The 2nd installment of the Seinfeld-Gates series for Microsoft Windows is out. This one may still get a reaction like, ‘What’s going on?’ but has a lot more funny moments than the first one. Caution: the video is 4-odd minutes long and is a 10-MB file.
The basic plot line: Bill and Jerry live with a family to get in touch with “real people.” This ad too may be trashed by a lot of people. But honestly, I like it. It may be a tad long but I like the fact that the campaign is not treated like a typical 30-second commercial. It’s is more like regular entertainment television programming. Apart from Seinfeld there are other ‘characters’ in the film who stand out – the grandma for sure. Seinfeld gets his funny one-liners too: ‘I got so many cars, I get stuck in my own traffic!’.
The attempt, as Seinfeld says is to ‘connect with real people’ and it achieves this to some extent. It certainly is a makeover for Bill Gates – from a billionaire software geek to everyday bloke who reads bedtime stories (Are there any monsters in this story? Yes, but don’t worry there is a firewall) and does a robot-like act.
Usually, if the advertising is likeable, the likeability of the ads subliminally makes us like the brand. And in these days, being part of the entertainment option is a big plus for brands – instead of shoving down a typical 30-second spot. On both these counts, this instalment works. Or at least has made a beginning. What say?
Like the Seinfeld show which was about ‘nothing’ this too operates at that level: a campaign about nothing in particular. The TV show worked. Will this? As I said in my earlier post on the campaign it would be wrong to dismiss the campaign as pointless. It could turn out to be something big & impactful.
