Posts Tagged: microsoft windows 7

strategy — 10 Comments
25
Jan 10

Microsoft: needing a lesson from Disney

Attn: Microsoft — you have a message from Uncle Walt

As the Apple love-fest enters a new phase this week, I couldn’t help thinking about how some brands are so good at bonding with customers — while others excel at shooting themselves in the foot.

I flashed back to a moment I had in Disney World recently with my 12-year-old son. In an attempt to dazzle him with the depth of my Disney knowledge, I told him how, eons ago, you couldn’t just go on any ride you wanted. You had to buy this silly book of tickets (E-Tickets were the really cool rides), then hassle with buying extra tickets when you inevitably ran out.

“That’s stupid,” my son observed, “I bet nobody came here then.”

Pretty good logic, kid. But the truth, of course, is that tons of people came here then. It’s just that the Disney people were smart enough to look past the gaudy numbers and realize they could do it better. There was a way to make customers feel happier still, and pull them even closer to the Disney brand. The one-price, all-attraction pass was born.

I get the feeling Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer have never visited Disney. Or Universal, or Six Flags, or any of the major parks — since those businesses have all adopted the same winning system. The way they sell Windows is a hassle. It’s about Microsoft first, the customer second.

They’ve gotten a wee bit better with Windows 7, but still cling to the old model. There are now ”only” three versions at retail: Home Premium ($120), Professional ($200) and Ultimate ($220). The “good” version takes some serious investment.

Meanwhile, over at Apple, they’re selling the all-attraction pass. Only one version of Mac OS X exists. It’s got everything in it. It’s for students and moms, Hollywood film editors and scientists — and it’s priced at Microsoft’s low end. Like Disney, Apple realized (a) it’s easier to market one product, (b) it’s easier for customers to understand one product, and (c) it’s good business not to make people feel like they’re being gouged for every nickel.

Imagine how much happier Microsoft customers would be if there were only one version of Windows 7, all features included, reasonably priced. Just a fleeting knowledge of human behavior tells you that more people would buy the product — and more people would feel good about buying it.

Maybe then they’d actually have something to dance about in those Microsoft Stores.

advertising / strategy — 10 Comments
9
Nov 09

Astroturfing with Microsoft

astroturfAnyone familiar with the term astroturfing? It’s what happens when a company or organization tries to create a grassroots movement — using fake grass. That is, they scheme to give their cause the appearance of a popular movement, when they’re actually out for themselves. Sound like anyone we know? We’ve been analyzing Microsoft’s efforts one by one, but when you zoom up for the aerial view, the pattern is pretty darn clear. Microsoft is on an astroturfing tear:

Look at the Laptop Hunters campaign — featuring real people searching for the perfect laptop. Oh. They’re actors.

Look at the Windows 7 launch parties — using you to enlist your friends and relatives into the revolution.

Look at the Microsoft Stores hype — promoting concert ticket giveaways to help build that frenzied crowd on opening day.

Look at the new Windows 7 campaign — portraying the new OS as a product “built by the people.”

One little problem: you can’t start a grassroots movement for a company that owns 95% of the market.

Microsoft knows that people don’t like them, so their solution is to, uh … show people liking them. There’s logic to this, but only to the terminally unimaginative.

In stark contrast to Microsoft’s astroturfing, Apple uses real customers in their ads only rarely — yet they’ve created super-passionate advocates. They don’t use other happy customers as a lure, they simply present their products in a variety of interesting ways. They strike a chord with current and new customers alike.

Great advertisers have always understood that authenticity is what connects with customers. When Nike celebrates the spirit of the athlete, it’s authentic. When Mini-Cooper talks about the fun of driving, it’s authentic. When Microsoft shows off a rising tide of happy enthusiasts — we can’t help but smell the fresh plastic.

[A big thanks to my writer friend Andrew Tonkin in LA for inspiring this topic. Check him out.]

advertising / creative / strategy / technology — 10 Comments
27
Oct 09

W7: another one of your big ideas

Why Microsoft created their secret Windows 7 commercials will remain a mystery. The real campaign broke on W7 launch day, and the final marketing theme has been revealed. Basically, it’s “you asked for it.”

I may not be a Windows or Microsoft enthusiast, but as a fan of advertising I can’t help feeling that this effort is just an opportunity wasted. A huge, unmistakable, perfect-storm opportunity served up on a silver platter. Hold that thought for a minute.

The “you asked for it” strategy is valid. Not inspiring, but valid. You’ve got a billion potential customers, many of whom felt abused by Vista, and you want them to feel some ownership of Windows 7. It’s not unlike the old creative director’s trick of presenting a new campaign to a client by saying, “At our last meeting, you said something that really got us going…” I always wondered if they believed that. I also wonder if Microsoft’s customers will believe it.

Creatively, it’s another story. What we get is mass-market, feel-good, seen-it-before pap — the opposite of aspirational. There’s little authenticity here, though I empathize with the problem. Microsoft has never succeeded in creating a brand persona, so they’re stuck with the one that’s been created for them. And the good-natured benefactor we see here is definitely not it. I guess they believe that by showing us ordinary folk, they can be “one of the guys” — but it doesn’t work that way.

It’s always a risk to show real people in a campaign like this, because your viewers, consciously or subconsciously, have to ask themselves “do I really want to be like that person?” In many of the Windows 7 spots, especially the one above, the answer more than likely is “I’d rather kill myself.”

But what Microsoft did here isn’t nearly as disappointing as their failure to do more. This moment could have been historic. Any ad person who hadn’t already sold his/her soul would have gladly done so for the opportunity to introduce the technology that will be used by 90% of the planet’s computers. Having been proclaimed “the best Windows ever” by reviewers and users for months, it’s a guaranteed hit — a no-risk proposition. If ever an advertiser had permission to be bold, to be brave, to create something truly memorable — this was it. This was Microsoft’s “iPhone moment,” the magic time that exists only because of the 10-15 years that played out before, when all the world is watching. Windows 7 is the company’s core product, and this campaign could not only have presented W7 as a landmark in computing, it could have served to help create the brand personality Microsoft has been missing. It was all there for the taking, and they chose to be harmless instead.

It’s really quite a shame. Unless you’re a Mac user, of course — in which case it’s kind of like one big Windows 7 launch party.

(FYI, there are a number of spots running in this campaign now. If you’re interested, here are the links to the launch ad and another my idea spot.)

strategy — 10 Comments
22
Oct 09

Michael Dell, truth-teller

The buck starts here (but why did he allow that wrong logo to appear behind?)

Apparently he likes almost all of the products he makes



Michael Dell’s remarks at a recent Churchill Club dinner in Silicon Valley shed an interesting light on the values of his company and the state of the PC industry as a whole.

First,  he dumped on the whole idea of netbooks. “Take a user who’s used to a 15-inch notebook and then give him a 10-inch netbook,” Dell said. “He’ll say ‘Hey, this is so fantastic. It’s so cute. It’s so light. I love it. But about 36 hours later, he’s saying ‘The screen’s gonna have to go. Give me my 15-inch screen back.’” Dell also said that “a fair amount of customers” weren’t too crazy about the low performance.

It won’t exactly cause an earthquake that Michael Dell is dissing the concept of an Insprion Mini 10 at the same time he’s selling them by the truckload. But just imagine the news it would make if Steve Jobs stepped up to the mike and said, “You’ll love how thin a MacBook Air is, but once you spend a few days with it, you’ll start missing that MacBook Pro.” We do hold different companies to different standards.

But Dell wasn’t done yet. Moving on to more manly machines, he said that when you get the latest processor technology, along with Windows 7 and Office 2010, “you will love your PC again. We actually have not been able to say that for a long time.” Of course, over the last three years he’s shown no signs of moral dilemma about taking people’s money in exchange for those hard-to-love Vista computers.

Clearly there’s little danger of Michael Dell ever being confused with Steve Jobs. But Dell’s own words shine a thousand-gigawatt spotlight on the stark differences between the two — as personalities and champions of different business models. Dell lives in an ultra-competitive world that’s all about numbers. Jobs lives in an equally competitive world that’s all about innovation.

The difference between the two can be seen in every product they make. If you listen, you can also hear it in every speech they make.

strategy / technology — 9 Comments
13
Oct 09

Windows 7′s bad attitude

The fixed the product, now fix the attitude

The product is improved. The attitude, not so much.

To read the pre-release reviews of Windows 7, one would think the scourge of Vista is behind us. Even WSJ’s Walt Mossberg, long a believer in Mac OS X superiority, suddenly sees OS equality.

Well, not so fast. There may be a smaller technology gap, but I’m afraid we still have a serious philosophy gap. While Apple continues to gain share by embracing its customers, Microsoft acts more like the bully being forced to shake hands with the kid he just beat up.

You can’t win the hearts of customers unless you show a little love (see earlier post). Yet Microsoft continues to treat us like a source of cash instead of human beings. For example, Windows 7 (like Vista) comes in multiple flavors at multiple prices. There are four versions this time. It’s your job to figure out which is right and pay accordingly — with Ultimate appearing at a budget-busting $320. (That other OS comes in one flavor, all features included, at one decent price.)

Inexplicably, Microsoft is making the upgrade most difficult for its biggest group of customers: those who passed on Vista and stuck with XP (that’s over half of the world’s PC users, by the way). Vista users can upgrade with a click, but those XP laggards must be punished for their sin. They’ll need to back up their data, wipe out their hard disks, reinstall their apps, re-run the updaters and restore their data. (That other OS installs over any previous system, no problem.)

And, with full knowledge that email, calendar, contact list and video player are essential to our everyday lives — Microsoft didn’t even include them in Windows 7. They’re free, but you have to go download them online. Now that’s considerate. (That other OS comes with all these apps, ready to run.)

I’m sure the boys in Redmond are frustrated as hell that Apple basks in all this love while Microsoft fails to get the credit they so richly deserve. Actually, they’re getting exactly the credit they deserve. What people want is a little respect — and Microsoft keeps forgetting to put that in the box.

creative / technology — 19 Comments
8
Oct 09

Windows 7 as the hit of the party

When I started this blog, I knew that one day I would be tempted by the Dark Side. I might feel the urge to mercilessly slam an easy target. I might be unable to resist the lure despite the knowledge that I’d feel dirty afterward.

I do have will power, I swear. But this is like putting a fresh hunk of gazelle in front of a starved lion. If you haven’t seen this YouTube Windows 7 House Party video yet, it’s worth the too-long time it takes. It’s entertaining in ways it was never intended. Plus, if you’re a creative person, it’s a primer on how to avoid jeopardizing your future.

Rather than talk about things like the one-from-every-demographic casting and creative-brief dialogue (damn, there I go), I’d like to discuss the idea of it. Because, to be honest, the planners should be first on the posse’s list. The thinking apparently went like this: “Prior to the launch date, let’s encourage people to have Tupperware parties, using Windows 7 instead of the 10-piece set of plastics. That way, each Windows 7 enthusiast will recruit and sell a whole group of customers. That’s leverage.” Only problem: it’s also an insult to our intelligence.

Even assuming that real people will be better actors than these guys, I imagine that reasonably intelligent and sociable people might find something better to do on a Friday night. To me, what’s missing from this plan is something that often gets overlooked when putting together creative briefs and/or trying to please the client: common sense. It doesn’t take great creative genius to see that this idea (and certainly the execution of it) will generate more ridicule than it does interest.

I’m sure there are people out there who will actually do this, and in fact you can find them easily enough by searching YouTube. But will this idea scale to any kind of significant numbers? Will a nation of nerds and socially desperate people rise to make this a worthwhile investment? If you were launching Windows 7, is this the way you’d use your time, money and creative resources?

I’d write a bit more, but I’m having some friends over to show them my new hot water heater.