Bernard Gauthier

It seems Microsoft has a hit with a new series of commercials starring “Kylie” — a five-year-old spokesperson from California. Who would have thought that an endearing school girl could somehow come to represent a company that generated more than $58 Billion in revenue and seems to constantly be entangled in some sort of anti-trust scandal. On one level, of course, the young spokesperson who flies through Windows with ease sends a clear message that the new operating system is so simple, well, even a child can use it. But there’s much more to this campaign that ease of use, it seems to me.

I think a big part of the success of the precocious spokesperson is how she comes to represent not only a quality of the software, but the personality of the whole company. Let’s face it, Microsoft is one of those giant Amercian corporate targets that most of us find hard to resist. Like Exxon, McDonald’s and General Motors, they attract attention and draw the ire of people who have an axe to grind with everything big, corporate and American. Somehow, the protesters don’t line up as enthusiastically to throw rocks at Ikea stores and Subaru dealerships.

Then along comes Kylie, who is cute, engaging and harmless. People love the ads and, slowly, they grow to like the company a little more.

There’s nothing new here, of course (is anything new in advertising?). In the early decades of the twentieth century, makers of consumer products quickly discovered that there is great power in using beautiful people to speak on your behalf. That’s why Julia Hoyt endorsed Ponds while none other than Princess Marie Yedigarovaspoke on behalf of Lux Soap Flakes. Even then, consumers paid more attention to what other people, rather than what corporations, had to say. More recently, Bill Cosby became Jell-O Pudding Pops, Michael Jordan became Nike, and just about everybody famous became an American Express card.

Spokespeople work because they attract our attention. Whether they’re cute, famous, sexy or just plain credible, they get us to stop and pay attention, if even for a moment. That’s a valuable skill. More importantly, spokespeople come pre-bundled with all kinds of attributes that magically get transferred over to the product and company in question. If Orson Wells is sophisticated and worldly, then Paul Masson wines must be too, right? Semiotician Judith Williamson calls this little bit of magic “transference” and - let’s be honest - it isn’t one of the more impressive habits of we consumers. It’s a mental shortcut; thinking about people we think we know if a whole lot simpler than thinking about giant corporations and complicated products.

So kudos to little Kylie and to Microsoft. Many consumers will enjoy the warm and cuddly feeling and some may even go out and buy Windows 7. Once they do, though, Microsoft will face the hard reality of branding just as they did with Vista. If the software and the customer service don’t live up the little Kylie’s promise, the very real experience and the very real conversation between consumers will quickly overtake the message of the TV commercials.