Microsoft's Marketing Misfires
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Microsoft's Marketing Misfires
A history of the firm's cringeworthy commercials.
Posted Thursday, November 5, 2009 - 8:37am
Despite its status as the most successful PC operating system of all time, Microsoft's Windows has always struggled with a serious image problem. The Big Money's Win Rosenfeld takes a look back at the history of the company's commercial catastrophes.
Comments
One problem...
Sorry to crash the Vista roll-out party, but the last segment is inaccurate. The clips about throwing a party were produced by House Party, a MSFT marketing partner (www.houseparty.com), and--however corny--were intended as private online instruction for members of their home-based marketing network, not as Microsoft advertising to "entice users to throw roll-out parties." The intended audience were members of HP's network who had already signed up to host events. So, as much as it might appear to fit the whole out-of-touch-advertising trend, including it in a round-up of consumer-facing TV spots is unfair and misleading. The rest of the piece is great, though, and I don't disagree with the overall point. For the record, this is not coming from some Microsoft apologist--I'm a 100% Mac user.
Totally agree
I totally agree that other than the "comparison shopper" spots, MS has made no ads telling us why to buy Windows. On the other hand, does MS even need to advertise? How many average users are really going to buy a OS upgrade? And those who would buy an upgrade are those who are technically savvy enough to already know there is an upgrade available.
A more compelling strategy is to figure out the features people want to do with their computers: digital photos (download from camera, organize, e-mail them), send e-mail, surf the web, connect to a printer, and show them how the new features make them easier. And please, no more ads with 4-year-old kids showing us how they created a 3-D animated movie and burned it to DVD--everyone knows that kids understand new technology so much faster than adults.
The comparison shopper ads worked because when a majority of people buy a computer, they are interested in two things: price and compatibility. How much will it cost and will my files work with files from my family/friends. People who want a Mac, WANT a Mac.
And that Windows 7 home launch party was so corny and fake. The woman towards the end gave a 2-minute elevator speech about Windows that sounded like it came directly from a marketing department.