I've been looking at Microsoft's commercials for the past few months and I wonder if the company isn't going through some sort of personal crisis. Does Microsoft have a clergyperson or close friend they could sort of talk things out with?
First, Microsoft did those commercials with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. It was pretty hard to figure out what business the company is actually in, based on those ads. Aren't they the guys who make Windows and Office and Exchange? It just seemed kind of suspicious that they didn't want to fess up to it on national TV.
Still, I seemed to enjoy those commercials a lot more than most people. Because if I were Bill Gates, this is precisely how I'd be spending my money. You can do these sort of things when you're a billionaire. You can hire one of the country's funniest and most beloved comedians to pal around with you for a couple of days, hire a camera crew to follow you around and film it all, and then buy network airtime to make sure that everyone who graduated with you in high school sees it.
Microsoft's next big ad was the ''Windows Mojave'' spot. That was the one where they promised a select group of Windows users a secret, exclusive sneak peek at a future edition of Windows and filmed their Ooohs and Ahhhs on hidden camera. Except (surprise!) they were actually using Windows Vista.
I see two obvious problems with this concept. First, I would think that the company would want to spend its money distancing itself from the concept of ''Microsoft promises us something fresh and exciting, but then just puts the same old software in a new box with a different name.''
Second -- and I mean for these words to help, not hurt -- this isn't the way that a winner responds to criticism, is it?
Vista has been getting plenty of brickbats since its release, and much of that is unfair. But you don't counteract bad press and public opinion by blaming Vista's failures on prejudice against the name.
All this got me worried about Microsoft's sense of security. But it was the new ''I'm A PC'' campaign that finally got me to write this column.
The unspoken second half of that slogan is ''. . . please, please don't hit me.'' It's the ad campaign of a company that's on the ropes, battered and dazed, foggily scanning the crowd for any signs of friendly faces, scrabbling to somehow, somewhere reclaim its lost dignity.
And this is Microsoft we're talking about here! What the hell happened?
What a complete disconnection between the company as it presents itself in commercials and the company as it actually is. Normally, the company pays an ad agency to manufacture an improved image, right?
Microsoft is a great company that makes many fine products. It's about time that the company stopped acting like a doormat and resumed the charmless posture and careless attitude of the remorseless corporate leviathan that the government once unsuccessfully tried to break up.
I like you, Microsoft, and I want to help. You want to create an ad slogan that won't be immediately undermined by a much more pointed and funnier response from Apple? It's so easy:
''Microsoft Windows: For People Who Just Don't Care.''
Hmm. Now that I see it in black and white I admit that it needs a little tweaking.
But the sentiment is there. I take an active interest in technology. But most people just don't care. Their PC is just an appliance; they invest as much passion into their PCs as they would a microwave oven. They care about it only in the sense that they want to feel comfortable operating the thing, and they want to fix it once it starts burning the popcorn.
Microsoft continues to be the most popular OS in the world, by a commanding margin. You don't sell people on Windows by trying to engage their sense of spirit or freedom or self-identity or empowerment. You convince people of Windows' worth by assuring them that when they show up for their first day at a new job, they'll likely find a Windows machine waiting for them on their desk, running Word and Excel and Outlook. When they need a new machine for the house, they'll find a wide variety of affordable Windows machines.
Their existing skill set will work just fine, practically indefinitely. They'll never have to learn anything new.
It's easy for me to mock this idea. But I understand this point of view every time I share a ride with a pal in his BMW M5. He goes on and on about the performance package, the shifting, etc.
As for me ... I just don't care. I drive the Microsoft Windows of automobiles, and I'm quite content. Microsoft needs to take control of the argument and sell itself on what it is, not on what Mac and Linux users insist it should be.
Source : http://www.suntimes.com/
