Microsoft has recently launched a $300+ million ad campaign. The first two ads featured Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates. It was immediately clear that the valley wags hated the commercials. Even Seth had some unflattering things to say about the campaign.

Personally, I liked the ads. In Relevance by Tim Manners, he quotes a Chief Marketing Officer that says televised marketing isn’t dead. People still like the audio visual experience. Granted, it’s not near as effective as it used to be (for sure). But in summary, let’s look at what Microsoft has accomplished by the ads.

First, the folks in valley wag are buzzing. They’re all talking. Leo Laporte, Kevin Rose, Michael Arrington, etc. Isn’t the point of marketing to get people to talk about your product. I’m a huge fan of Seth, and I know he’d say something like “The goal of marketing is to create products that people will want to evangelize…turn customers into salespeople.” I agree. But if you’re Microsoft and your product is an enormous commodity and isn’t something that people want to shout from the rafters about, how do you go about shaping your image…?

Second, they embedded countless eggs in the commercials that only the tech geeks understand. Jerry met Bill in a shoe store in a mall (Apple). The shoes “were a little snug but he could make it work.” (Macs) Jerry says, “You know it’s made with real leather” (as if that was a big deal). Bill Gates shows his ID to Jerry, and the photo was from his old mug shot. The easter eggs have the tech community talking amongst themselves. There’s a shared and exclusive experience tailor made for the key influencers.

Third, the ads are spreading. They’re not showing these commercials a lot on TV. They’re primarily circulating through the blogsphere. John Dvorack hates the ads, but he admitted he put them on his blog. They’re getting traction.

I think the point of the ads is to get people to realize everyone uses Microsoft. Although there’s no exclusivity with Microsoft, no scarcity, no charismatic tribe, the whole world is tied to Microsoft because their stuff works!

Although Apple has a Tribe of folks that evangelize their products, Microsoft has a larger Tribe. It’s called “Microsoft Office” Tribe. The whole world uses Office. Want to be in business and create files that are universally accepted? Better have Office. And it works.

So here’s my point…maybe televised ads are still relevant. In its ads, Microsoft isn’t selling products, they’re telling a story (with all sorts of insider jokes embedded). And the story is spreading. Granted, $300 million is a lot of coin, but let’s wait a sec and see how effective it can be. I think Microsoft’s problem is that they’ve allowed their competition to reshape the public’s perception of Microsoft. They’ve been on the sideline too long.

Tags: marketing