Of Bill and Jerry — How Microsoft Finally Reveals it’s “Inner Rock Star Geek”

For those of you who don’t know, Microsoft has been pretty busy lately making a few videos with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates. It’s kinda funny, you may want to look at them (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/).

There’s an interesting thing to note here. First, this isn’t Microsoft’s first foray with funny videos. They’ve been doing it for several of their events; the most recent of which was a video about Bill Gates trying different “vocations” to determine what to do when he’s retired. But this is their first attempt at something at a more national level.

So what does this mean? To me, Microsoft has found a hook. They used what seemed to work in small scale, and brought it to a larger scale with satisfying results. However there’s more to this than just funny videos.

Microsoft always reminded me of, well, people like me. The geek. The semi-awkward guy that knew a lot (and by the way, Apple would be the cool suave dude-guy and IBM the seasoned engineer). However, now they have something that they can show off that’s bold; their humor. They show themselves to be able to be funny, and funny in a way that makes their geekiness shine. Sorta like a rock star geek that has no inhibitions. Or someone you see in their car singing at the top of their lungs without knowing they’re being watched by people in cars around him. I think a lot of that is attributed to Bill Gates being in the video.

There’s something attractive in this portrayal of themselves; the “I’m a geek and I don’t care what others think” kinda deal. I think if they keep going with that image they could do pretty well. It make me more interested in Microsoft. Just my hunch; I don’t know too well about the industry to make an 100% accurate statement.

Feel free to sound off on this…

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