Microsoft marketing success story

You don't rarely come across examples of Microsoft's marketing prowess, so when you do, it's blog-worthy (at least to me).

I was looking around for the latest information on Windows Server 2008 and came across this. (if you click it might ask you to install Silverlight - this is MS's latest web technology, similar to Flash but based on the .NET architecture so it's pretty powerful).

If you can't get to the link or can't see it for some reason (probably making the whole thing a failure in your eyes), MS has taken 'personification' to a new level. The page is a cool animation of a robot called 'IT 24/7'. It has links to information and videos about Windows Server 2008.

The brilliance is all in the imagery. Windows Server 2008 is all about lean, tough, easy to use, server software. The robot 'personifies' all of these traits. If you watch the videos it's like an aerobics instructor on steroids. Running, jumping, 'doing fitness classes in its downtime'. Its standing position on the load page looks like it is about to jump through the screen. It epitomizes 'action'.

The targeting is spot on. Most IT guys play video games. Microsoft also has huge equity in this space with the Halo franchise. In fact, some of the load screens for the Silverlight page could almost be mistaken for Master Chief.

The message is clear. Everything is done on message. Information is easy to get to and most of the major topics regarding server software seem to be covered. They don't waste time with 'content' for content's sake. It's like the anti 'gorilla' spot. Yet both seem to work.

Overall, one of these rare occasions where it all just seems to click. It works for the audience, works for the brand and is both entertaining, informative and memorable. All the things it needs to be.

'Pragmatically creative' is how I would describe it - I am beginning to love that term.

However, I haven't signed up for anything or found other ways that make it obvious how you can participate - other than the standard 'download this desktop background'. So they get 10/10 for creative execution and strategy, but the jury's out on the conversation/social media aspects of the campaign.

I couldn't find 24/7s Facebook page - even though it's kind of an obvious move.

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Agile Marketing

I am doing some work at the moment for a client who is trying to measure innovation inside their company.

Depending on your type of company, this can be easy or hard. And there are a lot of resources available to help - most notably this government report commissioned last year to look at innovation in the US economy (I link to it only because it was written by of a bunch of CEO's and business leaders, not just academics, which means it has a nice practical focus).

A recent post by Gareth over at Brand New also got me thinking about innovation in Marketing. He talks about an 'option investor' approach - you dabble in a range of different activities and see what gains traction. The activity range is like your innovation sand-box. And in Marketing this can contain a lot of toys - new media, old media, social media, digital whatever. Innovation comes from trying/testing a range of things rather than just thinking and planning the 'one big thing'.

This kind of idea also matches closely with a theme in technology startups - where many people advise you to build, test, re-build, test, rebuild, etc. A very trial-and-use focused way to develop. It actually has a name - Agile Development.

So what about Agile Marketing - a very innovation, test and trial Marketing effort rather than thinking and planning one big thing? Makes sense.

Looks like I am not the first person to coin the phrase. Back in 2006 Matt Blumberg, CEO of ReturnPath actually blogged about the exact same idea - again borrowing from the software development world.

I think it's a really interesting way to think about Marketing in today's world. Throw away the 100 page plan and just concentrate on executing in phases that have clear goals and at least some way of measuring success. The key is keeping goals manageable and constantly tweaking your approach.

And don't be afraid to just try things! I always cringe when I see my ex employers web-site - it still has a reference to Netscape Navigator and IE4 on the splash page. It doesn't take 2 years to change a website!

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Verizon gives us another lesson in how to mislead the customer

Again, it's 2008. The bait and switch; the false promise; the misleading information; the obvious trickster tactics; do they even work anymore? Are they even worth it when there is this thing called blogging that is becoming more and more popular?

Then again, cable and phone companies have such a bad reputation that they probably think they can't really get any deeper into the gutter.

This is me finding out about FiOS - the Verizon very-high-speed internet service:

"Hmm, FiOS. Heard that before somewhere else, didn't know it was available. How fast is it? Really, that fast, omg! How much? What, are you joking, $40/month? For the cut-down version right? The whole enchilada? Wow!! Is it available in my area? You can check on the web? - me going to www.google.com, entering in "verizon FiOS" as a search, finding the FiOS "check area" site, entering in my address, waiting for some (pointless) graphics to scroll, and find out that...


First reaction: OMG it's available! Verizon, I love you!

Second reaction: Wait, what's that fine print?

Third reaction: new google search, "how to carpet bomb verizon headquarters"

I mean, come on? What deluded piece of marketing pulp decided that blurting out in loud red colors that Verizon High Speed (that's DSL, so it's worse than what I have now) is available after someone just searched for (life changing) FiOS? Which isn't available.

It's the marketing equivalent of shouting, "here, have this for free, NOT! - you lose!".

Brand commitment/affinity/love, whatever you want to call it, doesn't erode slowly. It's lost in an instant with pranks like this.

There is no excuse.

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Viral Marketing, Facebook and some new research

Since I posted about FB's Beacon service - where you can have your purchases from selected sites listed in your FB news feed - there has been lots of talk over the merits of the system.

I personally don't believe it's useful. At least not for me. I have many friends with many different tastes and would prefer an actual recommendation from one of them than a link to everything they purchase.

Of course, that's not to say the system has no merit. Exposing your product this way has to be better than basic display (banner) advertising. How much better is the question.

Surprisingly, there was some recent research done that the FB guys and gals could look to for a bit of insight into this area. The Dynamics of Viral Marketing is a research paper that was written this year on data collected from a large online retailer of books, music and video between 2001-2003.

The data they looked at was recommendations (15million in all) made by purchasers on the site. It was actually a referral program. Which means when you bought something, if you emailed it to a friend and they ended up buying it as well, they got a 10% discount on their purchase and you got a 10% credit.

Compare that to the FB program where there is no real incentive and no real recommendation (you're not targeting an individual friend with it), all things being equal the FB program results are probably going to be worse. The problem is that 'worse' results than the referral program are probably 'no' results.

A few of the things they discovered looking at almost 15million referrals were:

• The probability of a recommendation working decreased with repeated interaction - so we tend to ignore people who spam us with product recommendations. I am sure the same is true for multiple purchases on FB news feeds.
• The probability of a recommendation working if we receive it from multiple sources quickly reaches a (relatively low) threshold - the verbatim conclusion from this one was "...individuals are often impervious to the recommendations of their friends, and resist buying items they do not want". Couldn't agree more.
• Highly connected people who recommend a lot ('spreaders', 'mavens', 'sneezers') tend to have significant diminishing returns - they seem to have an influence over their immediate friends, but the wider network discounts their recommendations the more often they receive them (point 1).
• Smaller, more tight-knit communities coalescing around a single interest were more conducive to viral effects - that's definitely not FB. That's more like EBay where small groups of collectors and such show a strong interest in certain product areas.

I think the key point for FB is that last one. Viral effects are more pronounced in 'communities of interest'. What I would like to be able to do is actually HAVE a newsfeed from my friends that I can specify exactly what I am interested in at the time.

For instance, if I need a new laptop, let me look at all laptop purchases from my friends in the past 6 months? Or a new phone? New summer clothes?

The key is I have control. I don't feel like I am being spammed. And I am looking for products that I have an interest in. Seems much more useful.

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Great post on how to demo software

Just a quick link to a great post over on Joel on Software about his trials and tribulations running a demo tour of his latest creation, Fogbugz.

His point about triangulation is powerful. You can scream at the top of your lungs to try and convince someone of something and often come up short. But when someone else whispers your argument to them, they believe.

A good point for anyone selling anything to keep in mind.

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