The mothership


That's the second spot in the Crispin Porter Bogusky-produced advertising campaign for Microsoft and Windows Vista.

Bill: Why are we doing this again?

Jerry: Why Bill? Because as we discussed, you and I are a little out of it. You’re living in some kinda moon house hovering over Seattle like the mothership. I’ve got so many cars I get stuck in my own traffic. We need to connect with real people.

Brier Dudley writes on the Seattle Times, "Now we know what they're up to. The second Bill Gates-Seinfeld ad that's debuting tonight during "Big Brother" on CBS is a million times better than the freaky churro spot that kicked off the $300 million Windows campaign last week. Tonight's ad explains that Gates and Seinfeld are on a quest to reconnect with real people, just like Microsoft is with the campaign."

Much of the tech community, like TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, remains confused. Dudley echoes that:

By embracing ordinary people -- and contrasting them with the awkward rich guys -- the ads are also a populist comeback to Apple's "I'm a Mac-I'm a PC" ads that feature a hipster mocking an ordinary guy.

Is it enough to make mainstream consumers get excited about Windows again? I wonder how many will just scratch their heads and wonder what's going on.

The first spot is here, in case you missed it.

I kinda like it, but I miss Costanza.

advertising, microsoft, vista, cpb