The Marketing Doctor says:

Microsoft-Seinfeld Ad Is A Disaster;

Microsoft has got to distance its products from its toxic brand name; 

Bill Gates and the Ballmer Crowd Need To Go

The Seinfeld Microsoft campaign is off to a terrible start, and the creatives are once again running the show, competing for cleverness while forgetting the product and the brand they are supposed to be promoting.  

In one spot (watch above), Seinfeld, usually funny, seems to fawn over Bill Gates (hasn’t he retired?) as he has him try on shoes. Meanwhile, people speaking a foreign language look in through the store window and comment on the shoes.  

The ad seems to be competing for an award at Cannes or the Venice Film Festival, rather than trying to repair a broken brand.  

Is Microsoft moving into the shoe business?  Why are Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld in a parking lot?  Why is Jerry Seinfeld interested in whether Microsoft will be doing something groundbreaking like making edible computers?  Why is any of this happening?

If you’re confused, so is the Marketing Doctor.  This has to rank as one of the worst ads I have seen in a long time, and it’s the start of what’s touted as a 300 million dollar campaign to polish the company’s image.  Good luck.

Microsoft’s brand image has been damaged by years of a you-must-like-our-products-or-else approach.  Customers accepted this because they had little choice.  This reality has changed, and even Jerry Seinfeld (and especially a Jerry Seinfeld so poorly showcased by these ads) can’t do much to help Microsoft.  And let’s not even start talking about the damage that might be done to the Seinfeld brand.  

After years of pent-up frustration with Microsoft’s products, Microsoft’s name is just too toxic to be attached to any product.  What we’re talking about here is the difference between a corporate brand strategy and a product brand strategy.  Microsoft can keep its name, but it must distance itself from its products.  

As I wrote yesterday: How toxic is Microsoft’s brand image?  Here’s a good example. Microsoft’s Vista is struggling, but not because of the weakness of Vista itself.  In fact, Vista seems like pretty good software.  Apparently, one focus group overwhelmingly liked it when they were told that it wasn’t Microsoft’s Vista  —and they were shocked when they learned the truth.

That focus group should tell any half-awake marketer what now needs to be done: cut the ties with the past (including old management) and move forward.  Microsoft has the resources to do this.  Now it’s got to find the will.

And remember, it’s always easier when you keep branding in mind.