Well done, great Satan!

The Macalope has been awfully critical of Microsoft’s marketing for, oh, ever. So he thought he should give the company some credit for its new Internet Explorer campaign (tip o’ the antlers to Daring Fireball). It explains why IE is better and it’s really quite funny. Although the Macalope could have done without the vomit, even that one was amusing for the copiously long beep.

At the end of the day, of course, it’s still Internet Explorer. When the Macalope says the ads explain why Internet Explorer 8 is better, he means they’re really explaining why it’s better than earlier versions of Internet Explorer. What’s the outdated browser they’re talking about in the first one? It ain’t Safari, sister.

But this is marketing. And, for the most part, it’s marketing done right, very much on a par with the “I’m a Mac” ads. The only quibble might be the fact that the jokes are at the expense of the people the ads are ostensibly trying to reach, but it’s a fairly obvious conceit. And people really do want to share things, protect their browsing and keep up to date on multiple sites. So the Macalope thinks it works.

What?

No, he’s not drunk.

Well, not really drunk, anyway.

Comments
  • J.M. Heinrichs:

    Yeah, just like seven versions of Win 7 exist to offer the user maximum choice. None of the acronyms were humourous; when expanded, the phrase was not humourous. Mr Cain in tartan slacks: not really humourous.
    However, these should be a win-win for the MS aficionado groping.

    Cheers

  • Microsoft has made a lot of advertising gaffs. But every once in a while, they do a good job. The “I’m a PC” campaign was surprisingly good (although not great, it was good). Laptop hunters was pathetic by comparison.

    I think you’re right, though — these ads for IE 8 are pretty good. Just enough humor to keep you engaged, but still on-message.

  • bkharmony:

    I can’t bring myself to watch them, but I wonder if they dumped Crispin Porter + Bogusky, since they are not capable of producing a humorous, on-message ad.

  • Marc:

    On par with the “I’m a Mac” ads? Not hardly. The humor is tired and banal. If I were 12 again I might find it mildly humorous but I find the ads embarrassingly bad. And I could only watch about 7 seconds of the vomit ad. The messages of the ads seems to be:

    1) Dweebs and perverts like IE 8
    2) If you are not one of the above, IE 8 makes you vomit

    Great job Microsoft…. I guess in that respect it is better than anything Apple would dare come up with.

  • I’m not going to watch IE ads unless they include Angelina Jolie. Naked. Giselle Bundchen might be an acceptable stand-in. Maybe.

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