Zinger!!!!

Microsoft has never been one for for great advertising, to be honest back in the 90's/ early 00's it didn't really need to have great advertising as it was pretty much a monopoly, being the go to brand for any computer programmes and was pretty much everywhere. OK there where macs and other operating systems but these where the domain of the computer nerd! Pretty much every PC sold in the UK was run on a windows OS and you always needed essentials such as Office, so Microsoft was in a great position. Microsoft is still the dominant player in the market, with most computers sold operating the windows system, but however there's more competition especially from the mac which has seen its popularity soar! With Apples popularity soaring advertising has become alot more important to Microsoft to try and win over customers about its often criticised products. But it continues to fail to reach the standards set by Apple. While Apple produces sleek, desirable ads that make the product cool/aspirational and highlight the benefits of the product (mac vs pc) Microsoft follows with what seam to be clumsy, cheesy ads that fail to impress with its features such as movie making and basically a copy of the Apple ad with 'i'm a PC'. However bad Microsoft's advertising efforts have been in the past their latest offering is surely the worst yet!!

To promote the up coming launch of windows 7, their new operating system, they have decided to launch a campaign to get people to host windows 7 launch parties with their friends!!! What a bad idea! Who in their right mind would want to have a party to celebrate the release of a new operating system? At first you think maybe its a party, like new years eve, with a countdown and everything! Maybe its a party in the street as you queue up outside your nearest branch of PC World for 3 days, with the hope of being the first to get your hands on this amazing new release! Well its none of them, its much worse!!! The party they are suggesting is pretty much a sales pitch! Thinking about it I have seen this tactic before. I have been to Spain loads of times and every holiday you get timeshare people on the streets giving out scratchcards, these are the type of cards where everyone is a winner!!! To claim the prize you are shipped off in a taxi to some place in the middle of nowhere where they say you just have to fill in a few forms and the prize is yours! It all sound fantastic! But when you get there its a bloody sales pitch for some timeshare operation that lasts hours and you stick around thinking when it finishes you will get the prize, but by the time you realise it you've been there all day, wont ever get the prize and when you leave you have to pay for your taxi back to the resort. This campaign by Microsoft is pretty much the same idea but much more discrete. You invite your friends over to your house with the promise of a great party, your friends think great a party, that will be nice. So you get yourself over to your mates with a few bottles of whatever expecting there to be great party, but once in your soon dragged into the sales pitch for windows 7 and its amazing new features!! You listen to presentations about these features and participate in activities that show these features off to the full. But even though it seams suspicious you stick around thinking that once your, now ex, mate has finished with the pitch the party can begin. OK it wont go as far as them actually trying to sell you the product and if you don't buy they turf you out into the middle of nowhere to find your own way back, but it might as well be. Theres a lovely bit in the video where he says "It helped me to remember that I'm not a sales man at this party" is he having a laugh!!!



Another thing that Microsoft has been criticised lately has been its political correctness in ads, lately changing a black guy to a white guy for a Polish ad (see below) and this one plays the race card again, trying to get as many demographics in one ad as they possibly can.


Oh and on the video listen out at the end for the "zinger" hilarious!!!