Microsoft: "No plan" to bring back Seinfeld ads

Was just a teaser campaign

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10 October 2008 0:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Microsoft has confirmed to Pocket-lint that the Seinfeld ads will never appear in the UK and that Americans are unlikely to get any more either.

The comments, made by John Curran, Windows Client business lead for Microsoft in the UK, come as the company prepares to bombard the UK with its very own version of the "I'm a PC ads" currently showing Stateside.

"As I understand it there is no plan to bring back the Gates and Seinfeld adverts. We won't be running them in the UK", Curran told us.

The reason? Seems us Brits are far too clever.

"We never planned to bring the Seinfeld ads to the UK as we felt that people would be already talking about them. It was designed as a teaser to get the conversation started, and that they did. It's too late to start from the beginning. People are cleverer than that."

The adverts will follow the same format, but will feature UK people rather than candid Americans.

This is just the start Curran told us before outlining that Microsoft hopes to develop the concept further to play on its many different branches of the company like its Mobile OS offering.

Curran, although not admitting that the ads were a response to the successful Apple "I'm a Mac" advertising campaign, did concede to Pocket-lint that Microsoft has let other companies "put misconceptions in the marketplace".

"We are learning, we've been doing some soul searching", said Curran. "We've gone too long and too far without engaging consumers. In the past we've been more technology centric, here what we are really talking about is the full set of experiences Windows can offer."

The new Windows consumer advertising campaign launches on Saturday 11 October in the UK, without any comedic help from the Seinfeld and Gates duo.