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

[charlot]

That's wonderful. He and Bill Gates really need more money. It's nice to see the downtrodden get a break in life, isn't it?

[ChescoMom]

Give him a break-- maybe the wife's book sales aren't going so well. :-)

[protagonia]

Comedy AND Spokesperson?

Jerry is "Double-Dipping"!

[Mickeleh]

I haven't seen anybody, anywhere hailing this as a smart move on the part of Microsoft. Where's the love?

[darthdarcy]

Great now he can buy more Porsche's, as long as it's a pitch that's not a pitch, a commercial about nothing..i­t'll be a hit..!

[Pupster]

Seinfeld is the perfect pitchman for Microsoft.­..they haven't been relevant since the 90's.

[nogimmicks]

A "brilliant" move by Balmer: hiring an overpriced, aging and out of fashion actor to promote overpriced, aging and out-of-fashion OS.

[OS2Guy]

Hear! Hear! One hasbeen promoting another hasbeen. I'm surprised MS didn't hire Jerry's wife to plagerize the iPod and and call it the Zune! LOL! Seinfeld - what a dorkbutt!

[the964kid]

Seinfeld hasn't done anything note-worthy in nearly a decade. And his show, which I loved, was tarnished with the meltdown of Michael Richards a year and a half ago. This would have been a progressive move like maybe 9-10 years ago - but in 2008 this decision is old and tired just like Microsoft.

But $10M will get Jerry some more Porsches for his Porsche collection.

[gymbunnybee]

Hey sush up about Microsoft!

After you're done reading this at work, try to open a database or compose an email or open a windows tab without using MS - a system that is so intrinsically entrenched in our use of technology that we take it for granted - like oxygen. Even proprietory hardware and software have MS to thank for building bridges for development - most of it we dont even get to hear about since MS stands in as a neutral party purely for the intention of progression of the industry.

[OS2Guy]

Sorry. We're a Mac shop through and through. Have no use for Microsoft's worms, trojans or virus.

[Dutschke]

Wow that's a mighty high horse you are sitting on there OS2guy. As if Apple is perfect. Apple is also a huge corporation that has their profits in mind and not the well being of it's "users".
OSX is nothing but a modified UNIX OS. Since we all know that UNIX runs perfectly well on PC-based computers (see LINUX) how come then that APPLE doesn't put out a PC compatible version of their OS ? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/21/jerry-seinfeld-microsofts_n_120287.html#
Basically, modern APPLE computers are nothing but PC's packaged in a nice design (granted) and equipped with a UNIX operating system, then offered at an outrageos price.
APPLE has adopted pretty much everything from the open PC architecture. Examples: ... Intel cpu's, PCI bridges, AGP, USB, DDR2 SD RAM, SATA, etc.. etc...

[Dutschke]

LOL are you serious "gymbunnybee" ??? The reason WHY you can't get around Microsoft a lot of times is not because they have been soooo busy "building bridges" as you claim, but rather because they are always busy preventing others from becoming contributors (see openoffice.org) or by simply not extending these "bridges" to others (see the demise of wordperfect, LOTUS 1-2-3 or Netscape as examples), to use your metaphore. Microsoft is everything BUT a neutral party. They have been abusing their quasi monopoly status since the good old OS/2 times when they quietly killed an operating system (OS/2) which we could all have all benefitted from as consumers almost 20 years ago because they did not want to share the success with IBM.
Instead Microsoft has left us with an inferior and buggy operating system (windows 3.0,3.1,3.­11,Windows 95, Windows 98,98SE & Windows ME.......)­.

[auramac]

Seinfeld is a sell-out- every one of his shows featured a Mac. What next? Getting paid by Marvel to diss Superman? Too bad- but he's not funny anymore. None of them are- they should've pulled the plug on that show at least a year earlier. So much for integrity.

[MaracaKabob]

It's a commercial campaign about nothing? Great Idea!!

[navalvet]

Does a fifty four year-old actor have the ability to make Vista seem hip? Maybe Microsoft will have pushing Zunes..

[Podewumun]

Question is, does a fifty four year old former TV sitcom star have the ability to make Vista suck less?

[navalvet]

I would not know from personal experience. Mine has been a Mac household for almost four years.

[NoCalDrummer]

I agree about put that $300 million into developing a working OS. And I have to laugh at the "Windows, Not Walls," campaign. It's Microsoft who builds walls. Walls that prevent you from using anything BUT Microsoft products. Walls that Keep Your Microsoft ALL Microsoft" [borrowing from GM's ads] and don't let other competing products from gaining a foothold. Walls that get built specifically to stop the competition.

Microsoft has a history of not being open. They see an up-and-coming competitor, then build an inferior copy, make changes in the OS to lock out the competition, then point to the competitor and say, "gee, it doesn't work as well as ours." This same story has been repeated time and again. WordStar, Lotus 1-2-3, VisiCalc, Dr-DOS, OS/2 and dozens of other less-known former competitors are now just footnotes in the history of computing. They either get bought or crushed.

And our [oxymoronic] Justice Department didn't have the chutzpah to split them up when they had a chance. I think Microsoft should have been split into at least four parts - Operating Systems, Applications, Internet Services, Hardware. It would have increased innovation for both Microsoft and its competitors and we'd ALL be better off for it. As it is now, these are tightly integrated, walling out competitors.

No amount of advertising is going to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. It's just going to make you want to buy the sow's ear.

[rcpmac]

"B" software

[colinmeister]

Jerry always had an Apple Macintosh in his appartment on the show. Of course, he never used it, just like he never rode the bike hanging on the wall. George stored the computers he lied to Frank about selling in Kramer's appartment. Maybe Microsoft would have been better hiring Lloyd Braun as their pitchman, or maybe they could have got Elaine to write some print ads like the pieces she wrote for the J. Peterman catalogue?
Jerry should just do his standup routine for the ads: "What is it about computers.­.. ".

[GQB]

Check out some episodes..­. the computer you'd see on the desk was always a Mac.

[KevinLoyalAmerican]

Maybe Microsoft should consider putting some of that $300 million into hiring programmers who understand computers, AND FIX VISTA!

[polaris12]

There is no way Windows can be fixed. They should start over and build a platform that works more like the Apple UNIX system - and make it open source.

[ewj1]

Apple Computers are great machines and the ultimate DRM rolled into one. I rather have a more open platform.