Inside Microsoft HQ:

Mich Matthews (VP of marketing) – Ok guys, we have a pretty impressive smartphone that we’ve worked pretty damn hard on and I reckon we should let people know it exists. What-da-ya-reckon?

Steve Ballmer (Microsoft CEO) – Good catch Mich, that’s why I pay you $280k+ let’s get our best guys on this baby right away. We need our ducks in a row on this one, we need an xbox success, no repeat of vista… Ok!

Mich – Well, let’s fly some kites, get some serious blue sky going on in here. What made the xbox such a success and vista such a… Um… a…. Well not such a success?

Steve – We never make bad products, it must have been the marketing budgets. How much did we spend marketing xbox?

Mich – $100m

Steve – and vista?

Mich – $500m

Steve – Ah. Vista must have been bad. I hope windows phone 7’s better.

————-

Although Microsoft are reported to be spending $400m on the launch of windows phone 7, this doesn’t ensure it’s success. However, it does show you Microsoft are serious about its new smartphone and by spending serious marketing budget it’s guaranteed every man and his dog are going to hear about this one.

It’s also interesting how close the budgets are between the vista launch and that of windows phone 7. Although when you consider the desktop market is in such decline and the smartphone market is enjoying such growth, it does make sense. Smartphone sales are expected to outstrip those of the desktop by next year, so for me Microsoft have set their budget about right.

The right amount of spend is so important, let’s take the $100m budget of Verizon and Motorola on the original Droid smartphone compared to the non-existent marketing budget for Google’s Nexus One. The Nexus One was a better handset with better software, but was outsold by the Droid – marketing made the Droid a success, simple.

It shows you can have a slightly inferior product, but through marketing tell people repeatedly that it’s good and they will believe you! Apple have been doing it for years… It works! Of course I jest a little, Apples products are damn good, but in all honesty are they the best out there? Or are we blinded slightly by the Apple razzmatazz of it’s marketing campaigns?

Windows phone 7 now has every chance of success. The marketing $’s behind this device plus the fact it isn’t going to be a poor (vista) product is why this could really shake up the smartphone market. This smartphone will support Office, Windows Live services and have the Zune music store. This smartphone will have an innovative UI not a clunky Windows Mobile platform UI. We’re sure to see a Microsoft app store, multitasking and notifications. We’re also going to experience Microsoft making the most of the Xbox Live brand within the handheld for gaming.
The final aspect will be the community. Developers have jumped at the chance to unleash their talents on both the iPhone and Android platforms. If they do the same with vigour for the Windows phone 7, there may be no stopping this new kid on the smartphone block taking the lead.

Microsoft have been quiet recently and has almost slipped into the underdog style status when compared to Apple and Google. Something a decade ago we would never have imagined. We also would never have imagined feeling slightly sorry for Microsoft, but I think there is a new public perception towards them, after all, we love the underdog.

I’m predicting the Windows Phone 7 will be a huge success and with the troubles Apple have had with the iPhone 4, it’s going to make for a very interesting battle!
Most of all though, I’m looking forward to Microsofts marketing campaign for the new phone, I hope they really do fly those kites and make it one to remember!

Sometimes you happen across a marketing campaign that really makes you sit up and think… now that was genius. This is such a time. Old Spice have launched an online campaign that has taken the Internet by storm in the last few days and will surely be used as a case study in how to create a major buzz online.

As always with this type of campaign, the simplicity is astounding, there must be marketing agencies around the world saying “how the hell have we not thought of that!”.

The campaign

Old spice had their celebrity actor Isaiah Mustafa film several commercials and asked viewers online to tweet questions. The filming of the initial commercials would have took several weeks but the genius was in the follow-up.

When questions were tweeted they filmed responses from Isaiah in a bathroom with just a towel and bottle of old spice shower gel responding to the question. This was posted within an hour of it being asked. Now that’s no mean feat. Especially as they also injected some humour into the responses.

The impact was, as could be expected, huge. They have had over 4m YouTube hits, 70,000 Twitter followers and countless video responses and web bloggers like me responding to this campaign. Proctor and Gamble are laughing all the way to the brand awareness bank!

The fact they responded so quickly was the key to this success. Even Demi Moore asked for a response via her tweets!

It’s an example of how agencies are really pulling out all the stops to create the next best campaign and using online media to do it. Online enables such a quick response and has done for a few years now, so it’s a wonder something like this hasn’t been tried before. You can bet your bottom dollar it will be again now!

Old spice YouTube video

Well here I am waiting for a train at London st.pancras because I was trying to be the model employee and not pay too much for my train ticket home, instead opting for a super off peak ticket that means I can only hit the tracks after 7pm! Annoying as this is, it has meant I now have the time to test out this wordpress app on my iPhone for the first time.

It’s also timely, as I feel, for about the fifth time since I started ever blogging, that I should increase the frequency of my online efforts. This time it is the course I am attending that has poked at my blogging brain to once again spark it into life.

I’ve just completed the second week of a direct and interactive marketing course which is hosted by the idm in teddington. I started with an open mind, not quite sure how I would adapt to being in the classroom again after a good ten year stint out of any form of education. But it has proved quite enjoyable and I’ve certainly learned a lot (I’ve not just put that in to please who I work for either!).

One of the best aspects of the course is the fact they have guest speakers who vary in quality admittadly, but in the main are excellent.

This week we were given the pleasure of listening to one Drayton BIrd who quite literally lit the place up with examples of his quality copy-writing and his extremely colourful language. He was most certainly an inspiring character who had been there, done that and bought the flat cap.

He is most certainly the reason why I’ve decided to have another flirt with blogging although Im sure if he read this there would be a comment on the bottom saying don’t fu*cking bother!

I would certaiy recommend the course to anyone interested in improving their marketing skills. It covers all areas and does it bloody well. But beware, it is an intensive course… Very tiring, so be prepared for some stressful times and sleepless nights.

Anyway, i’ve been at this station now for 2 hours and the train (that I can legally catch) has come into sight… So I’m off.

Oh, and blogging on this wordpress app. Yeah, pretty good!