What do you think about Microsoft's advertising?

[sd173]

Do you think that they are starting to do better at advertising or do you think they have been good at it?

 

[Laura Knotek]

Are you referring to any specific ads you've seen?

 

[sd173]

Are you referring to any specific ads you've seen?

Oh, I was writing my post separately instead of having it with the thread starter.

 

[sd173]

I think that the advertising of products like Windows Phone since 2012, when I got my first phone/Windows Phone, has improved a lot. Before 2012, in my opinion, it was virtually nonexistent. I found out about Windows Phone in the summer of 2011 through a banner ad for the Dell Venue Pro on some random website while I was doing research for a project or something in school. I had never even seen a commercial for it until sometime in spring 2012 for the Lumia 900 (and a bunch of general ads by ATT where they didn't even mention it). As for ads today, I'm pretty surprised with how much I've seen the advertisements on TV for the Icon. I've never seen this many ads for another Windows Phone. But I think those "Honestly" commercials are really annoying, even though their theme jingle, for lack of a better word, gets stuck in my head all the time, which is what an ad's supposed to do. It seems like they're trying to be "hip" or something to appeal to young people like in those stupid old break dancing Surface Pro ads. I'm a high school senior and if I didn't already have a Surface Pro or Windows Phone, those ads would've made me not want to have them, especially with everyone who saw me using my Surface in school think I was was like that (I know they were joking but I still didn't like it).

 

[Guytronic]

Ummm...
The initial Surface ads were doo-doo.

Can't really recall any recent ads other than the Sooperbowl ones.
Their ad campaign must be lackluster because the only ads I remember are the iPhone ads.
...and the "well if you don't have an iPhone then you don't have an iPhone" ads used to just really make me mad.
Yet I remember them :straight:

 

[sd173]

Ummm...
The initial Surface ads were doo-doo.

Can't really recall any recent ads other than the Sooperbowl ones.
Their ad campaign must be lackluster because the only ads I remember are the iPhone ads.
...and the "well if you don't have an iPhone then you don't have an iPhone" ads used to just really make me mad.
Yet I remember them :straight:

Oh yeah I forgot to mention before, I think that Microsoft general ad for the Superbowl was probably the best commercial I've ever seen, I was really surprised they created that.

 

[ajst222]

I think Microsoft's marketing has been phenomenal since the launch of Windows 8

Posted via the WPC App for Android on my BlackBerry

 

[anony_mouse]

Absolutely terrible. http://cdn1.appleinsider.com/Windows.works.112613.jpg

 

[sd173]

Absolutely terrible. http://cdn1.appleinsider.com/Windows.works.112613.jpg

Yeah, that got old really fast - I think they should have a variety of commercials that don't center around weird little song excerpts (I'm guessing its part of some song at the end of the commercials). I think Microsoft needs to show off what their products do instead of giving examples of how people use them.

 

[smoledman]

MS has made 4 great ads in it's existence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VPFKnBYOSI Windows 95 launch set to "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myrE7yvOQ1s Windows XP launch set to "Ray of Light" by Madonna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BRz29pWyKc Kinect ad from 2011 set to a a cover of "Where is My Mind" by the Pixies(pf by Vitamin Quartet)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaOvHKG0Tio Empowering Super Bowl ad

 

[sd173]

MS has made 4 great ads in it's existence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VPFKnBYOSI Windows 95 launch set to "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myrE7yvOQ1s Windows XP launch set to "Ray of Light" by Madonna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BRz29pWyKc Kinect ad from 2011 set to a a cover of "Where is My Mind" by the Pixies(pf by Vitamin Quartet)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaOvHKG0Tio Empowering Super Bowl ad

Those last two should be an example they use to make all their ads. I like how the part with the doctor and Kinect in the super bowl/Kinect ad and the bomb squad person (I think that's what he was) in the Kinect ad showed off Windows and the internet of things even though they never really talked about it until Build 2014 (as far as I know, at least).

 

[Jaskys]

In my opinion they suck at advertising, they simply can't get as much hype as apple or google does.

 

[sd173]

In my opinion they suck at advertising, they simply can't get as much hype as apple or google does.

Definitely. I think they have a lot to improve with advertising, but I think the media also plays a huge part in this. If you look at many tech news sites, you will find, especially on CNET, that they have an enormous Apple or Google bias. Now that Cortana is coming to Windows Phones and that awesome Threshold update is likely to come out in October, there will be some great stuff to write about that news sites can't pass down writing just one article on and forget about it, they might actually center around it for a few days. If this happens, then I think Microsoft's often poor advertising might not even matter because of all the good publicity they'll be getting.

 

[smoledman]

Definitely. I think they have a lot to improve with advertising, but I think the media also plays a huge part in this. If you look at many tech news sites, you will find, especially on CNET, that they have an enormous Apple or Google bias. Now that Cortana is coming to Windows Phones and that awesome Threshold update is likely to come out in October, there will be some great stuff to write about that news sites can't pass down writing just one article on and forget about it, they might actually center around it for a few days. If this happens, then I think Microsoft's often poor advertising might not even matter because of all the good publicity they'll be getting.

50% of good advertising is having a kick-*** product. Something Microsoft has lacked until now.

 

[jleebiker]

Have you seen the new HTC One M8 commercial with Gary Oldman? THAT was a good commercial. That entire commercial should have been what Microsoft used for WP. Basically, for people that form their OWN opinion. "You either already know..." "Who form their own opinions..."

What has this community been saying since Day 1? That people who use WP know what a good device is, and WHY the WP is better than the others.

THIS commercial should have been used for WP!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHdYDNs0qq4

 

[sd173]

I think another big reason Microsoft is not too good at advertising/marketing is that they have way too little stores to be making any sort of local impact. If they could be as widespread as Apple, or maybe even more than Apple, they could easily boost their sales - AT&T definitely isn't doing anything for them and probably won't be for a long time in terms of Windows Phones.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I think another big reason Microsoft is not too good at advertising/marketing is that they have way too little stores to be making any sort of local impact. If they could be as widespread as Apple, or maybe even more than Apple, they could easily boost their sales - AT&T definitely isn't doing anything for them and probably won't be for a long time in terms of Windows Phones.

I'm not sure more stores is the answer. Brick and mortar stores tend to be losing popularity, since it is so much easier to order online. I've looked at PCs at the Microsoft store, but I've never purchased anything from it. I did buy a PC from Amazon.com. I tend to use Amazon.com, Newegg.com or Tigerdirect.com for most tech-related purchases.

 

[anony_mouse]

Have you seen the new HTC One M8 commercial with Gary Oldman? THAT was a good commercial. That entire commercial should have been what Microsoft used for WP. Basically, for people that form their OWN opinion. "You either already know..." "Who form their own opinions..."

I don't understand. How can you take a commercial for one product and use it for another? Surely the commercial should actually be about the product it's trying to sell? Commercials can't be interchangeable.
And when a huge corporation tells you to do something in an advert, how on earth can it be 'forming your own opinion'? The whole thing is an insult to our intelligence.
The HTC One M8 does look like a great phone, but this is a terrible advert.

 

[Bogi Georgiev]

There are not a lot of windows phone adverts in the UK, except for the occasional one with some celebrity, or the Nokia lumia 1020 dance recital ad. I found out about windows phone from product placement in The Vampire Diaries, I was like "oooh Jeremy has a really cool phone, let's look it up!" it was a LG Quantum I think. But I do think that product placement is very powerful, but shouldn't be too obvious, I mean, we all want to be like our favourite characters in TV shows, don't we?

 

[jleebiker]

I don't understand. How can you take a commercial for one product and use it for another? Surely the commercial should actually be about the product it's trying to sell? Commercials can't be interchangeable.
And when a huge corporation tells you to do something in an advert, how on earth can it be 'forming your own opinion'? The whole thing is an insult to our intelligence.
The HTC One M8 does look like a great phone, but this is a terrible advert.

Read what I wrote, think about it, then watch the commercial and imagine if it is talking about WP instead of HTC One and it will make more sense.