The “Zune Insider Blog,” from Cesar Menendez, a Microsoft employee working on Microsoft’s new music project, “Zune,” has posted five TV commercials for Zune that, in our opinion, further pave the way to Zune’s inevitable failure. These five spots all fail on many levels. They are boring, overly obtuse, try way too hard to be “with it,” and fail to inspire any feeling whatsoever of wanting or needing a Zune. These are not good ads. This is not a good advertising campaign. This whole Zune thing is shaping up to become quite the debacle. Zune is “MS Bob” for the 20 Aughts.
We asked our own SteveJack (16-year TV vet) to watch the ads and comment. SteveJack said, “Awful. Truly awful. Where do you want to squirt today?™ When will the rest of the world finally see that Microsoft is a failure masquerading as a success?”
As we’re fond of asking, “What’s brown and squirts?”
Picnic (90-second spot):
Battle (60-second spot):
Concert (30-second spot):
Dog Scratch (15-second spot):
Couple (15-second spot):
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “mango” for the heads up.]
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The girl that cuts my hair was there for the filming of the “Concert” commercial (but I didn’t see her in the 30 second spot). She said that the reaction to the Zune by everyone was pretty laughable. Oh, and they had to be told repeatedly not to “spin” the buttons like an iPod.
“Makes the iPod Ads look cold and antiseptic!”
Oh yeah..iPod commercials showing people dancing.. so uptight
Sadly, I think these commercials will be somewhat popular this holiday season. I noticed, however, that the Zune is not as prominently featured in their ads as the iPod is in Apple’s.
The proof will be in the puddin’ – what will people think when they actually use a Zune?
Road Warrior — Brilliant and funny — your ‘countryman’ is the idiot.
Uhm, I loathe anything MS but I honestly think 4 of the 5 ads could be very effective. (The dog scratching one is just embarassingly purile and pointless).
Others have said it too — the issue is not that “you have to understand connectivity to ‘get’ it”. IT”S AN AD! It is supposed to elicit an emotion that causes you to take an action. Period. They are saying that the cool people who hang out together and have friends, <u>have Zunes</u>. So the ‘logic’ follows that if you buy a Zune, you will have friends and get to hang around with cool people.
People keep complaining that the Zune isn’t featured prominently… NO KIDDING! It’s an AD! That they are secondary to the peoples’ lives is a BIG part of the message — if you are cool, you have one of these Zune thingies — no big deal about it — you just do, because you’re cool.
Any of you ‘ad experts’ ever seen a friggin’ beer commercial? Does Sam Adams have 100% of the market ’cause they talk about the product? Do the beer companies who only show hot chicks in bathing suits manage to do okay too? — well, it’s the same thing — buy our beer and you will be associated with cool people and hot chicks. Buy a Zune and you will be associated with cool people who are social, rather than what you really are which is a lifeless slug sitting around in your parents’ basement watching porn.
Sorry, fellow Mac o’ philes. MS makes <u>garbage</u> and the Zune <u>sucks</u>, both technically and practically. That doesn’t mean that the advertising is inherently ‘bad’ too. And of how much the Zune sucks will have very little effect on whether people will buy the crap or not. The point of advertising is to make you want something for EMOTIONAL reasons, not practical ones. (Feel free to research that on the Web sometime).
Is Microsoft gonna make a habit of coming to the party 5 years late, and then realizing they forgot their shirt, and their pants, and probably the underwear too? I mean Vista’s the same shit as the Zune in that respect.
Hey, no intelligent comments from Frank…he must be awake.
“We asked our own SteveJack (16-year TV vet)”
You missed a word, Jack from his writing seems to be a 16 year OLD TV vet.
First things first: As commercials I think they suck. Unfortunately, as a marketing campaign, they’re effective: first, because they suck, they will manage to stick in peoples brains. Second, they get their message across,Except the 15-second scratch-the-dog thingie. (WTH was that?) Third, they’re consistent – the message they spread across each commercial, except for the one i just complained about, is similar.
The bigger question to ask is two-fold: how long and how often will we see it once it comes out?Will it be like fast food, where every other ad is a Zune ad, or will we be lucky to see it twice a night like the Apple ads? Furthermore, how long will we see these ads following the initial couple of weeks, when demand (if any) dies down?
For the majority of us who read the blogs, the info news and all the BS on the internet about this stuff, we already have a pretty solid opinion in one way or the other, and when it shows up it will more than likely solidify our opinions of it. The majority of the world, however, probably doesn’t read this stuff, see the blogs and facts and opinions, so these ads will be their introduction to it. So while we will still feel that these ads are what they are, the effectiveness won’t be demonstrated until they start airing and people actually see the thing working. That’s when we’ll know how much of an iPod killer this thing really is.
(You can probably guess what your jobs are… Don’t you just love being a geek right about now?)
The commercials make the people and the situations look sleazy, and it is hard to tell what they are trying to sell. These are “atmosphere” commercials.
The sharing feature is really a way of making users into salesmen. You share a song with someone, they like it, it evaporates after three plays, so you have to go buy it.
Microsoft is trying to look hip, but it reminds me of the woman on Jerry Springer who tried to relate to her daughter by dressing like a teenager. Ick!
Wow, some response. Well I have been writting a while here, but to clarify, I am not a citizen from the Axis of AENUS (Australia, England n United States), nor am I from the Axis of Evil.
I am glad that the Americans are not offended. You people mind telling me which continent you are from, is that like North America or South America?
To those that appreciated the humor. Well done. I mean I knew the scatological ones would be flowing so much like diarrhea that Bill Gates would probably have to donate money to a research foundation.
So…. we were watching the ads in the marketing dept at my job. Everyone seemed to like the natural energy about them.
Very different than the iPod commercials, but still pretty good. I found more on http://www.zune.net
It seems they are going for a slightly alternative market than the iPod right out of the gate. They released the product to mp3 blogs first; put indie bands – instead of Bono – on the device; and have grungy punk rock and underground hip hop on the website.
I kinda dig it.
Looks like MS has found their target market – trailer trash punks.
A pedophile is 17% more likely to be a Republican than a Democrat. That is why this country is in bad shape. With so many Republicans in power, there is a greater likelihood that we have more pedophiles in our House and Senate. Do the right thing for our kids, and vote Democrat!
I’m with Buster 4 out of 5 stink. I actually liked the dog one…I thought it was funny…or perhaps agree with Buster that it was because you don’t see a Zune in it. Either way, it’s the best out of all of them.
So Wal-Mart is quick to stand behind Zune. Great, mullets sharing Motley Crue mp3s wireless.
FYI: Your grandmother can find them near the wall-mounted talking BASS fish in the “Nascar in a 8 foot Snow Globe” department.
Some free advice… ship Zune pre-programmed with the new Garth Brooks record, and sell it to the mouth-breathers.
ewww! Mullets squirting Motley Crue songs! I just threw up in my mouth.
got it!!!
The Zune II will allow you to TASER your mp3 to any Nano or iPod user.
The great thing about the iPod is that it appeals to everyone, from a 10-year old kid with her little shuffle, to an 84-year old grandma who received an iPod for christmas and listens to it all the time.
I don’t see the Zune being able to capitalize on this broad of an age range…they’ll get some teens, and some 20-somethings, but that’s about it.
It’s the whole “People over 30 understand” sort of thing…
Oh yeah, and these commercials just aren’t appealing. They don’t make me remember the product, of course I barely know what the product is, and unless I really like dogs, I’ll have completely forgotten the spot by the time my show comes back on.
Hey FOILCHEWER (great name), are you available for comedy writing? We’re crying here!
If the concept is strong and the advertising is well planned, we can sell anything. Unfortunately, the spots reak of “corporate cool” and fail miserably. However, we do like the dog scratching spot but could do without the “my cool dad” in his condo living room doing the VO scratching. What I mean by “corporate cool” is that there’s usually a group 50somethings who believe they’re plugged into what’s currently trendy and cool. Therefore, they’ll rush to approval without the benefit of target focus groups or by filtering the creative.
Zune will find it’s place somewhere. We’re convinced that Apple spends big $ to ensure successful advertising and marketing. But one thing Apple has above all is solid products. FOILCHEWER is right again when he/she spoke of capitalizing on the grandmother and Wal-Mart bumpkin demographic. They’re the ones who will buy blind. Trey, you also hit it when speaking of the mass appeal of Apple and retaining the product from the spots.
Hey Zune, the KIDS ARE ALRIGHT, and we’re smarter than you think.
Hey FOILCHEWER (great name), are you available for comedy writing? We’re crying here!
If the concept is strong and the advertising is well planned, we can sell anything. Unfortunately, the spots reak of “corporate cool” and fail miserably. However, we do like the dog scratching spot but could do without the “my cool dad” in his condo living room doing the VO scratching. What I mean by “corporate cool” is that there’s usually a group 50somethings who believe they’re plugged into what’s currently trendy and cool. Therefore, they’ll rush to approval without the benefit of target focus groups or by filtering the creative.
Zune will find it’s place somewhere. We’re convinced that Apple spends big $ to ensure successful advertising and marketing. But one thing Apple has above all is solid products. FOILCHEWER is right again when he/she spoke of capitalizing on the grandmother and Wal-Mart bumpkin demographic. They’re the ones who will buy blind. Trey, you also hit it when speaking of the mass appeal of Apple and retaining the product from the spots.
Hey Zune, the KIDS ARE ALRIGHT, and we’re smarter than you think.
Hey FOILCHEWER (great name), are you available for comedy writing? We’re crying here!
If the concept is strong and the advertising is well planned, we can sell anything. Unfortunately, the spots reak of “corporate cool” and fail miserably. However, we do like the dog scratching spot but could do without the “my cool dad” in his condo living room doing the VO scratching. What I mean by “corporate cool” is that there’s usually a group 50somethings who believe they’re plugged into what’s currently trendy and cool. Therefore, they’ll rush to approval without the benefit of target focus groups or by filtering the creative.
Zune will find it’s place somewhere. We’re convinced that Apple spends big $ to ensure successful advertising and marketing. But one thing Apple has above all is solid products. FOILCHEWER is right again when he/she spoke of capitalizing on the grandmother and Wal-Mart bumpkin demographic. They’re the ones who will buy blind. Trey, you also hit it when speaking of the mass appeal of Apple and retaining the product from the spots.
Hey Zune, the KIDS ARE ALRIGHT, and we’re smarter than you think.
I hope the Zune fails. I love all things Apple. These commercials are really really good.
wow….they have no point to them AT ALL!!! how do the commercials advertise the product? throughout the whole thing one has no idea what they are advertising!!! what? are they selling puppies?! “…the social” ? what is that like their catch phrase? it does not go with the product and does not make sense which is the bottom line. i dont see how they are going to compete with Apple’s iPod.
Does anyone think all the dogs in the commercials may have some kind of symbolic connection to the brown Zune?
Picnic: What is this about? Where is it going? The black/brown earthtone theme of Zune marketing is everywhere. Even the green grass is muted and drab. The songs tells me “Nobody cares about you, nobody cares what kind of drugs you’re on.” Er… yeah, I love you, too. Oh yeah, everyone loves dogs.
Battle: Better than Picnic, shows product more. Still drab, 1970’s look. Zune is for All in the Family?
Concert: I guess the “old footage” look that persists here is to invoke a Do It Yourself, homegrown feeling, in reaction to perceptions that iPod is too slick and for prettyboys. Feel the irony of Microsoft going all anti-corporate on us.
Dog Scratch: Ok, we love dogs, we get it. Now what’s your point? Your audience is dorks singing to ball-licking dogs?
Couple: I’ve had it with the 1970’s footage, Electric Company here I come. This one sells us on the file sharing Zune feature with two people close enough to follow Steve Job’s advice to just share earbuds. These two are obviously sharing a lot, might as well add ear wax.
PS: Compared to iPod TV spots, the Zune music selections are incredibly insipid.