Microsoft's new ad campaign finally gets it right
Microsoft just launched a new advertising campaign under the banner "It's Everybody's Business," and I have to admit that I really like the ads.
I'm not referring to the TV and online ads, which I think are a bit goofy, even though the content from CEOs at Coca-Cola and elsewhere (right) is quite good.
Rather, I'm referring to the full-page ads and fake memos distributed in such publications as The Wall Street Journal. I discovered a Microsoft "memo" on the ground of my flight to New York yesterday. It looked so real at a quick glance that I turned to the man seated behind me to give it to him. Judge for yourself:
You'd have to see the memo to get the full effect, with words crossed out and insertions made (represented by my parentheses above), but it's quite visually and emotionally appealing. It's also a good representation of the kind of software Microsoft has tried to build.
(Credit:
Microsoft)
I've noted in the past how Microsoft used to come sit in my front room to watch me work on homework during my university days, trying to watch how I used my computer. I did it to get free Xbox games, but Microsoft did it to better understand how real people use its (and others') software.
While Microsoft's execution against that data hasn't always been the best, I give it full credit for trying to fit software into my life, rather than forcing me to cram my life into its software.
There are serious problems with Microsoft's vision related to lock-in, in particular, but its new marketing campaign is a direct hit. At a cost of $150 million, according to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft has managed to spend half what its "I'm a PC" campaign cost, while delivering more value, precisely the message it's trying to convey in the ads.
In the past, Microsoft has treated buyers like fools with inane dinosaurs or has looked childish playing me-too with its "I'm a PC" ads.
The new campaign is a grown-up demonstration of why Microsoft is the world's largest software company, warts and all.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
The thing is, most of what Microsoft sells is Windows and Office, and quite frankly there hasn't been a compelling reason to update either since Windows 2000 and Office 97. In a recession, the frills go out of the window.
Not a bad theme, but the trouble is that it's coming from Microsoft. And a whole lot of people only use Microsoft because they feel they don't have alternatives. Or it's all that the IT guys know. Or they don't think that people can be trained in anything other than MS Office.
Bottom line: Microsoft is not viewed as a 'personal' company, but as a big ol' monolithic monopoly. And all the advertising in the world isn't going to change that impression. They tried it with the perceptions of Vista and didn't do a very good job, even internally.