Here’s my takeaway from the two new video ads for Microsoft’s just released Windows Phone 7 (WP7) offerings: The message is wrong.
From the ads, Microsoft is saying current cell phone users act foolishly. For smart phones users, such as those who have invested in iPhones and Android-based devices, essentially the company is telling you that you are doing things wrong. You are too distracted and a danger to yourself and those around you. In contrast, the messaging says, the new WP7 phones will change your life and those innocents in your area for the better (no more falling off your bike, crashing your car, ignoring your significant other, etc.). The idea behind the message is based on the WP7 home screen and its live tiles, colorful blocks that deliver constantly updated information. The problem? If users should spend less time interacting with their smart phones, as the ads humorously suggest, then why do WP7 phones offer the very features that drive current smart phone user to distraction, such as games, music software, video players, and other apps? What, exactly, does Microsoft expect its WP7 users to do when a tile shows an alert? Ignore them?
Microsoft has had some notoriously bad advertising in the last couple of years, including videos for the now canceled line of KIN phones and Windows 7. For example, KIN ads seemed to promote stalking and sexting and other unacceptable behavior. In Windows 7 land, the infamous Mojave commercials pointed out that no one knew that they were actually using the latest iteration of the most popular PC operating system on the planet. How about the short-lived Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld ads that left everyone scratching their heads? The “I’m a PC” ads have supporters, but it is strange that the tagline in that campaign is so off the mark — Microsoft doesn’t make PCs, but rather the Windows operating system. The ads should focus on: “I’m Windows.”
Now the WP7 ads come along (see the ads here). Insulting current smart phone users might make some sense if Microsoft is targeting only the 90% or so of cell phone users who haven’t adopted the top tier of mobile devices (smart phones), but it sounds like a slap in the face to influential, existing users. The message also bizarrely obfuscates a major point of the value proposition of WP7 phones themselves: the breadth of capabilities.
According to the release about the ads, the “planned advertising … pokes fun at the awkward moments our addiction to our phones can create.” Todd Peters, VP of Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Marketing Group, further delves into the campaign motivation:
First off, the smartphone marketplace is cluttered, so it was critical that we tie the campaign to what we think of as the unique value proposition of Windows Phone 7. Secondly, the campaign had to break through the clutter and be different from any kind of advertising in the smartphone category. Finally, it had to connect with people on an emotional level.
Being different just to be different may work for kids in high school, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense for a company selling into an established, growing market where consumers have shown clear desires to do complex things on their phones. It’s like Nissan creating an ad that pokes fun at consumers driving Hondas and Sonatas for wanting reliable transportation while saying the Maxima looks better (and not mentioning that the Maxima, like all mid-size family sedans that consumers want, is designed to do that, too).
Now, I’ve seen comments on the Web saying the ads are funny (which they are to many) and that they do their job by getting your attention. Unfortunately, the message is aimed right at the heart of the product being offered. No one is going to buy a smart phone simply to look at updating tiles. They are going to check for updates, just as they see notifications on other phones (Android-based, iPhone, Pre, etc.) and dig into the underlying content or message. In essence, only if the tile is static — i.e., there are no updates — will WP7-carrying consumers avoid the debacles that afflict the people in the commercials. If there is something new, the WP7ers are likely to be just as happily immersed in their phones as those wielding other smart phones.
So, about the message … Memorable? Sort of. Good idea? No.
It’s not up to Microsoft to craft solid marketing messages alone — that’s why it pays so much to advertising and marketing firms — but it is the company’s responsibility to select or suggest a message that is memorable, compelling, understandable, and will lead consumers to try out and buy the new phones. If only Microsoft supporters (or Apple, Google, HP/Palm, RIM, etc. haters) take the common $200/two-year plunge with WP7 on AT&T (in the US), then the advertising has failed.
WP7 certainly has an uphill battle simply because it is late to the modern smart phone market, but Microsoft’s marketing isn’t going to make the struggle for market share and renewed cell phone relevance any easier.
