Forget Seinfeld. Can Windows gurus help the Windows brand?

The day after it launched the first ad in its $300 consumer-focused make-over campaign, Microsoft is going public with some of the other planned Windows-branding  fixes it has in the pipeline.

Microsoft isn't opening brick-and-mortar Microsoft stores. Instead, this holiday season, Microsoft will be hiring 150 or so Microsoft-trained "Windows gurus" to work in retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City to help explain how Windows, Windows Live services and Windows Mobile PCs and devices work. The gurus will "assist PC buyers, similar to the Nordstrom model of 'personal shoppers,' where the focus is more on informing and supporting the customer than on the actual sale," according to Microsoft.

Microsoft also is revamping the Windows.com Web site to make it easier for customers to get technical assistance without the "geek-speak." The redesigned Windows.com site is online now. And on the Redmond Microsoft headquarters campus, Microsoft is touting its Retail Experience Center as part of a larger research facility designed to better understand "how consumers are experiencing the Windows brand at retail as they select and purchase PCs."

On September 4, Microsoft aired the first of what it is touting as an ongoing series of commercials "using humor and a light touch." The first spot, starring Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld, has been largely panned by commentators on my blog and many other sites across the Web for being too esoteric and not funny. Several folks have said they didn't realize they were watching a Microsoft commercial at all.

In case you were wondering, this is what Microsoft believes it is doing with the new marketing campaign. From the press materials Microsoft issued after the first ad ran:

"On Sept. 4, Microsoft Corp. launched the largest consumer marketing campaign in the history of the company, focused on the broad potential of Windows across PCs, the Web and mobile devices. The campaign is part of a larger effort to connect people with the power and potential that Windows brings to everyday life....

"The spot is the first and most visible sign of an ambitious effort by Microsoft’s Windows business to reconnect with consumers around the globe."

Microsoft officials also reiterated that the company is working closely with PC makers to launch new systems later this fall and beyond that will be tuned to provide a better Windows experience.

At least for now, it looks like all that talk about Microsoft taking the offensive against Apple was little more than talk. Granted, there are some who believe mentioning your competitors in any way, even humorous, does more harm than good to an established leader.

(Update: In a letter to Microsoft employees from Microsoft Senior VP of Windows and Online Services Bill Veghte (the full text of which is on Microsoft watcher Paul Thurrott's site) about the new "humor and humanity" marketing campaign, it seems even clearer Microsoft isn't going to fight back against the Apple and its "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" commercials. Veghte doesn't cite Apple by name in the internal e-mail. , saying instead: "I'm glad Microsoft is finally telling its own story. The bad guys have owned this conversation for too long." My mistake: The "bad guys" comment came from Thurrott, not Veghte.)

With the new campaign, Microsoft is spending its marketing millions to emphasize the appeal of the Windows platform (comprised of Windows on PCs, Windows Live services and Windows Mobile), as opposed to Vista or any other individual Windows release.

Let's just forget about that first Seinfeld commercial for a moment (or mercifully longer...). What do you think of Microsoft's broader consumer-marketing plan for the Windows brand? Can a couple hundred Windows personal shoppers and a less clunky PC-buying experience help Microsoft fight Apple, Google, Nokia and its other consumer/device competitors?