2M views · Jan 8, 2009 · 4:17 · 0 HN recommenders · 5 mentions · discussed 2009–2020
A promotional commercial for Microsoft Songsmith, software that generates backing music from a vocal recording. The ad became widely known for its awkwardness.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN cites it as an infamous example of terrible advertising, though a few mention how big a splash it made in 2009.
“This is a much better promotional tool for songsmith”
Songsmith promo compared favorably to Microsoft's internal video.
This is a much better promotional tool for songsmith than that 'internal' video microsoft put out a few weeks ago. this video this is actually appearing to be a pretty amazing product.
“made quite a splash at the time with their famous video commercial”
Songsmith commercial made a splash in 2009.
Do you mean SongSmith? That wasn't 1990s, more like 2009, but made quite a splash at the time with their famous video commercial. link this video
“Microsoft has a long history of terrible advertising.”
Microsoft has a long history of terrible advertising. Here's ballmer in a tacky suit selling windows 1.0: link Windows 386 (second half, bear with it): link Songsmith: this video And of course, the absolute worst: link
“The commercial for Songsmith was one of the worst things I'd ever seen”
The commercial for Songsmith was one of the worst things I'd ever seen: this video I really wish your comment hadn't reminded me of it :)
“the introduction campaign for Songsmith is one of the worst things I've ever seen”
Also, to follow up, the introduction campaign for Songsmith is one of the worst things I've ever seen this video
