There are some things in life that just speak for themselves, and Microsoft's new viral video campaign to promote Windows 7 is no exception. Microsoft has managed to make me appreciate the better things in life, and for this I thank them. I now realize that my worst of nights could never amount to the torture of attending a Windows 7 launch party. I often wonder how things like this can even happen, and whether or not there is anyone at Microsoft who says, "Hey wait a minute, what's fun about a new operating system? Do we really think people are going to like this?". Another possibility could be that Microsoft made this awkward video campaign to generate buzz, whether it put them in a good light or a bad light, and possibly created some sort of parody of themselves on purpose just to gain some sort of publicity.
The basic idea of the campaign aligns Microsoft's PR campaign with their Advertising campaign which both stress that Windows 7 is the people's product; they made it and they are going to launch it themselves. The video has created a great amount of buzz with many news networks and online blogs. As seen in the link above there is a great amount of criticism of Microsoft's campaign and it is an easy target for jokes that include comparisons to the successful campaigns that Apple has been able to use.
Microsoft goes even beyond the video by joining up with houseparty.com in creating a website for people to share their experiences in creating their own Windows 7 house parties. Currently, the launch is passed and the parties are over, but there are records all over the internet of this campaign that Microsoft launched. I almost can't imagine that this is a real campaign, and I can't imagine that Microsoft would expect people to promote their product for them by throwing house parties. However, I did see the video, and I am
writing about the campaign now, so in some sense of the Public Relations goals, Microsoft got their message out.It is pretty obvious that Microsoft's main goal is to make people feel like Windows 7 is fun and easy to use, and on top of this, made and launched by people. The PC of the people is essentially Windows 7 in the eyes of Microsoft. However, until Microsoft begins to understand the market that they are selling to and the people that they are communicating to, it will be very hard to compete with Apple which is doing a great job of both of these things. People often compare Microsoft to Apple because they are the dominating brands in the computer industry. By creating this instruction video on how to host a party, it seems like Microsoft is forcing themselves into a brand imaging that people could associate with "fun". The truth is, computers have a lot more uses than just having fun, and Microsoft needs to utilize its practicality and originality in its operating system. They are not doing a good job at marketing themselves as a fun, and a company people will throw parties over, so either they should change their strategy or change their goal. Personally, I think that this idea for Microsoft is a disaster, and I wonder what their intentions were when creating it.
