A commercial about . . . nothing Microsoft’s Shoe Carnival – Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates – TV ad

Microsoft has been Apple’s punching bag for what seems like forever. Apple has invested hundreds of millions of dollars behind both the I’m a Mac ads as well as the ubiquitous iPod ads. We’re so cool . . . it’s painful. Lumbering giant Microsoft saw its weird VIsta launch fall flat. On the other hand, its Zune ads were actually much cooler than the product.

Microsoft has brought in the big gun – Jerry Seinfeld – in an effort to make its brand more relevant, and assumedly to address the thousands of slights dished out by the folks in Cupertino.

When you spend a few hundred million bucks and you’re the giant in the business, anything you do gets attention. This ad does that, though it doesn’t really sell much of anything.  Jerry Seinfeld has a weird series of interactions with Bill Gates in a shoe store and the parking lot afterwards.

This is no doubt setting up a series of ads that we can only hope make more sense. This doesn’t tickle the funny bone, doesn’t make much sense, and isn’t something that we want to see over and over again. We are talking about it, but I’m not sure that conversation alone is enough to address Microsoft’s brand deficits. Only time will tell if this turns into something more interesting – but the pilot episode doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.