Microsoft AdCenter’s Confusing Commercials

by Jeremy Schoemaker on January 7, 2008 · 70 comments

Ok its a funeral… but something is out of place… LOL.. just kind of strange. As my friend David Naylor pointed out on Mel Carson dot com (Adcenter UK Rep blog) “you are trying to compete with Ask for this years most confusing video ?”


Video: Microsoft- context matters

Other Adcenter videos:


Video: Microsoft – Context matters


Video: Microsoft – context matters

I dunno what to say =P…. I think this is what happens when web 2.0 graphic thinking meets tv advertising… I wish them luck with it ;)

About the author...

– who has written 2414 posts on ShoeMoney.com.

Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.

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{ 68 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Chris Jacobson January 7, 2008 at 9:30 am

Those are brutal commercials. But what can you expect from Microsoft?

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2 sawya January 7, 2008 at 9:31 am

mmm i think they’re good

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3 HowleyKook January 7, 2008 at 9:41 am

I wonder how much Microsoft paid Jeremy to do these…

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4 Lee Bandoni January 7, 2008 at 9:50 am

Its a crap attempt at British comedy..

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5 Hustle Strategy January 7, 2008 at 9:51 am

That is what I was wondering. The comercials are great…

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6 Hustle Strategy January 7, 2008 at 9:52 am

i can see that.

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7 Affordable SEO - Terry Reeves January 7, 2008 at 10:06 am

I think it is an attempt at viral videos. I think it is not working like they hoped.

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8 SonicReducer January 7, 2008 at 10:21 am

How can this confuse anyone? They perfectly illustrate their point that context matters.

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9 Steve! January 7, 2008 at 10:22 am

That was the crappest ad I’ve ever seen!

Jeez

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10 Chris Bartow January 7, 2008 at 10:34 am

So I can advertise at funerals now? Perfect time to sell life insurance!

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11 nadnayr January 7, 2008 at 10:43 am

I don’t know. Personally I thought ShoeMoney’s performance in the first commercial was pretty good. He was believable as a priest as well as a Mai Tai mixing crazy DJing bartender.

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12 Lee Bandoni January 7, 2008 at 11:01 am

BTW , Did I see the “adstripe” on top of the blog earlier today? Is showmoney.com going to be offering text links?

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13 Contest Beat January 7, 2008 at 11:18 am

They need to take a cue from Google on simplicity

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14 nickycakes January 7, 2008 at 11:21 am

those are actually pretty funny. i liked them.

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15 Blackbeard January 7, 2008 at 11:22 am

Shoe, that is a fantastic job you did in the video. Seriously, did they provide the Hawaiian shirt or was that your own idea?

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16 CatherineL January 7, 2008 at 11:42 am

I too am amazed at Shoe’s hidden talents. He even did the accent right and he danced like a pro.

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17 David Wilkinson January 7, 2008 at 11:43 am

Showmoney.com aint doing anything mate.

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18 Vizion January 7, 2008 at 11:47 am

i am utterly speechless. One question is who is the ad agency that they used because i would def love to shadow the rep who sold them these p.o.s.’s

- if this IS an attempt at British humor I’m guessing Benny Hill time frame?

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19 Adam Holland January 7, 2008 at 11:54 am

Yup. Definitely british-esk…

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20 Justin Khoury January 7, 2008 at 11:56 am

Looks like Vista’s failure has made Microsoft completely lose the plot.

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21 Lee Bandoni January 7, 2008 at 11:58 am

Dam was watching Big Brother at the same time :) Very sorry for the typo!

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22 Will January 7, 2008 at 11:58 am

ShoeMoney, with that button up shirt on over top of the red one, I couldn’t see what company you were trying to promote. Too bad the commercial cut out before you got the button up shirt off to get to the red “Free Shirt Friday” shirt.

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23 devtrench January 7, 2008 at 12:18 pm

My thoughts exactly…you did a great job shoe ;)

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24 Justin January 7, 2008 at 12:32 pm

Was the first video a pun on Jeremy?

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25 How To Rule The World January 7, 2008 at 12:38 pm

Adcenter is so clueless about marketing and PPC they should just give up.

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26 Justin January 7, 2008 at 12:43 pm

LOL is that Jeremy in the first video?

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27 Hustle Strategy January 7, 2008 at 12:57 pm

i am waiting on the answer to this as well…

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28 Davide Di Cillo January 7, 2008 at 1:33 pm

the all concept make sense… it’s just that they really look creepy….

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29 Bloggingirl January 7, 2008 at 1:43 pm

^Haha. Very interesting commercial…

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30 jim January 7, 2008 at 2:15 pm

it makes sense but the ad is stupid…

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31 jim January 7, 2008 at 2:15 pm

Great? Unless you’re in the funeral business, why would you want to associate yourself with a funeral and someone being a ridiculous tool at a funeral?

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32 Blackysky January 7, 2008 at 2:41 pm

they try to go viral with that… those videos are not great at all… Today I saw videos of bill gates .. those videos were actully funny especially the one when bill gates was playing guitar heroes… or talking to hilary clinton LOLL
again microsoft miss the boat

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33 Kenric January 7, 2008 at 3:19 pm

I can see what they were trying to do, but those just are terrible. It’s a clever idea but they could have used better context examples. I didnt really understand the context confusion in the 2nd commercial, but I only watched it once.

It have been better if they use those horrible poor context examples that have been floating around the internet for years.

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34 Jason Brailow January 7, 2008 at 3:55 pm

I never watch tv so I haven’t seen those yet. Is that shoe in there?

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35 Suzanne January 7, 2008 at 4:10 pm

LOL … I liked them. I laughed out loud at the first two … third one was a bit lame.

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36 Affiliate Confession January 7, 2008 at 4:25 pm

The first one was frickin’ weird. It seems like Microsoft is a bit out of touch some times.

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37 Affiliate Confession January 7, 2008 at 4:28 pm

And the second one is completely stupid. It won’t keep me from using them to advertise though, but I don’t know if it will be effective cause it’s so lame.

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38 Alojate January 7, 2008 at 4:58 pm

is that really Jeremy in the commercials?

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39 Technology Slice January 7, 2008 at 5:00 pm

I don’t think they’re going to get too many people on board with those ads.

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40 Hustle Strategy January 7, 2008 at 5:57 pm

exactly they are emphasizing your point, that is why the commercials are great. they are kinda a spoof.

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41 BlackHatDomainer January 7, 2008 at 5:57 pm

Congratulations Jeremy, you look just great on those commercials!

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42 CVOS the man January 7, 2008 at 6:51 pm

I was expecting to see a shoemoney shirt under the black robe

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43 Coryan January 7, 2008 at 7:00 pm

Okay, I get the concept…but the execution leaves something to be desired. Hey, sorta like Microsoft Vista.

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44 Affiliate Confession January 7, 2008 at 7:04 pm

Yea, he kind of looks like the bald dancer dude. But Jeremy isn’t that far out of context like mr dancer is.

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45 Peqno January 7, 2008 at 8:16 pm

That s are great…

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46 will January 7, 2008 at 8:35 pm

OMG that bald guy is you!!! nah j/k :p some of the ask commercials are pretty good. The one where they are dancing and singing like a musical theatre performance was pretty cool. Yea it was random, but the viewer is left with “Ask” in their minds.

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47 Mayy L. January 7, 2008 at 8:36 pm

Yeah, they are certainly weird but they get the “not where it belongs” point across for contextual advertising.

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48 will January 7, 2008 at 8:36 pm

that reminds me… have any of you guys seen adwords commercials? Maybe I missed something.

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49 ebookbum January 7, 2008 at 8:38 pm

Uhhhhhh im confused…..

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50 Tevin Anderson January 7, 2008 at 8:56 pm

Those are just plain ridiculously bad…

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51 Phil January 7, 2008 at 9:00 pm

Yeah I disagree, they aren’t confusing one bit. They are, however, stupid.

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52 Joe January 7, 2008 at 9:14 pm

I just thought of a better commercial.

In the funeral one a guy jumps out of the casket and high fives the dancing guy. The old woman faints and everyone walks out in disgust. Tagline: “Microsoft AdCenter: We’re not really dead. Everyone just thinks we are.”

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53 Mike January 7, 2008 at 9:32 pm

I laughed my ass off at that one…

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54 Jon January 7, 2008 at 10:04 pm

Um,
They need to re-evaluate how their spending their own advertising money. They got ripped off so bad. Who approved this crap at microsoft? Thats pretty sad.

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55 Brnet January 7, 2008 at 10:27 pm

Wierd stuff..but then again that is what they are going for. you are supposed to think /feel how wierd it is..but they do a shitty job of tying them up at the end. The viewer is left still feeling weird when it’s over, when they should feel more of a resolution. Just my ANALysis. Also “context matters” …no shit sherlock. If you’re gonna advertise to marketers, ya gotta do better than that!

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56 John Loch January 7, 2008 at 11:07 pm

Obviously not. Why else would they be here. Context.. ;)

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57 Eugeniu January 8, 2008 at 12:10 am

I don’t get it , why people try to create things like this . First rule of advertising make the message very clear AND call for action . I bet there are lots of US business who don’t know how to use contextual advertising etc . Show an example , wow what a big ROI and show a damn old fat rich guy in hawaii with a beauty near him , throu something funny and voila .

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58 Eugeniu January 8, 2008 at 12:11 am

and damn make that url bigger and call for action .

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59 SatishSays.com January 8, 2008 at 2:00 am

Amen..

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60 Money School January 8, 2008 at 3:25 am

I can´t help and think they are pretty funny. A bit strange but still fills its purpose and the message is clear.

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61 Carl - Thatblogsite.com January 8, 2008 at 5:33 am

What in the world is going on there then. Very bad.

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62 DaveN January 8, 2008 at 9:12 am

Check out this ( warning pdf )
http://advertising.microsoft.com/uk/WWDocs/User/en-uk/ResearchLibrary/ResearchReport/Context-Matters-Microsoft-UK_.pdf

it’s all part of a large study done to show you …… well read the report I did !

DaveN

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63 Affiliate Unleashed January 8, 2008 at 4:11 pm

What in the world……..
That is certainly odd.

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64 Utah SEO January 8, 2008 at 8:11 pm

hahaha! too funny

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65 Scott Weaver January 11, 2008 at 12:55 pm

Good god. I’m starting to hate AdCenter more and more.

Just ugh with a side of ugh.

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66 RacerX January 14, 2008 at 8:58 pm

It is almost like Dane Cook wrote it…not funny..

(Sorry but he bugs me)

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67 Real Lottery Winner January 14, 2008 at 9:55 pm

hahahaha so cryptic

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68 Big Oak January 15, 2008 at 11:03 am

Microsoft has never been know for its ad campaigns. Remember the “You’ve got Microsoft office; time to dance!” campaigns….

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