4 ms·
Is this Windows 7 Launch Party ad for real?
- MrMatt 17y agoThe whole concept is awful, but somewhere, someone will host a party in exactly this vein, and that scares me.
- jsz0 17y agoMicrosoft has no sense of identity as a company when it comes to marketing. Every campaign is some new weird angle or a copy of another companies tactics. If they are trying to make it lame & campy on purpose its a questionable move. How often does that work? Simple social factors preclude most people from strongly identifying with something that is marketed as being lame. The only time it works is if the product/service your selling actually is lame and/or boring and it's impossible to change that perception. For example, insurance. It's puzzling because Windows 7 is one of the few Microsoft products that actually is somewhat fresh and not just a minor version bump.
- ashleytowers 17y ago"puzzling because Windows 7 is one of the few Microsoft products that actually is somewhat fresh and not just a minor version bump" Interesting... granted I don't particularly follow Windows development, but my perception was that it is exactly that - a minor version bump over Vista fixing the problems that shouldn't have been there in the first place...
- jsz0 17y agoThat is true. I'm thinking more along the lines of all the XP users out there that decided to skip Vista. For them it's a big upgrade.
- chunkyslink 17y agoThis is a perfect ad for Windows users. If you took away the Sony laptop and had them talking about something else, and then had me guess the type of OS they used ... they've all got windows written all over them. Oh a and did I mention, my non-tech savvy parents would probably like this advert ?
- byoung2 17y agoI think it's brilliant. Campy and controversial to the point that the blogosphere can't shut up about it. The point of an ad is to create buzz, and they've succeeded.
- mcantelon 17y agoI don't think it's intended to be campy or controversial. I just think they're using multi-level marketing/infomercial techniques, which very likely work for average people (otherwise they wouldn't be so frequently used).
- pohl 17y agoYes, it certainly is creating buzz. It's also draining life from the brand, which was already a bit moribund. Are they just going to give up and try to deliberately create badly-done campy ads a la Tunesmith from here on out? They do seem to have "found their voice", I guess.
- antidaily 17y agoI'll admit it - I had to look up moribund. And I think draining life from the brand is a little over the top. They know they're not cool anymore. So, they're throwing everything they can at the wall to see what sticks.
- pyre 17y agoIf Bill Gates murdered a man with his bare-hands for choosing MacOS over Windows that would get press or 'buzz' too, but I doubt it would be good. The whole idea of 'any publicity is good publicity' is predicated around 'getting your name out there.' The problem here is that Microsoft already has it's name out there. It's a well-established brand. At this point they have more to lose. Bad publicity can tarnish a brand.
- unalone 17y agoIn the novel Syrup, by Maxx Barry, the protagonist, who works in marketing, says that successful advertisements create both identification and appeal, and that identification alone is not enough to sell. Paraphrasing him, he says, "Coca Cola could get a lot of attention and reach a lot of people by saying, 'Our product is terrible. Only an idiot would drink it.' But nobody would want something that terrible. An ad doesn't just need to get attention—it needs to sell. Otherwise it's a disaster." When I see this ad, I don't see a company that's made a legitimate product, or that has any sense of professionalism.
- sachinag 17y agoIf you don't understand that it's an epic troll, right down to the race/gender roles, you probably need a business co-founder/are a redneck/think FoxTrot is the best thing evar/etc. etc. EDIT: It would only have been more epic if they followed BADF.
- pyre 17y ago> If you don't understand that it's an epic troll, right down to the race/gender roles I thought that the 'token black guy' was always supposed to die before the end of the movie...
- there 17y agoit's funnier if you watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyas7BrbUFY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyas7BrbUFY first, not knowing what it's for, then watch the real one.
- snprbob86 17y agoAs a Microsoftie, I am genuinely embarrassed.
- ahlatimer 17y agoAm I the only one that's wondering why the camera zooms in and moves around so much? I guess they were trying to "spice it up" and make it not seem as boring. It just made me sick.
- ca98am79 17y agoI couldn't stop looking at the clock on the stove in the background jump around to different times
- alanthonyc 17y agoAre these going to be playing in the middle of the night, alongside the green handkerchiefs of prosperity commercials?
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- kenver 17y ago"you may want to try the bonus activities but you'll need the right devices" Kinky!
- lurkinggrue 17y agoNudge, Nudge! Say no more!
- arketyp 17y agoHoly shit what are they even talking about This is so embarrassing. I just want to go hide under a blanket.
- forkqueue 17y agoIt's pretty clear to me what the thought processes are behind this. Microsoft have seen all the release parties that Free Software projects like Debian and Ubuntu, FreeBSD et al have, and somewhere there's been a meeting that posed the question 'How can we have the same for Windows 7?'. Videos like this are the answer they came up with. Unsurprisingly it looks plasticy and fake, because they're trying to fake something that has grown spontaneously elsewhere.
- vlad 17y agoThis is real. I was just invited to a Windows 7 Launch Party by the student Microsoft rep on campus. The officially-worded invite mentions a PhotoPalooza, a photo tour of Windows 7 on her machine.