Jerry Seinfeld: Microsoft's New $10 Million Pitchman

Microsoft Corp., weary of being cast as a stodgy oldster by Apple Inc.'s advertising, is turning for help to Jerry Seinfeld.

The software giant's new $300 million advertising campaign, devised by a newly hired ad agency, has been closely guarded. But Mr. Seinfeld will be one of the key celebrity pitchmen, say people close to the situation. He will appear with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in ads and receive about $10 million for the work, they say.
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The new ad effort is expected to use some variation of the slogan "Windows, Not Walls," according to several people familiar with the matter. Those people say the point is to stress breaking down barriers that prevent people and ideas from connecting. The campaign, said to debut Sept. 4, is one of the largest in the company's history.

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Comments

[NoSillyName]

Sorry Jerry. I don't like the way you helped your wife plagiarize that cookbook writer.

[ssaz]

Jerry Seinfeld is so passe just like Microsoft Vista. It's no wonder they have decided to join forces. One loser playing spin doctor for the other.

[Rule Of Law]

Seinfeld and Microsoft--yesterday's celebrity for yesterday's technology!

[mfr]

I liked the Jerry show very much, so that the news came to me as a shocker. I find it unlikely that, as smart as he is, Seinfeld has no notion of what Microsoft represents in the software world, and I also find it unlikely that he really needs the money involved. What is left is a supreme indifference for moral issues, for the future of the American economy in general and of the software industry in particular, and an extreme avidity for financial benefits that he doesn't actually need.

[TRichards]

Were Seinfeld more highly overpaid, he could qualify as a CEO of a mid-sized company.

[dtrobert]

A has-been pitching a has-been company... Not to mention that he's going to be pushing a clear-cut fraud (the so-called "Mojave" experiment, where people were shown a 10 minute demo of Vista clad in a different theme; they simply LOVED it!!! It's not like they actually had to use it or anything...).

Goodbye Seinfeld, you used to be good.

[firelord5000]

YA because being miles ahead of apple in revenues is has-been, or earning 200 million a year on syndication of Seinfeld is a has-been... Sorry to break your heart, but probably more people still watch Seinfeld, then they do most of the sitcrap that is out there atm.

[oceanlover]

Seinfeld is a "has been" His humor, show, bores to no end these days. Reruns can do that if they are aired so repeatedly. It's like being force fed. After a few minutes you want to puke. Watch Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert and it becomes all too apparent how boring and passe Seinfeld truly is. Stewart/Colbert they are beyond brilliant.

[RButler]

Anything is better than that creepy kid that does the Mac commercials. He'll never get his own show.

[jrb35]

Why would he need his own show? He makes millions doing the Mac ads and also has a pretty successful film career. TV would be a step down.

[johnnygoodwud]

isn't microsoft part of kramerica enterprises

[BarackDaVote]

WOW, congrats Jerry.....

[bmonaghan]

Further evidence that advertising and ad people are the most over-rated, over paid people in the world. Problem: The Microsoft brand is perceived as dorky, yesterday's news, uncool and prone to bad press. Solution: Jerry Seinfeld!

[DonTrolleone]

yeah..but does it run linux?

[Aslanspal]

Microsoft didn't you test the market on this first....Mistake! Big Mistake!

[mergina]

I live and breath Apple computers in my life, but for 10 million dollars, I could get behind promoting a tragically flawed mistake called Vista. It would be painful until I cashed my first check teehee.

[HermioneGranger]

Yes - for ten million dollars I would appear naked in commercials for PNAC.

[ilpostino]

Wait a minute. What about all those Macintosh computers we saw in Jerry's apartment. on his sitcom "Seinfeld"? Were those really PCs masquerading as Macs? Is he double dipping? Did Apple pay him to put those Macs in his apartment?

[Melissa]

My teenage Nephew and his friends watch the reruns and love it.

[OneTop]

I tell ya ..... it's tough running a Monopoly.

Just look at all the unnecessary money you have to spend.