When you think of Microsoft, what words usually come to mind? For me they include: stable, compatible, standard, profitable, boring, successful. I’m not an Apple ‘fan-boy’, but I certainly don’t see the creator of Windows as a company nimbly releasing game changing products. For a ton of reasons they can’t be that company, but they can certainly try to shed that image. 

1. Do Something Different

Everyone has likely seen the “I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC” ads. These have been wildly successful for Apple from both a brand and sales perspective:

Microsoft has kicked off a $300M retaliation effort which has generated a tremendous amount of buzz both on the web and in traditional media. Personally I think that the fact there are so many people discussing how much they either love, or hate the campaign is a great indicator of success.

If you have about 6 minutes to spare, watch both commercials that have been released so far, the first one is edited for television:

The second commercial has some elements of the first but goes into a much longer uncut scene. A number of bloggers have gone into more depth on this trying to find symbolism in the elements of the commercial; the shoe needing to fit is like having to adapt to windows, all the pool toys are Microsoft colors and the fact  pool ‘never warms up’ can be likened to a cold image, but take a look for yourself before coming to any judgements:

Look back up to my title; I called them one of the world’s least nimble companies. After watching those ads are you left feeling that Microsoft doesn’t take risks? have a little fun? care about users? The ad’s make Microsoft look like the nimble software start-up next door, and not the world’s largest IT shop.

2. Get People Talking

Criticism across the web centered around “not getting it”. Had Microsoft released commercials touting the reasons why Vista is a superior choice to Apple’s OS X, the tech nerds would have dissected their comparisons line by line, regular folks wouldn’t care, and no one would be talking about it.

3. Keep Them Wanting More

As a result of all the “what the hell is this?” style posts, these videos have had millions of views, a ton of press, and keep people interested in what is coming next. Even if you think these commercials are the most pointless pieces of video ever created, I can almost guarantee that the continuity to the next one will keep you watching, even if it is so you can talk about how much you hated commercial number three.

Bravo Microsoft, bravo.

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