strategy

strategy / technology — 8 Comments
16
Apr 10

Microsoft unveils Thing One and Thing Two

Microsoft President of Entertainment and Devices Robbie Bach, holding his new pride and joy

Actually, it’s Kin One and Kin Two. I had my heart set on a “next of kin” joke, but I came up empty.

No matter, Microsoft has been throwing out plenty of straight lines this week with the Kin intro. These two phones are aimed at “the social generation” — further defined as the 15-30s who are “social networking enthusiasts.”

As such, the world of Kin is not a very grown-up place. It’s built with parts of Zune and the possibly soon-to-come Windows Phone 7. These phones are designed especially for the young ’uns — you know, with all that cool stuff the kids like to do.

They offer “the Zune experience,” except for one glaring omission: apps. So there will be no game-playing around these parts. Flash? Uh-uh. Kins are simply designed to be the perfect tool for social networking. Except for one other glaring omission: instant messaging.

But then that’s understandable, because they only connect to the Internet every 15 minutes. That interval is unchangeable (though you can force a manual connection). Hey, what’s a 15-minute delay between friends.

Watching the video demo, the interface does have some interesting features for its intended audience. And both models have pretty good cameras (although no photo or video editing). You can upload to any site that Microsoft chooses to enable — which currently does not include Twitter. Well, who uses Twitter, really.

To me, the two Kins just feel like a misread of the market. They don’t seem to be all that good at the one thing they’re supposed to do. More important, I question the need for a “kiddie” phone in the first place. The social networking crowd has plenty of great smartphones to lust after already, all of which provide a ton more capability. A Kin may be enough for a 15-year-old, maybe. For the 30-year-old, no way.

One thing these models will offer is an excess of logos. They’ll come wearing the badges of Windows Phone, Sharp and either Verizon & Vodaphone. I’m not sure if they’re all trying to take credit — or just spreading out the blame.

Bookmark and Share
advertising / creative / strategy — 2 Comments
9
Apr 10

No campaign lives forever

There’s a sad story circulating about Apple’s Mac vs. PC campaign. In an interview, Justin I’m-a-Mac Long says he “thinks they might be done.”

Who knows how true that is. But just in case, let’s pause for a moment of appreciation. Apple has had some amazing single advertising moments, but as a complete campaign, this is the granddaddy of them all. It started in 2006 and Apple/Chiat has been churning them out ever since. The list of Mac vs. PC spots on Wikipedia was so long, I didn’t want to hurt myself counting.

Obviously it wasn’t about quantity. This campaign succeeded on multiple levels. In the past, Apple had often searched for the right way to slam Windows (anyone remember “the hard way vs. the easy way”?), but traction was tough to come by.

Mac and PC had exactly the right personalities. Although the deeply anti-Mac crowd sees Apple arrogance in every message, the characters were charmingly human. This campaign has allowed Apple to pummel their competition brutally, but do it with the sweetest smile.

It has also been supremely effective. It made the differences between Mac and PC part of our public conversation. That was the modest goal at the start, and it succeeded beyond Apple’s dreams.

Few campaigns can last four years without going terribly wrong, becoming completely irrelevant or just losing the public’s interest. Mac vs. PC remained fresh. When a new commercial comes out, it still gets talked about.

Readers of this blog know that I have criticized the iPhone campaign for its three-year run. Yet I’m sitting here lavishing love on a campaign that’s run even longer. What’s with that? Easy to explain. First, I’m a bad person. Second, this has to do with a campaign’s depth, not its longevity.

Mac vs. PC has continuously evolved in interesting ways — every commercial makes a different point. There’s tension. Costumes change, we see new props, guest characters, etc. Even with your TV muted, you can tell you’re seeing a new spot. The campaign also thrives in the digital world. The Mac vs. PC web banners are far more entertaining than the pages they live on, always finding ways to surprise us.

Contrast that with the iPhone commercials, which basically use the same template every time out. They’re pleasant, informative, very Apple — and they deserve to die.

That’s because “good enough” has never, ever been good enough for Apple. The company has no problem killing off a successful product to replace it with something better. That’s been its attitude about advertising as well.

The iPhone campaign totally works. Sales are through the roof. But there is a huge difference between “it works” and “holy cow.” Apple has never believed in coasting with its ads, it has always evolved in unexpected ways. It’s part of their DNA.

iPhone ads just don’t distinguish themselves anymore. It’s become difficult to tell one from the next. Considering the huge role iPhone has in Apple’s future plans, and the narrowing gap between iPhone and its competitors, it’s actually surprising that iPhone advertising remains so formulaic.

So a tip of the hat to Mac vs. PC and its creators at Chiat/Day. If the campaign really is soon to end, I hope they have one hell of a send-off party. Maybe this will give them added incentive to start casting for the “I’m an iPhone, I’m a Droid” campaign.

Bookmark and Share
advertising / strategy — 6 Comments
8
Apr 10

The under-hyping of iPad

iPad ad in Wednesday's NY Times (excuse the bleed-through from the page behind)

Many of our fellow humans were underwhelmed after the iPad launch in January. Overall, they thought it was just too over-hyped.

Personally, I thought iPad was a very big deal. My only lament was that the launch event didn’t feel like a very big deal. It just didn’t seem like we’d witnessed a major moment in history. This isn’t a technology thing, it’s a marketing thing.

Not the end of the world, I figured. Surely things would change once the advertising kicks in. Being one of the most important launches in the history of Apple, something very special must be just around the corner.

Instead, it seems like the over-hype is being followed by under-hype.

The commercial that ran on the Academy Awards was a variant of the iPhone ads we’ve been seeing for three years. And in yesterday’s NY Times, Apple ran a full-page ad for iPad: just one word over the image of someone using iPad to view a photo collection.

If there’s a revolution in here, it’s pretty well hidden.

Looking at this ad, I wondered where the other half was. Maybe there was supposed to be an opposite page, a grid of six iPads featuring one seductive app after another. Or maybe the headline fell off. That one witty Apple line that makes us smile as it captures the importance of the moment. Hell, where’s the word “magic” when we need it?

It strikes me as odd, because iPad already does amazing things, and it will only become more amazing with the inevitable flood of imaginative apps to come. It’s a story of almost unbelievable magnitude — being doled out by the spoonful.

Obviously, there is boldness in buying a large space and keeping it so minimalist. I’m a huge fan of elegance and clarity. I just want to see people raising their eyebrows, ripping out the page and tweeting “cool Apple ad!”

I’ll cross my fingers that this is the first of 20 such ads, and equivalent billboards will be springing up everywhere. But a lot of people (like yesterday’s NY Times readers) only see what’s in front of them. And I’m pretty sure this story is a bit bigger than a photo gallery.

[Update 4.8.10 5:50pm EDT] Okay, more iPad ad sightings are now coming in. Here we have posters for Mail, iBooks and Safari. I’m assuming many different apps will be featured in many locations, which will make the launch feel more like an event. The no-copy approach works well in posters — but I do miss the Apple wit.


Bookmark and Share
strategy — 5 Comments
31
Mar 10

The joy of having a backbone

Last week Apple acquired the iPad trademark from Fujitsu, about two months after they launched iPad. Three years ago they acquired the iPhone trademark from Cisco, about a month after they launched iPhone.

Yikes. Any armchair lawyer could tell you this isn’t the ideal way to go about securing a product name. Once you’ve launched, your negotiating position pretty much evaporates.

So which is it? Does Apple have an incredible knack for getting itself into dicey situations? Or does it simply have a backbone?

The truth is, Apple often succeeds because it is willing to stand up for what it wants. Sometimes that requires going up against other companies. Other times, it likely involves going up against its own lawyers — who surely wouldn’t advise launching a product without first securing the name.

Steve Jobs has a refreshing attitude about lawyers. He listens to them carefully, and then he makes a decision based on many factors, including his long-term vision and short-term marketing goals. He wants to understand the risk, but he will decide if the risk is worth it. And oftentimes it is.

This just doesn’t happen in most places. Certainly not on such a visible level. When a company’s legal department issues a ruling, it’s all over. And since it’s the lawyers’ job to keep the company out of the courts, their opinions are invariably conservative. Some of the feistiest clients I’ve known would never dream of pushing back against the lawyers — even if it’s to discuss the wording of a legal disclaimer.

I can’t imagine IBM, Dell, Intel or any technology company exposing themselves to lawsuits over a product name. It’s unthinkable. But that’s exactly the kind of thing Apple does think about. Over and over, they prove that a little backbone can go a long way.

Bookmark and Share
advertising / strategy — 7 Comments
28
Mar 10

Microsoft gives us a good binging

An old boss once taught me to appreciate the absurdity of advertising by imagining the movie version of our meetings. From there, I started imagining the movie versions of meetings I never even attended — like the one that led to the above clip from the latest episode of The Vampire Diaries.

INT. MICROSOFT CONFERENCE ROOM — DAY

The Bing marketing group sits at a long conference table dotted with Microsoft-logo’ed, environmentally friendly coffee mugs. There’s tension in the air. The chief of Bing marketing, a man who strikes fear into his minions, needs ideas. Every attendee understands the urgency. In the public mind, Bing is but a pale shadow of Google.

CHIEF: It’s showtime, people. What do we have?

Awkward pause. A feeling of dread pervades. Finally, one young buck gathers his nerve and delivers the speech he’s practiced all morning.

YOUNG BUCK: I have an idea. Just think: Google has become a verb, right? You don’t search for something, you Google it. Well… that’s what we need to do. We have to become a verb.

Again, the attendees remain silent — this time out of fear for their colleague’s life. The chief looks agitated. The marketing pros in the room find the idea laughable, and sense the slaughter to come.

CHIEF: And, uh … how exactly do you propose we do this?

YOUNG BUCK (with inexplicable confidence): Two words: Vampire Diaries.

The marketing group starts mentally planning a going-away party. But then — a miracle. The chief ponders the thought.

CHIEF: Young man, I like the way you think. Let’s do lunch tomorrow. And I’d like to introduce you to Steve…

What Microsoft has done is pretty darn silly — because you don’t achieve Google status by pretending you’re a cultural phenomenon. This move reeks of the astroturfing Microsoft has attempted in the past. Google earned a place in our vocabulary by being good, not by putting on a play.

But as much as I enjoy deriding Microsoft, I hold the producers of The Vampire Diaries responsible. Hell, product placement people lurk around every corner, trying to sneak brands into a thousand TV shows and movies. Your production is not obligated to accept their pathetic offers — especially when they force you to violate the prime directive of screenwriting: to hook an audience on your fictional world, you must create a believable world.

In the show, we get a full-screen, amply branded Bing search, along with the spoken words, “so …. I binged it.” Since no one on earth has ever uttered these words, and since the character acts as if everyone speaks this way, the audience is indeed introduced to a fictional world. Unfortunately, it’s Microsoft’s fiction, not Vampire’s.

So in this particular episode, we have two villains: Microsoft and The Vampire Diaries. One has concocted a harebrained scheme, the other has fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

Bookmark and Share
strategy / technology — 2 Comments
23
Mar 10

A brand about a millimeter thick

Great brands have depth. They stand for something. Their products are a good representation of their values. Their customers tend to remain loyal, even when things get a bit wobbly.

On the other hand, some companies have only a thin shell of a brand. It’s less genuine, more of a veneer than a true representation of what they believe. And the thinner the brand, the more temporary customers can be.

Case in point: Dell.

Dell has just announced that their Android-based Mini 3 smartphone will soon be coming to the US (it’s currently on sale in China). So far, so good. Welcome, Dell. You have to figure that if Dell makes it, they must believe in it, right?

Well, not so fast. A quick glance at the online Dell Store shows that Dell is doing a lot of believing these days. They’re pretty much hawking every smartphone brand under the sun. BlackBerry, Palm, Samsung? You bet. Motorola, LG? No prob. Droid, Pre, Bold, Exclaim, Backflip… Dell sells ’em all. HP, in comparison, sells its own smartphone — and nobody else’s.

The message is pretty clear. Dell is more concerned about making a few bucks than serving up the technology they really believe in. If they’re just as happy to sell me a Samsung Exclaim as they are a Mini 3, exactly what does the Dell brand stand for?

Then again, if you buy one of Dell’s competitors’ phones at the Dell Store (I feel silly even typing that), you probably stand a better chance of getting the most advanced software. Dell glosses over this little detail in their Mini 3 press release, but preliminary word is that their new baby will ship with Android 1.6, while Nexus One is running Android 2.1.

As my favorite philosopher Charlton Heston once screamed: “It’s a mad house!”

Bookmark and Share
strategy / technology — 11 Comments
22
Mar 10

The curiously underfeatured Windows Phone 7

Close your eyes and think happy thoughts — you might not notice what's missing

It appears that Windows Phone 7 will soon be among us. During its incubation period, Android has come out swinging and Apple has continued to perfect iPhone.

Given how long Microsoft has been working on it (years?), and how far its competitors have come (very), it’s highly curious that Windows Phone 7 will ship with three noticeable deficiencies: no Flash, no multitasking for third-party apps and no cut-and-paste.

If you’ve been keeping score, those are the very same deficiencies for which Apple has been slammed by competitors and critics. Only in iPhone OS 3.0 did Apple finally get around to cut-and-paste.

Microsoft does claim that they’re working with Adobe to add Flash as a feature later (why this should take so long I don’t know), but the other items are omitted on purpose. This doesn’t exactly defang the argument that Microsoft copies what people like about Apple. Now they appear to be copying even the things people don’t like about Apple.

And so Microsoft must live with the consequences of its software design. Android will be emboldened because their “advantages” expand to include Windows Phone 7 as well as iPhone. Apple will be strengthened because the things they’ve been criticized for were just validated by the enemy.

One company who is threatened by Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft — which may have just designed itself into that awkward place between two sides of a vice.

Bookmark and Share
advertising / strategy — 7 Comments
19
Mar 10

Brother, can you spare a tweet?

I have a horrible confession to make: I subscribe to the Zune enews. Hey, at least I’m honest. I could just have easily started this post with “I have a friend…”

Of course, I only subscribe out of professional/morbid curiosity. And yesterday I found quite a treat in my inbox. Zune is running a promo. Basically, it goes like this: if you tell the world how much you love Zune, you might win a free one.

This idea is a tribute to the obvious. We need more buzz, so let’s bribe people to give us some. “Those kids” with their dang social media will do the work for us. Unfortunately, those crafty Zune marketers overlooked a big part of the obvious: how silly and desperate they look doing this type of thing.

When I clicked the link, it got even better. In the event that you’re not quite brain-dead enough for this promo, they provide a “sample” tweet, in hopes that you’ll pile it on in a similar fashion.

@Zune I remember the first time I synced my music with my Zune wirelessly, and I haven’t used a sync cable since. #ilovezune

Of course, you’re free to be as original as you wish. The only requirement is that you include the “#ilovezune”tag  in your tweet. Apparently “@ilovehumiliatingmyself” was already in use.

Good lord, Microsoft.

Bookmark and Share
strategy / technology — 6 Comments
17
Mar 10

Shrinking ray to shine on iPhone?

For a company that loves to surprise people, Apple does a darn good job of sticking to a schedule. In fact, they go about innovating in a most businesslike way.

Products are refreshed on a fairly regular schedule. New products tend to start off basic, and then bloom over time.

Look at the original iPod and you’ll get a serious case of the giggles. The thing is a brick. Just a thousand songs, no photos, no video. Apple spent the first three years finessing it. Then, just as competitors started to narrow the gap, they zigged when the pursuers were zagging. A smaller and cheaper model (mini) caught everyone off guard, attracting even more customers. The family continued to expand from there, with a still cheaper model (shuffle), followed by a sexier model (touch).

So — is this a time of reckoning for iPhone? The next generation is expected in June. Apple has spent the first three years perfecting a single model, just as they did with iPod. Now that the the League of Android is nipping at their heels, is this the time Apple shakes things up by starting to build a family of iPhones?

It may be hard to imagine Apple offering an iPhone with fewer features. But no more illogical than what happened with iPod — and Apple is pretty good at duplicating success. It’s not hard to envision the iPhone market opening up to even more customers with a super-slim iPhone nano offering full speed and new-model coolness at a reduced price.

Surely, stranger things have happened…

Bookmark and Share
advertising / creative / strategy — 12 Comments
15
Mar 10

Amazingly, HP does amazing

A change of pace from all that Apple talk. HP has been kind enough to deliver a juicy, brand-new topic into our hands. They’ve launched a new campaign with the theme Let’s do amazing.

Before I say anything, my standard disclaimer: creating great campaigns for big technology companies is not easy. In certain ways, it’s nearly impossible. None of us could produce a new HP campaign without taking shots from fellow creatives and Monday-morning strategists. So let’s be gracious and give the boys at 72andSunny some credit for what is obviously a lot of work. And then let’s pounce like wild hyenas.

First question: 72andSunny? What the hell ever happened to Goodby? Apparently, HP opened this one up to pitches and agency 72andSunny won the prize. That’s the way Goodby was rewarded for all the good work they’ve done (they’re still handling other projects for HP). I’m continually amazed by the way some clients treat their agencies. This really isn’t difficult. If you see your agency as a valuable partner, you give them the work; if you don’t, you fire their butts. It’s this twilight zone that wrecks relationships in the end.

Now, about the campaign itself. To me, it always boils down to the same thing: authenticity. In this case, I have to ask: is Let’s do amazing at all believable for HP? Does New Zealander Rhys Darby feel authentic as the personification of HP’s personality?

Unfortunately, the answer to both is no. This campaign is a perfect example of an agency fabrication. What HP does today is exactly what they did last week. One day they were “making the personal computer personal again,” the next they were “doing amazing.” There is no big new product line, no new company management, no new philosophy, nothing different at all. They are simply amazing. Groundless marketing like this is the reason most people think advertising is shallow.

I’m actually a fan of spokeperson Rhys Darby. I find him to be intelligent, curious, likable and funny. It’s just that from the start, you wonder why this guy is speaking for HP. He feels like a hired gun, and hardly a genuine reflection of HP’s corporate character. I’m entertained by Rhys, but I quickly realize I’m falling for the Gloss Effect. That’s what happens when you stack a completely unrelated layer atop a bad commercial so people might actually watch it. Kind of like Charles Schwab layering a cartoon effect over terribly boring real-person testimonials to make them watchable.

HP should really give thanks to New Zealand for this, because it’s probably the accent that makes much of this funny. Still, there are quite a few “not funny enough” moments that even Rhys’ peculiarities can’t pull off. More important, we never get any real sense of what is so amazing about HP — other than the fact that they want us to think they’re amazing.

Just as a movie must create a believable world for an audience to connect, so must an an ad campaign. HP has simply hired a comedian to tour the world and show us the big companies and easily hired celebrities who are using HP technology. The “shtick” turns out to be way too similar from place to place: people seem far more amazed that Rhys is coming to visit than they are about HP’s technology.

Exactly the way I feel.

Very curious to hear what you guys think…

(Some links if you’re interested: Dr. Dre ad, UPS ad, Rhys Darby interview about this campaign, and HP marketing chief talking about this work.)

Bookmark and Share
← Older Entries
Newer Entries →