The New York Times Calls the New Microsoft ‘I’m a PC’ TV Commercials Risky — Guru Calls Them Right On.

Last Thursday Microsoft switched to the next phase of its $300 million television campaign. Thank God.

I can’t imagine why the New York Times considers it both ambitious and risky. Risky is being so bland, BS-sy and boring that your chief rival Apple is allowed to brand-nap your product and millions of users.

While some found the quixotic commercials featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld in search of real people worth a watercooler chat, many (including moi) found them baffling. But after the many years I spent working on Microsoft projects, I have a pretty good grasp of why the company felt it needed to take a gigantic leap away from advertising as usual.

Happily, ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky could tap into local talent. In recent years, Bill has decidedly morphed away from being the Evil Dictator of the Evil Empire to becoming a kind of folksy spokes-geek. He always played that role in the playful company videos that typically first aired during his Comdex or CES keynotes. It suits him.

The new campaign, which carries the theme “Windows. Life without walls,” still features Bill, this time in a cameo role, with the humble-pie email address: bill@windows.com.  In the new spots, he is surrounded by everyone from celebrities like Deepak Chopra and Eva Longoria to everyday PC users, from scientists and fashion designers to shark hunters and teachers, showing off their individualism.  And their pride in using their PCs.

 But what it really does well is what everyone says Obama should do — hit hard at the competition.

The new “I’m a PC” spots are so right on, even for this proud owner of a glossy green Mac Book, that all I can say is ‘It’s about time.’

PS: The new ‘I’m a PC’ group on Facebook already has 527 members.

Update: Straight from Appleinsider’s Irony Files comes this tidbit — the ‘I’m A PC’ commercials were actually made on Macs. A Flickr user named LuisDS made the discovery. AppleInsider says he found traces of Apple’s Mac OS X operating system and Adobe’s Creative Suite 3 in the metadata files of the video.

Purple Reigns at Yahoo While Over At Microsoft, Bill & Jerry Yada Yada Over Nothing.

Given the sobering news being served up today by Wall Street, maybe we need our major corporations, those that are solvent anyway, to kick up their heels and act a little goofy.

Yahoo’s Yodel Anecdotal claims the new Start Wearing Purple campaign is all about celebrating what’s intrinsically Yahoo — innovation, spirit, quirkiness, ingenuity, daring and connectedness. After all the Purple People have been through in the past year — Steve Ballmer, Carl Icahn, shareholder lawsuits, the mass exodus of key execs, you can’t blame them for trying to drum up a bit of purple power via customized purple bikes, trains, sprinklers and signs.

Microsoft’s Bill & Jerry Show is all about sparking a conversation. The second commercial in the series is called New Family, and features Seinfeld and Gates trying to ‘get to know real people’ by moving in with a real family. Bizarrity ensues. The new spot has already racked up one million + page views and 1764 text comments on just one youtube post:

Random viewer 1  — hahaha wtf bill gates. wtf
Random viewer 2  —HAHA that was funny, eithier u get it or dont get it type of commercial.
Random viewer 3  —This is really off the charts. These ads stay in your mind.
Random Viewer 4 (screenname ‘consultant’ something, which makes any comment suspect) —I absolutely love these new videos. It’s all about individuality, the power of choice versus forced perception.
Random viewer 5 —I don’t really understand these commercials, and no one I know can explain it to me. Can someone please explain it to me?