The Rookies Turn Eight

[Editor's Note: I'm playing catch-up from the stomach flu. March 1st and 2nd posts will be shorter and more responses to current events than my more typical forward-looking analyses.]

I saw the newest commercial, featuring 8-year-old Adam, during prime time last week—either Thursday or Friday. This is the first with the boy. The others showed preschooler Kylie and 7-year-old Alexa.

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Adam's commercial isn't as endearing or as cute as the earlier two. But it appeals, nevertheless. Adam strikes me as a boy's boy. There's a toughness about him, which the commercial unfortunately diminishes.

Right, like this third grader (or so I presume) plays with cat toys. I would more expect Adam to take photos of his bros doing bike stunts and stitch them together into a photo slideshow. Mmm, has he got no friends? There's nobody else in any of these commercials. That's part of what's wrong with "The Rookies" series. Kids this age are obsessively social.

<br/><a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=70093f37-2fce-45cb-b90c-73c48b87c78a" target="_new" title="Adam">Video: Adam</a>

So, why are these kids alone in the commercials?

Online, "The Rookies" now features contests, three so far: 7 vs. 70, 8 vs. 80 and 9 vs. 90. The young and old compete to perform basic tasks using Windows Live Photo Gallery. The contests are for marketing purposes, which ad agencies often use as license with the facts. Alexa's opponent Allen isn't 70. He's 76!

She loses, by the way, by accidentally pressing the "publish video" button. She meant to print. I thought marketing was supposed to highlight product benefits, not show their deficiencies. Surely, if the products were as easy to use as the commercials and contests suggest, there wouldn't be any confusion about publish versus print.

<br/><a href='http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=6c744116-e86b-4e49-b49f-791b41447415' target='_new' title='The Rookies: 9 vs 90'>Video: The Rookies: 9 vs 90</a>

Adam competes against David, who the commentator calls 80 years old. But David says that he was "81 on my last birthday." David's story is timely: Storm clouds, a limousine and other items that remind him of the bad economy. But 8 wins over 80 by producing a shorter slideshow.

The 9 vs. 90 contest pits Dimitri against Dorothy. I presume Dimitri will be in the next commercial airing in the series. He wins by sending the photo in an e-mail without a subject line.

The contests aren't that exciting. As marketing material, I give them a solid C for execution, B for effort. If not for writing about them, I would have stopped watching about 30 seconds into the 7 vs. 70 contest. What's your reaction? Are the newer Microsoft "I'm a PC" commercials any better, worse or about the same as the others? Please share in comments or by e-mail.

[Please send your tips or rumors to watchtips at live.com.]