Microsoft AdCenter’s Confusing Commercials

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

mmm i think they’re good

I wonder how much Microsoft paid Jeremy to do these…

Its a crap attempt at British comedy..

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

i can see that.

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

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

That was the crappest ad I’ve ever seen!

Jeez

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

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.

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

They need to take a cue from Google on simplicity

those are actually pretty funny. i liked them.

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

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

Showmoney.com aint doing anything mate.

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?

Yup. Definitely british-esk…

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

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

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.

My thoughts exactly…you did a great job shoe

Was the first video a pun on Jeremy?

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

LOL is that Jeremy in the first video?

i am waiting on the answer to this as well…

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

^Haha. Very interesting commercial…

it makes sense but the ad is stupid…

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?

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

is that really Jeremy in the commercials?

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

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

Congratulations Jeremy, you look just great on those commercials!

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

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

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

That s are great…

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.

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

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

Uhhhhhh im confused…..

Those are just plain ridiculously bad…

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

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.”

I laughed my ass off at that one…

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.

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!

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

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 .

and damn make that url bigger and call for action .

Amen..

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

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

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

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

hahaha! too funny

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

Just ugh with a side of ugh.

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

(Sorry but he bugs me)

hahahaha so cryptic

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

[...] Microsoft Adcenter UK guy Mel Carson (sorry mel I dunno your title ) has written a great in depth article which shows what they were doing with the commercials I talked about last week. [...]

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