky little Steve Ballmer world to understand what actual human beings are like. That's a very good sign.

Connor

Microsoft is using the online furries fad to their advantage, I see.

Reminds me of the Adidas 1 "Hello Tomorrow" commercial. That was such an awesome ad.

ampc

this is more like a tori amos music video....not a MS zune ad?

DOmeN

How very uninspired. Fitting i guess...

pocketcowboy