Why Did Microsoft Choose Seinfeld for their?

I have previously written about Seinfeld as the model for Microsoft’s 300 million dollar campaign and asked whether he was the right man for the job (found here). In my own excerpt: Anyways, Seinfeld could give Microsoft Vista a boost but I don’t think he is at the top of his career right now to make that happen. Seriously, I would rather get Adam Sandler to do the job. If Adam can use Vista, then everyone should be able to. :) I am a big fan of Adam and I think he can make this item cool even for kids.

I really didn’t feel he was right for the job since I was never a fan of his show and it wasn’t a buzzword during my time when he was at the prime of his career.

Apparently, ComputerWorld has written an article discussing why Seinfeld was the right man. As was written: “He’s ageless,” says marketing guru Sergio Zyman, who argues that choosing Seinfeld is consistent with what Microsoft, as the still-overwhelming market leader, really needs to do.

“I think the strategy has to be to reassure all of the consumers still using Windows that ‘Hey, you’re OK, you’re still cool,’” said Zyman, who was chief marketing officer at Coca-Cola in the 1980s . “If you actually came up with a commercial that was kind of the reverse of the ‘I’m a Mac’ ones, with a cool guy portraying Windows, that’d be too much on the edge, and you’re not going to get away with that.”

I would agree on that point that it would be foolish to come up with a version similar to that of MAC and Microsoft would look pathetic, at least to the media. Microsoft is using Seinfeld because it directly relates and targets the decision makers of the industry, those people in their 50s. Seinfeld is 54 years old which is in the range of most of the CTOs and CEOS in the world. Why need a MAC copycat? We all know, that the MAC concept of hip is about “bells, whistles, noise, show for the road kind of stuff” and Microsoft is all about the “numbers game, bottomline, marketshare, world dominance, licenses).

Choosing the ageless guy as referred to by Zyman only means Microsoft is all about reliability, stability and dependability before, today and in the future. This is the scenario Microsoft is facing given that Windows 95 and XP were big hits and being adopted massively in the enterprise and consumers alike. The release of Vista tainted that reputation even after Microsoft has made Vista stable and reliable already. Seinfeld should be able to bring the positive reputation back and remind the decision makers of how strong Vista is compared to its predecessors.

I just hope  French director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine) does a good job on the commercial which is expected to go on air on September 4 next week.