It's hard to say what the quarter would have been like without a major ad push in Q3. Maybe the ads were bad, but maybe their revenue would have been worse without them-- solely from a business perspective, you have to be careful with statements like that.
For all I know, their advertisement strategy is what saved the company from needing to lay off 20k in this announcement.
Unlikely. Those Seinfeld ads didn't actually try to sell anything. A bit of overpriced, mild brand reinforcement most likely would not have affected the company's short-term prospects.
By the way, what M$ is doing here is very screwed up. They're laying off the first batch (1400) immediately, but using the remaining 3600 as a threat to make competition cutthroat. I might just quit if I worked there.
For all I know, their advertisement strategy is what saved the company from needing to lay off 20k in this announcement.