Abbey Klaassen at Adage wrote an article titled “Microsoft’s New Spot From Crispin Is an Ad About Nothing (So Far)” and my first response to the new Microsoft spot was similar. I posted this to Twitter immdiately: @cherp “That was THE microsoft commercial? Really? Crispin Porter delivered that…”

I realized today that the new Microsoft spot is the same as what I’ve been recommending to companies about Twitter - in the age of social networking successful marketing is going to be about the personfication of brand. Twitter provides a way for individuals to connect with you, or your brand, in a more personal way. I connect with people daily, read their tweets, gain insight about them, and come to feel like I know them. Despite only being a 50×50 icon and 140 characters, my tweeps are real people to me - even the brands I follow. A machine can send email, you can outsource your call center, but Twitter (for now) requires a real person.

Microsofts new ad campaign, in my opinion is trying to accomplish the same thing. To counter Apple’s “I’m a Mac” ads, Microsoft needed to be human again. Bill Gates IS Microsoft, and as smart as Crispin Porter is they should get Bill Gates on Twitter immediately - joking about his retirement and how he now has time to do things like Twitter. Microsoft needs personification of brand because to many they are just this giant, rich, forceful brand that tried to take over the world (and forced us to use Internet Explorer.) The current Twitter user base is a perfect place for Microsoft and Crispin Porter to look next. With a heavy Mac contingency, and the potential to reach so many bloggers, I hope to see them join the ranks soon.

Watching Bill Gates speak, it’s hard to see him as this modern conqueror of the tech age. For Microsoft, being human means allowing people to develop a personal connection to the brand. Apple seems to have been able to do this from the beginning, for other brands it’s going to take the right advertising and the right action. Twitter is one example of how companies can create a more personal connection through action beyond advertising and it’s a critical component to a personification strategy if the brand wants to achieve long term benefit.

Consider this, while many companies are finally starting to adopt blogs as a way to reach consumers more regularly with their message - are blogs still so controlled and edited that they lose the personal touch that a blog is intended to imbue? I think this is why bloggers keep flocking to Twitter, and why it could be the lynchpin in strategies to personify one’s brand.