With the Zune, it seems that Microsoft is trying to play the “viral marketing” card. I, for one, find it ironic that a company so accustomed to dealing with issues of a “viral” nature has absolutely no idea how to carry out a viral marketing campaign. In their efforts to promote their product virally, Microsoft has put together a parody of viral marketing instead of a real campaign.
Still, that’s to be expected from Microsoft. What I take issue with, more than the “weird for the sake of being weird” ads, are the “let’s herd a bunch of sweaty twenty somethings in the picture” ads. This image seems to be a favorite of Microsoft’s, as you can find it dominating the Zune software install process (which went pretty smoothly for Engadget if I recall…), and you can also see an example on the Zune’s untouched, in-store displays:
What’s wrong with this campaign? A better question could be: What’s right about it? As a newcomer to the twenty-something scene, I know I don’t have the most experience as a member of the demographic, but unsupervised parties don’t get me in the spendin’ mood, even when the party has turntables. I just don’t feel like a social event facilitated by Microsoft, in all of their virus enabling glory, is the best way to get me to buy their product.
What do you, the fair readers, think of the campaign?
[Zune Display Picture Hat Tip: David Wogan]
If I was feeling generous, I would give the marketing team a D-. You would think with all the money that they have, that they could put together a good marketing research team.
What is an "unsupervised party"?
I've seen two of the Zune displays out there so far. Neither of them worked. It was out of batteries. They were connected to some sort of dock, however, the docks weren't connected to anything. A USB cable was hanging from the back in both cases.
Oh, whatever. I didn't really feel as if I was left out.