Jerry Seinfeld will be one of the key celebrity pitchmen in
Microsoft Corp.'s $300 million advertising campaign aimed at changing
its image, The Wall Street Journal said on Thursday, citing people
close to the situation.
Seinfeld, known for his eponymous television sit-com, will appear in
ads with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and will receive about $10
million for the work, the report said.
The attempted image overhaul comes in the wake of Apple's "Mac vs.
PC" ads, which feature a nerdy PC guy getting upstaged by a hip Mac
counterpart.
The new ads, likely to debut on September 4, is expected to use some
variation of the slogan "Windows, Not Walls", the paper said.
For its new campaign, Microsoft also considered a range of other
famous personalities, including comedians Will Ferrell and Chris Rock,
the paper said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Microsoft was not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty in Bangalore, editing by Will Waterman)
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