We look into the gap between how
Microsoft wants you to think of itf and how people actually do…
What do you think of when you think of
Microsoft? Maybe you think about how expensive its operating systems and office
software can be. Maybe you feel like it's a safe, dependable company that's
suitable for people who don't know much about computers. Maybe you feel some
frustration over products like Windows 8 or Microsoft Word. Chances are,
though, whether you use and like Microsoft products, use and resent Microsoft
products or avoid Microsoft at all costs, you won't think of it as a cool
company.
There's something about Microsoft that
never feels youthful or exciting. Microsoft isn't the cool option, whether you're
buying a computer or a smartphone. However, that's not for lack of trying on
Microsoft's part. Over the last few years, it's tried really hard to create
branding and advertising that promotes its products as fun and desirable. For
some reason, it just doesn't seem to stick. Let's take a look at some of the
ads...
The Current Campaign
The new Windows 8 TV adverts are all bright
colors, jaunty music and exuberant claims. “The best laptop is now a tablet,”
they claim. “The best tablet is now a PC.” New Dell PCs that come with
detachable keyboards dance across the screen while music soars and the new
Windows logo pops up on screen. The new version of Windows will, according to
another advert, bring about “a new era of PCs.” Most of the adverts don't feature
any actual people or real settings, just computers jigging about in front of
solid color backgrounds. They’re about making Windows PCs look exciting and
desirable.
Windows
8
Meanwhile, the current Windows Phone 8
adverts feature celebrities like James Cordon and Holly Willoughby talking
about how great it is that they can customize their Windows phone to meet their
needs. The spokespeople feel focus-grouped, chosen because of their popularity
and relevance to mainstream culture as well as their general inoffensiveness.
They're about as family friendly as it gets.
There's a third facet to the current
Microsoft ad offensive, though, and it involves pitting Microsoft products
against their competitors. In one advert, guests at a wedding get into a
massive brawl after arguing about whether Android or Apple phones are better,
while the waiters film the carnage with their Windows-running Nokia Lumias and
speculate on why tech fanboys like to argue. In another, entitled ‘Less
talking, more doing’, Apple's Siri is shown being unable to carry out various
tasks, while a Microsoft tablet completes them silently, without complaint.
Mac Versus PC
Looking at all these adverts in
conjunction, it seems Microsoft wants to establish Windows PCs (and other
devices) as being just as attractive as the alternatives, but also somehow more
comfortable. You don't need to fight about Windows, Microsoft says, you just
use it and get on with it. It's almost a smart idea, claiming to be quietly
competent while all your rivals shout and scream about their qualities, but
there's also a hint of sour grapes to these commercials, which, in fairness, is
probably left over from a fight Microsoft didn't start.
Apple's
computer and Windows PCs
Between 2006 and 2009, Apple made 66 TV
adverts in its ‘Get a Mac’ series. Each of these starred John Hodgman as a
stuffy old PC and Justin Long as a hip young Mac. The two personified computers
would bicker about their relative merits, with the Mac, of course, always
coming out on top. Annoying as those ads could be, they were undeniably
effective, pushing Apple's computers as cool and creative, unlike Windows PCs,
which were apparently only good for doing boring things like making
spreadsheets.
Setting aside the obvious flaws in this
argument – like the occasional necessity of doing boring things like ‘work’ on
a computer and the fact that there have always been more games available for
PCs than Mac computers – it seemed like Apple was tapping into a perception of
Microsoft that many customers already had. And rather than play to its
strengths, Microsoft has spent the last few years trying to argue that it isn't
as boring as everyone thinks with little success.
Older Microsoft Adverts
The Windows 7 adverts are a prime example
of how Microsoft tends to overreach when trying to assert its coolness.
Remember all those “Windows 7 was my idea” ads? They stole Apple's line (“I'm a
PC”) and tried to turn it around by featuring normal-looking people claiming to
have come up with the idea for bits of Windows 7 and told Microsoft about it.
The ads packed in two seemingly killer ideas: that being a PC might be a cool
thing to be and that Microsoft listened to its customers and designed an
operating system specifically for their needs. It's actually not a terrible campaign,
but it’s nonsense. We know none of these people had anything to do with the
development of the new Windows operating system; it was just a gimmick.
Microsoft’s
Internet Explorer 8
At least it seemed to fit the Microsoft
brand, though. In 2009, advertising agency Bradley & Montgomery created an
advert for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8. Which attracted so many complaints,
it had to be removed. Directed by Police Academy’s Bobcat Goldthwait,
the bizarre ad showed a woman vomiting after borrowing her partner’s laptop and
finding disturbing pornography in his browser history. Actor Dean Cain then
appeared to tell viewers that if they used Internet Explorer 8’5 private
browsing feature, they could avoid OMGIGI (‘Oh my God, I'm going to puke’)
moments.
It’s so awkward it feels like a spoof, but
it genuinely was created for Microsoft, supposedly to appeal to the kind of
people who find gross-out comedy hilarious. Perhaps wisely, it was only ever
intended to be viewed online, not on TV, but due to the overwhelmingly negative
reaction to the ad, Microsoft took it off its website entirely (although you
can still find it on YouTube, if you want to).
And Even Older Ones
The vomit ad is undoubtedly Microsoft
marketing’s biggest misstep, but the more you dig into the company’s
advertising history, the more monstrosities you uncover. Who could forget the
Windows vista ‘Wow’ adverts, which featured grammatically questionable
sentences like “Turn on the Wow”, “The Wow starts now” and “Show us your Wow”?
A weird series of adverts starring Bill
Gates and Jerry Seinfeld from 2008 seemed to acknowledge that the company was
out of touch with its customers but didn’t do anything to address the problem.
An advert for Windows XP saw Windows users taking flight while other Windows
users filmed or photographed them, to the now Incredibly dated strains of
Madonna's ‘Ray of Light’.
One less embarrassing but still kind of
baffling ad for Windows 2000 featured a tractor being driven into the side of a
barn, blaring hip hop as it went; and way, way back in 1986. an advert for
Windows 1.0 featured Steve Ballmer shouting at potential customers and asking
them to guess how much the new operating system would cost: "All these
features and Reversi for just how much did you guess? $500? $1,000? Even more?
No, it's just $99!" It’s pretty terrifying.
