RSS Feeds
Software
Retromodo: Old Microsoft Ads Were Just As Weird As New Ones
Posted by Kit Eaton at 10:00 PM on September 19, 2008
Do a quick trawl through Microsoft advertising history and you find something interesting: as weird as the Gates/Seinfeld comedy duo Microsoft ads are—weird enough to get them set aside for the "I'm a PC" campaign—they're just following in the footsteps of earlier ads. Check out this one, dubbed "Soar," for Windows XP: what does it tell you about the software's capability? Not much. But the Madonna sound track isn't too shabby, and apparently using Windows can make you fly. Hmmm, that's pretty odd... but then there are even more obscure ones.
"Everybody is looking for the door to the new economy. But actually, it's a window." That Windows 2000 ad tagline has a bit of punch, and was pretty timely back then. But there's a guy crashing a tractor into a tin shack (oh, the irony), there're chickens and (just what every good computer advert needs): a bleating lamb. That's way more confusing than Windows-induced flying.
No lambs in this Windows 95 ad...but we do get a leaping tiger, and fast cuts of wrinkly old men and smiling kids interspersed with glimpses of hot spreadsheet and Word document action. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with what this ad's telling me: should I go out and make trouble? Or "just do something amazing" since, after all..."this stuff is powerful." The flight-sim glimpse of the Twin Towers is just an unfortunate coincidence, but adds to the shower of strange imagery.
And then there's this one. Okay, so it's for Office XP, but it's glorious, and the best of the bunch.Microsoft taking the mickey (albeit gently) out of the moments when its own security techniques get right on your tits *ahem*.
So, do you feel better about Gates and Seinfeld now? I actually like those ads, weirdness included. Ditto for the "I'm a PC" one, complete with Deepak Chopra's insightful ramblings. They tell me nothing, nada, zip about Microsoft products...but they're just brand adverts, and they make me laugh. And they're right in line with Microsoft's advertising heritage. [Microsoft]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
OMG! Ponies!
Posted 10:40 PM 19/9/08
These aren't bad ones either. They're still all just brand ads though:
+ Watch video
And as for the question "Why does the 800 lb. gorilla need to advertise a system that has 90% market share?" - the NY Times answers that very nicely today.
[www.nytimes.com]
OMG! Ponies!
OMG! Ponies!
Posted 10:38 PM 19/9/08
Still always like this series of spots:
+ Watch video
OMG! Ponies!
TBM-Fan
Posted 10:38 PM 19/9/08
funny but weird commercials just like Microsoft
TBM-Fan
Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->
Posted 10:37 PM 19/9/08
Damn, I had blocked out that Madonna song from my mem. Damn you Giz!
As for the last commercial, you could adapt it for Vista/Mojave. Just have her Dad pop up with a shotgun asking if he really wants to take that off.
Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->
Joseph
Posted 10:16 PM 19/9/08
@Kaiser-Machead on the Edge: That is great! Too bad hacking any Microsoft Office product password is about 30 lines of code and 0.39 seconds.
Joseph
OMG! Ponies!
Posted 10:15 PM 19/9/08
Contrast these ads with an iPhone ad. The iPhone ad is a product ad. It exists to demonstrate features to show why the consumer should buy the product.
The Mac v PC ads are closer to brand ads. They still tout features though, but don't actually demonstrate them (it's hard to show off security in a commercial).
OMG! Ponies!
OMG! Ponies!
Posted 10:09 PM 19/9/08
Consider when the ads were made. Everyone was familiar with the Office suite and most knew at least Windows 95, if not 98.
These are brand ads - not product ads. Microsoft usually doesn't advertise the product because the user actually knows the product. Feature demonstrations would be waste of airtime.
OMG! Ponies!
strider_mt2k
Posted 10:05 PM 19/9/08
They're commercials.
Which is to say, "What else is on?"
strider_mt2k
Kaiser-Machead on the Edge
Posted 10:04 PM 19/9/08
The first one could also be an ad for mescaline. The last one, I don't even care. It's great.
Kaiser-Machead on the Edge
pb5000
Posted 11:09 PM 19/9/08
The guy pimpin on the tractor was great.
pb5000
the_amazing_doug
Posted 11:03 PM 19/9/08
XP will make you fly.
An archaic trailer REALLY DOES make one think of Win2k, but probably not a good thing from a marketing perspective.
The fact the word "trouble" was used in the ad for 95 makes me wish i had never used it.
The last ad... I need a password cracker, STAT! That gal's hot.
the_amazing_doug
Windhawk
Posted 10:57 PM 19/9/08
The "Soar" ads are actually very good as ads go: linking the emotional experience of flight and freedom with the product.
Windhawk
x3r0
Posted 11:54 PM 19/9/08
The XP commercial was a great marketing tactic. Showing genuine emotion on people's faces as they use the product, and pushing the freedom of flight onto the product. Not exactly TRUE about the product, but when is marketing ever true?
Besides, it looks like everyone in the commercial is high as a kite. That's always a plus in a commercial. Mescaline, it's the only way to fly.
x3r0
socioecoboy
Posted 1:53 AM 20/9/08
HA! On the last one, with Office XP, I kept expecting a computer lockup or a blue screen of death. For some reason it just seemed right. That was a terrible add, but the Win2k and the Soar ads were good.
socioecoboy
jibbly
Posted 1:32 AM 20/9/08
Man, memory lane, I can remember all of these airing on tv. Sadly, that's all I can remember.
jibbly
NcSchu
Posted 1:32 AM 20/9/08
@pkinsale: Yes, that's why it says: "The flight-sim glimpse of the Twin Towers is just an unfortunate coincidence, but adds to the shower of strange imagery." under the video.
I rather like the XP ones; I recall seeing a variation of those ads on the TV when XP first came out.
NcSchu
socioecoboy
Posted 1:29 AM 20/9/08
the second gates/ Seinfeld ad was I'll conceived and insulting.
the PC ad was good as it used apple's meeme to help ms while at the same time shifting PC from a box to a computer user. Now if MS was loud enough apple ads are going to be the 'insulting' ones.
Apple could try to keep it about the box but that might be hard to translate in a 30 second spot.
socioecoboy
Jeice
Posted 1:28 AM 20/9/08
Later guys *Whooooosh!*
I love that first MS ad.
Jeice
General Halfshaftery
Posted 1:26 AM 20/9/08
^^^ oh cripes that was meant for the cell phone dumb sperm story.
Awkward...
General Halfshaftery
General Halfshaftery
Posted 1:25 AM 20/9/08
I don't believe this is true. Why i'm gonna haul my sperm out here right now and check!
General Halfshaftery
pkinsale
Posted 1:09 AM 20/9/08
OK, at :35 on the Windows 95 commercial, was that a plane flying into the World Trade Center?
pkinsale
General Halfshaftery
Posted 1:05 AM 20/9/08
TRIVIA
Microsoft's tagline for XP: "You can fly" was all ready to go... and then 9/11 happened. It was changed to "Yes you can" before the ad campaign was released a few weeks later.
A not-so-fun fact.
General Halfshaftery
Pretolo
Posted 3:17 AM 20/9/08
Yeah, but why does the user raises the mid frequencies by 10dbs in the media player?
Pretolo
ttech10
Posted 2:59 AM 20/9/08
So... they don't spend their money on fixing problems and they don't fix their money on good advertisers. What DO they spend their money on? Sub-par coders/developers and poor advertisers?
ttech10
spyguy99
Posted 7:17 AM 20/9/08
And Part 2!
+ Watch video
spyguy99
spyguy99
Posted 7:16 AM 20/9/08
You forgot this video!
+ Watch video
spyguy99
urbanturban666
Posted 10:29 AM 20/9/08
@spyguy99: how could anyone forget these?
urbanturban666
DGUW
Posted 11:34 AM 20/9/08
So based on all of the XP love in this new Vista world, it would seem that Microsoft's claims of XP as best OS ever were correct, no? It's pretty good that people would be holding on to a seven-year-old OS as long as they can.
DGUW