Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Internet Explorer: Kids of the 90's



Oh Internet Explorer you’re confusing me!

We used to be good friends, we browsed exciting things together, went to new places, it was awesome for a while- then I realised you weren’t appreciating my loyalty, you were taking me for granted: You got me as a user but you never offered me anything new. I moved on, I went to Firefox.  And noooow you’re trying to win me back: No.

This is exactly how the new ad feels to me: this “kids of the 90s” rubbish, like a drunken phone call from an ex. Don’t try reminding me of the good times, I remember the buffering, the slow browsing speed and I do not forget easily.

Yeah I’ll give the clever clogs behind this ad a high five, they are definitely playing with the right heartstrings here, I mean hungry hippos and tazos? Come on! They are definitely pulling out the big guns, fair play. The styling is great I loved the font used, even the colours took me back, the bowl cut had me rolling around laughing (my brother sported one ’95 through to ’99) and they managed to pinpoint those icons that aren’t too overdone or too underground, well done. What kills the ad for me though is that stupid emotional score, WHY???, and the voiceover- it’s bordering on ironic but it’s just not quite there yet making it way over the top for me. It’s such a pity because, in all honesty, I was almost almost considering taking you back Explorer, almost.

Another issue I have with this, as I do with a lot of Explorer ads, is I can see you strategy, it’s so blatant. You want males and females between the ages of 20 and 28 to get your product don’t you? Probably students or entry-level jobs, living in cities? So uncomfortably obvious. We don’t want to buy when we think you’re trying to trick us into buying and we definitely don’t want to buy when you’re not even tricking us well.

I had a similar issue with “a more beautiful web” commercial although that was done slightly better. Once again- well made commercial, I was into it, until I realized it was aimed at me and then I felt awkward. Like someone being interested in you because you’re “just their type”, it’s just a put off. The one thing that that ad had that the other one was lacking: an incredible soundtrack, props to whoever discovered that songs because they propelled Alex Clare into the charts, smarty-pants.

I realise it must be incredibly hard for Microsoft right now, they definitely took their old users for granted and are now paying the price badly: they’re the brunt of jokes on the internet and they’re definitely losing users. Their honesty online is refreshing: they’ve created a website browseryoulovedtohate.com and they open with the line “we’re good now, really”. I like that, that’s interesting. I wish that they could convey that well in their TV campaigns. In my entire search I managed to find one TV ad of their which I found honest, insightful and slightly more subtle than the rest. And it has a cat joke- always a win in my books. So here it is for you to enjoy:


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