Octagon First Call

Microsoft’s new $300 million ad push has received much attention recently. The company reportedly signed a $10 million contract with well-known comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Seinfeld stars with the company’s founder, Bill Gates, in two buzzed about (albeit somewhat confusing) commercials that broke a few weeks ago. Then, just one week ago, the company released their new “I’m a PC” ad campaign featuring a variety of celebrities (including Tony Parker, Eva Longoria, Pharrell Williams, Deepak Chopra and Bill Gates), employees and Average Joe PC users. The spot mimics Apple’s long-running “Mac vs. PC” ads featuring John Hodgman and Justin Long.

While Microsoft’s new celebrity-filled ads have certainly generated buzz around the brand, not all of it has been good. Unfortunately, the brand committed a costly mistake that has led to a considerable public outcry from bloggers and Apple enthusiasts.

Before engaging their celebrity spokespeople, the company failed to perform proper due diligence. A number of the celebrity endorsers featured in the ads have been seen using or written positively about Apple products. While the celebrities may still be PC enthusiasts (as the spot claims), consumers are weary to trust their authenticity. 

Studies repeatedly suggest that ads featuring celebrities have the ability to draw high levels of attention to the associated product or brand. Yet, in order for celebrities to be valuable, the audience must view the endorser as genuine. Thus, past endorsement deals, relationships with competitors in the space and personal connections to the brand/cause must be considered when evaluating who to engage. Otherwise, a celebrity’s conflicting image may cause your campaign to appear disingenuous.

Hopefully Microsoft has learned this lesson and will be more careful when selecting future celebrity spokespeople.