I think Microsoft has gotten much better in their ad campaigns and the current "Windows 7 was my idea" campaign is very strong. But they also committed one of the stupidest cross promo tie-ins I've ever seen:
During NBC's green week, there were PSAs with NBC stars, one of which had Masi Oka (of Heroes) talking about the importance of buying produce locally. The benefit, he said, was that it reduced carbon emissions because stuff wasn't shipped around unnecessarily. And the spot ended by say it was brought to us by Microsoft. It was immediately followed by one of the Microsoft ads (brand new at that time) where they fly somebody around the world just to turn on a computer and see how fast it boots up.
The "Windows 7 was my idea" campaign is great though, and very unusual for them. It admits the flaws of the previous versions, it softly mocks the lack of useful innovation in typical Windows releases, but does so in a way that doesn't feel self-deprecating, and keeps it very positive and forward thinking. It's not trying to argue Windows over Mac, it's trying to argue Windows 7 over previous versions, which is a good strategy: converting 10% of vista or XP owners to Windows 7 has a far, far greater impact on the bottom line than converting 10% of Mac users to Windows.
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