File this one under irony. It turns out that metadata within the creative copy images from it’s latest “I’m a PC” campaign has bitten Microsoft in the, umm, butt. A Flickr user has done some digging and discovered much of the creative content from Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” website was created on a Mac using Adobe’s CS3 software suite. No, Microsoft Expression Studio apparently came nowhere near the campaign nor did a PC. Ouch. The best part about this story… Once LuisDS began revealing this to the public, Microsoft quickly scrubbed the files and removed the telling metadata from the photos. Did we mention that processing the files on a PC to scrub them more than tripled some of the file sizes? Oh Microsoft; you know every last inch of these new campaigns will be put under the microscope! Mistakes like this are not only going to be widely covered, they’re going to be detrimental to Microsoft’s efforts.
Additionally, Crispin Porter, the ad agency that created the Microsoft ads, switched out copy from their website last night. Before, on their jobs page it read, “Did you dream of harnessing telekinetic power as a child? Did you stare at your Transformers lunchbox for hours on end in a desperate attempt to invoke even the slightest fit of movement? Did you wise up, get a Mac and a lifetime subscription to Adobe, and send your lunchbox on an exploratory mission to the Martian poles or the strip club down the street? If so, do you think you could send us your portfolio?”
The new version? “Did you dream of harnessing telekinetic power as a child? Did you stare at your Transformers lunchbox for hours on end in a desperate attempt to invoke even the slightest fit of movement? Did you wise up, get a water-cooled PC tricked out with Vista and a lifetime subscription to Adobe, and send your lunchbox on an exploratory mission to the Martian poles or the strip club down the street? If so, do you think you could send us your portfolio?”
If you happen to work at an ad agency that actually does use PCs, there might be a pretty big contract up for grabs out of Redmond next week…
