the fruits of imagination

Leo Burnett says thanks

Happy Friday everyone.

Over the past few months, I have had the honour of corresponding with several of you via email or blog. The resulting conversations have been incredible learning experiences and we look forward to many more. I would take the time to thank all of you for speaking up and letting us hear what you have to say. Please keep it coming.

Shout outs to all our readers, wherever you are:

1. United States
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. India
5. Australia
6. Brazil
7. Germany
8. Ukraine
9. Phillippines
10. Signapore

PS. And finally, a big hello to our 2 readers in Uganda!

The New Microsoft campaign

Since the winter, we have all been wondering what Crispin Porter could do for Microsoft. It's an 800 pound gorilla with more than a few warts and at the best of times can be quite a handful.

For years they have been taking it on the chin from Apple whose snappy ads have been helping them steal market share. The goal this time around, at least for Microsoft, was to open up a conversation with consumers and educate them about Vista. But you must be careful what you wish for as the big secret is out and it less than glowing.

To be honest, it would have been nice to have a little more. Yes, their ads are funny (and must have cost a fortune at almost 5 minutes in length) but they lack a certain punch that Apple always delivers on. They play it safe with the mainstream variety of humour that you almost forget is supposed to be funny. And they don't mention the product very often and take time to highlight the fact that they aren't in touch with consumers; which in hindsight should be the other way around.

Their newest round of commercials feel like a completely separate campaign from the last one. Bill and Seinfeld were around for such a short period of time, they didn't even make an impact and they were already cut.

So far this campaign has been a bit of a moving target as it keeps changing every other week. But one could argue that their strategy hasn't changed. How would you describe it?

UPDATE: After re-watching the latest round of ads released today, I feel like the Mac vs PC stuff comes off a bit elitist.  Thoughts?

Coke commercial leaks new Bond sound

The new Bond theme song has been leaked via a Coke commercial for the new movie. Normally a film wouldn't want a brand stealing its thunder (one would think) but in this case I can imagine Coke had to pay to play.

Nice art direction and some cool choreography to boot...thoughts?