First episode of Gates/ Seinfeld ad campaign is genius

Written on 5th September 2008                                                                                                              6 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Here it is, the first episode of the Seinfeld/ Gates commercial series. It’s part of a $300 million Microsoft ad campaign, led by famous ad-agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky. It’s a product of Alex Bogusky’s extraordinary brain I can’t follow, ’cause the ad doesn’t get me excited yet. I realize that’s my own fault.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky is famous for its innovative and controversial ad campaigns for the Mini Cooper, Burger King, Molson and a recent mock porn movie made for Virgin Atlantic’s business travelers. Most of those ideas weren’t welcomed with warm applause either. Maybe this dull episode is the start of a surprisingly good and sophisticated series. It’s genius, but we, dazed and confused early adopters, don’t see it yet.

For now though, I’d like to quote Gizmodo’s Jason Chen:

Besides the slick and probably expensive editing designed to make Jerry Seinfeld look like the more awkward of the pair, there’s not a whole lot of special effects in this clip. In fact, there’s not really a whole lot of anything, including laughs, information or pimping of Vista.

Let’s see how we feel about this ad in a year.