Monthly Archives: September 2008

Indirect Authenticity

Written by Bryan Jones. Posted on September 18, 2008. Filed under something had to be said. Tagged , , , . Comments Off.

Waggener Edstrom flack Frank Shaw confirms that Microsoft is not going on with Seinfeld, and echoes his underlings’ spin that the move was planned. There is the “potential to do other things” with Seinfeld, which Shaw says is still “possible.” He adds: “People would have been happier if everyone loved the ads, but this was not unexpected.” unexpected.” (via Valleywag)

And with that, the Microsoft/Seinfeld/CP+B party has been canceled. During the campaign’s brief life there was quite a bit of angst over the disconnect between the company’s identity and the image presented in the episodic commercials. Now, though accidentally, Microsoft has reconnected the presentation with their true persona: Big Budget/Big Hype/Big Fail.

Just as Vista slipped off the stage to a cavalcade of cat calls, Jerry and Bill have left the building.

revenge of the nerds

Written by Bryan Jones. Posted on September 12, 2008. Filed under well flaired. Tagged , , , , . 2 Comments.

And I’ve been won over. I could lie and say that I wasn’t, but I watched all 4:30 of the (not a commercial) episode and thought,

A million people are going to watch this today.

Here’s the pitch: You could have a beer and a brat’ with Bill.

Bill Gates – Everyman. A billionaire everyman.

There are still miles to go with the campaign, but we are all on board anxious to see where we stop next.

Certainly there’s more to come from Seinfeld / Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Written by Bryan Jones. Posted on September 8, 2008. Filed under something had to be said. Tagged , , , , . 5 Comments.

Like Steve McQueen was a man’s man, Crispin Porter + Bogusky is an ad agency’s ad agency. They have what we all want… big budgets, trusting clients, and huevos grande. Hyperbole? Perhaps, but just consider a few selections from their creative portfolio.

The King, he’s theirs. Truth, theirs too. CP+B created the AND1 Mixtape Tour, a streetball league, as a vehicle to sell the upstart AND1 basketball shoes.

That’s the reason that I’m so bugged by the CP+B produced Seinfeld spots for Microsoft that began cycling through our screens last week.

Something had to be said, and it has been. Over and over again. Check out the the chatter tracked via Addictomatic.

The ad’s a serious head-scratcher. I’ve come to this conclusion; Either 1.) This is just the beginning of a compelling narrative, and there is much more to come, 2.) Microsoft aligator-armed it, reigning in the creative horsepower of CP+B, or 3.) My heroes have finally nuked the fridge.

My vote is for conclusion one, so I’ll wait to see what’s to come.