• Amazon’s Kindle app for the PC – (Is it still an app if it runs on a computer?) While it seems to be tied to the launch of Windows 7 this week, it will also run on XP, etc. The Kindle experience starts to become platform independent. So what it is? A UI? An OS? An ecosystem? Or a store?
• Advertising – The People Spoke. In Windows 7, Microsoft Says It Listened – Microsoft asks PC users for feedback. But after the debacle with Vista, they realized that the concept of consumers as an intrinsic part of the development process could be an effective selling point for Windows 7. And so was born a campaign carrying the theme “I’m a PC and Windows 7 was my idea.”
  “Our customers co-create the product with us,” said David Webster, GM for brand and marketing strategy “We’re using the customers’ voice to tell our story.”
  In one ad, these words are superimposed over a photograph of a woman: “I asked for it to use less memory. Now it uses less memory. I’m a tech goddess.”
  In another ad, these words appear over a photo of an older man: “I suggested they make it less complicated. Guess what? Now it’s less complicated. I so rule.”
  In commercials, Microsoft engineers say, “Bring it on; what do you got?” PC users fire back with pithy phrases like “Less clutter, just less clutter.” And the engineers reply: “Loud and clear. We’re all over it.”

Tags: 7, advertising, amazon, customer, input, Kindle, PC, platform, positioning, reading, readingahead, story, user, voice, windows

2 Responses to “ChittahChattah Quickies”

i’m liking the new windows campaign — i haven’t seen much of the creative yet, but everything i’ve read about the strategy and approach seems right.

previously i’ve criticized microsoft’s advertising efforts primarily because they’ve tried to make their brand seem cool (think jerry seinfeld and see http://deniseleeyohn.com/bites/2008/08/22/seinfeld-isnt-going-to-rescue-vista/ and http://deniseleeyohn.com/bites/2009/03/29/microsofts-ad-misses-the-mark-again/) — and because they seemed to avoid the real brand issue, that is, their product quality issues.

this new campaign takes a smarter tact — it talks about the issues people have had with previous products and how they’ve fixed them — now if the product lives up to this, they’ve got a home run.

let’s hope…

Comment by denise lee yohn 10.25.09 @ 10:21 am

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