More on the new Microsoft ad

I posted the new ad from Microsoft last night as soon as it came across my YouTube filter. Like it or not, it's working. I just pulled this chart from Nielsen's BlogPulse site looking at the blog chatter between Microsoft and Apple.

Note that the only point where Microsoft passes Apple is yesterday's ad release. I think if you are Microsoft looking at the results from an ad that is solely created to create conversations, you have succeeded. How would you try to measure the value of the conversation online? What metrics or formulas have you seen?

The challenge for Microsoft and their agency is how they follow up in act two.

Make sure you weigh in on the ad by voting below:

Technorati Tags:
advertising, Matt Dickman, Microsoft, Techno//Marketer, Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Gates

Comments

[Rich Angstadt]

I actually stopped what I was doing last night when I heard Seinfeld's voice and watched the entire spot (which is quite long for TV). Putting Bill Gates next to Jerry Seinfeld was brilliant, it's funny and shows a softer, more personal side of MS. Will it help sell more PC's? Maybe. Does it help shape the MS brand in the eyes of consumers? Probably. We'll have to wait and see what they follow it up with. But it presents MS in another light. I've always thought Gates had this dorky smart cool way about him, this shows that.

[Ellery]

The chatter on blogs has more or less been a collective "WTF?" though. On the MacRumours blog, for example, there were 900 comments on a post about the ad, with around 700 being negative comments... so whilst ppl are talking, it's not necessarily good. The campaign shows a definite shift away from the enterprise-focused (as opposed to consumer-focused) image Microsoft has built up over the years, but on the whole, I'm unconvinced this campaign is worth the $300 million MS will spend on it. I guess the next few ads in the series will be interesting to see where it's going.

[Matt Dickman]

Rich -- Thanks for the comment and welcome! Time will definitely tell, but I had the same reaction as you did.

Ellery -- Thank you for the comment as well. I do see your personal point, but I think that going to a MacRumors site and looking for anything pro-Microsoft would be like going to an Obama site looking for something pro-McCain.

I think the WTF aspect of the commercial was intentional, helped to humanize a traditionally stodgy company and set a tone for a new wave of advertising. We'll see what comes next and if it works for their bottom line.

[Ellery]

>>"going to a MacRumors site and looking for anything pro-Microsoft would be like going to an Obama site looking for something pro-McCain."

Totally agreed :D Agree too that it was intentionally odd (for want of a more suitable word) to get ppl talking.

When the campaign actually launched, I was at Tech.Ed Australia (Microsoft technical training event)... there were a few booths looping it on plasma screens. Even us MS loyals were kinda looking at each other wondering what the deal was :)

[Adam Kmiec]

I'm jaded. I worked at ConAgra Foods when Crispin steamrolled the Orville Deadenbacher work right on through. They were happy about all the attention it was getting. Never mind the fact that nearly all the comments were negative. They believed things were working.

How well did that work out for CP+B and Orville? Well, CP+B got the axe, another agency was brought in (VB+P), and Orville sales tanked.

I see the same formula with the Microsoft work. Then again that same thing didn't work for Nike.

[Greg March]

When MSFT throws that kind of volume of behind ANYTHING, chatter is probably going increase to some extent. I'm not sure that can be indicator of whether the spot (or the strategy behind it) works.

It will come down to sales and you need some time.

Trying to analyze the effect of positioning tactics by looking at a daily reaction is kind of like watching a daily stock price, and has limited value.