By Nolan Strong
Hip-Hop star Pharrell joins a cast of celebrities in a new $300 million dollar advertising campaign being launched by technology behemoth, Microsoft.
On September 4, Microsoft debuted two spots featuring comedian and spokesman Jerry Seinfeld and company founder Bill Gates, as part of the biggest ad spend in the company’s history.
One advertisement features Seinfeld and Gates shoe shopping while engaging in idle chatter and the second features Seinfeld and Gates engaged in conversation at a blue collar family’s dinner table.
Despite being on the air for less than two weeks, the company is pulling the ads, in favor of a new campaign featuring Williams, Deepak Chopra and actress Eva Longoria.
A Microsoft spokesman said the ad campaign was “completely in accordance” with the company’s plans and denied that a lukewarm response from consumers was to blame for the change.
The “second phase” of Microsoft’s ad campaign featuring Pharrell have the tagline: “Windows. Life without walls.”
Microsoft has tapped Williams’ marketing power in the past, as the hit making rapper/producer helped launch the company’s game Halo 3 in the United Kingdom.
It is not clear if Seinfeld, who was paid $10 million dollars to endorse Microsoft, will be featured in the print version of the advertisements, which are scheduled to debut this Fall.