How to make Office exciting

Microsoft Office 2010, that is.

Not bad as a video and in generating interest --- okay, fine, curiosity in the product.

I'm still skeptical though, since it's bound to be bloated and eat up a lot of space like previous versions (and if you need to produce a super-high quality trailer for a faux-movie to promote your new software.... maybe it needs all the help that it can get?)

And if you ever tried the Mac versions, you've probably been frustrated by the clunky interfaces too. That's why I usually work with Apple's iWork instead. Makes my life simpler and I get through work faster -- unless I need to export to something my Windows-using friends will need.

I'm a PC (another new set of commercials from Microsoft)

What's with Microsoft lately?

Here's a NEW set of commercials barely two weeks after the premiere of the Jerry Seinfeld - Bill Gates fiasco. (Which you can read and watch here and here.)

These are better than the previous set, I guess, in that they're more human and therefore more believable.

But wait.

What's the real message here? Oh yeah. "Normal people like you and me use PCs, not Macs."

Uh, dude, we knew that already. Most of the human race uses Microsoft. So what's the big deal about that? (I don't know.)

I also disagree with the strategy of defining or creating a campaign as a response to a competitor's campaign. You're throwing the ball in Apple's court, Microsoft.

Oh and by the way, I think this would've been cute and effective if you had done this when the original Mac vs PC ads aired --- three years ago.

(And somewhere in Richmond, you have some marketing guy muttering: "Oh crap -- back to the drawing board!")

Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates' horrible SECOND Microsoft commercial

Ok. It's not as bad as the first one.

It's actually a bit funny too.

But I still don't see how Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld trying to get a "Simple Life" as a middle-aged Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie can help Microsoft sell more software. Or be perceived to be thought leader in software, the Internet or whatever.

If any, the only thing I'm getting out of this is .... hey, Bill Gates looks like the PC guy in the Mac commercials, doesn't he? He's a goofy, nerdy, even a bit loveable kind of a dork.

Waittaminit, is this supposed to be about refurbishing Bill Gates' image?

But okay, it's funny -- so watch it to get a laugh (it'll try your patience because it's long at 4 minutes 30 seconds) but I don't expect you to change your opinion about Microsoft just yet.

Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates' horrible new Microsoft commercial

Jerry Seinfeld is back in a commercial that, in true Seinfeldian fashion, is actually about nothing.

Come on: The Future... Delicious??? Eh?

This is another one of those Crispin Porter Bogusky creations so it's actually working according to plan: I'm talking about it.

Never mind that I'm talking about how BAD it actually is.

And never mind that I'm talking about the creator of the ad and NOT the product / brand either.

This is not the first time I've said something about them, incidentally. (Look here.)

Something's gone wrong somewhere, boys. Again. Shouldn't you guys be rethinking this whole idea of "publicity is good, no matter what kind of publicity"?