Microsoft Pri0

Welcome to Microsoft Pri0: That's Microspeak for top priority, and that's the news and observations you'll find here from Seattle Times reporter Sharon Chan.

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August 21, 2008 9:45 AM

WSJ: Microsoft using Seinfeld as Vista pitchman in $300 million ad campaign

Posted by Benjamin J. Romano

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld will headline Microsoft's upcoming $300 million Windows Vista ad campaign, along with Chairman Bill Gates, according to anonymous sources quoted in The Wall Street Journal.

Seinfeld will get $10 million for his work on the campaign, whose slogan is along the lines of "Windows, Not Walls."

The campaign is Microsoft's attempt to hit back at Apple, which for the last few years has trashed Windows PCs, and Vista in particular, in the public consciousness with its "I'm a Mac" campaign. Some ad execs I've talked with can't remember a campaign that has done so much to define a competitors' product.

The Seinfeld Vista campaign will likely be the subject of much discussion around Microsoft. I've heard from multiple sources that there was heated debate over whether to even launch a counterattack against Apple, which still has a small fraction of the market share for personal computers compared with Windows.

The Journal article didn't say whether any Seinfeld catch phrases -- such as Yada, Yada, Yada -- would be part of the campaign, which could launch as soon as Sept. 4.

What do you think of using Seinfeld and the slogan "Windows, Not Walls"?

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