August 22nd, 2008
Seinfeld target is not open source
I have been reading up on Jerry Seinfeld’s deal with Microsoft and this much seems very clear.
Open source is not his target.
I don’t even think Apple is his target. These are not product ads we’re talking about, but high-end image makeover ads.
I have some small insight into this, having grown up less than a mile from Jerry in Massapequa. At that time the town was filled with commercial actors and Madison Avenue types.
Jerry respected them. He has always admired commercial work and thus set himself up as the “gold standard” in that area.
Jerry’s assignment this time is to do for Bill Gates what Fred Astaire did for Ginger Rogers. Give him class.
Back in the early 1990s, believe it or not, Microsoft was considered cool. Now comics like Ink Pen use it as a punchline, a synonym for evil.
There’s your problem.
Enter Seinfeld, who knows the big check is not for the work but for the client’s respect of what they are given. It’s a guarantee of artistic freedom, as is using the director of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
Given that freedom Seinfeld offers magic, ads viewers won’t mute. That assurance comes from his portfolio, ads for American Express featuring big name co-stars (above).
My guess is the ads will feature Microsoft innovations like its Surface interface, aiming to turn Redmond back into a home of wizards, transforming Gates from Voldemort back into Harry Potter.
If open source appears at all, my guess is it will appear in a positive light, with Microsoft’s own contributions highlighted, and the differences between its licenses and others ignored.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 08/22/08
