The Microsoft Marketing Myth

The word on Microsoft is that it's a copycat with great marketing. The company, however, likes to toss
around the term "innovation" and rarely brags about its marketing. And nobody accepts the company's
view of itself but me. I argue that Microsoft is a technology-centric company with incredibly poor
marketing. So poor that it cannot even convince the pundits that it is anything but a me-too developer.
I came to this conclusion after a number of incidents. It began years ago when Alvey Ray Smith quit
Microsoft, and a reporter friend who did an interview with him told me that Smith left because he was
disappointed in Microsoft's crummy marketing. At the time, the company could do nothing with the
innovative photo-editing tools it was developing.
In the past, I've moaned about Microsoft's inability to do anything with the robot toys it was working on,
including the animatronic Barney. That was years ago, way ahead of the curve in an emerging market.
This year's hottest toy, Robosapien, is hardly more advanced than those Microsoft-designed products.
The clincher is Microsoft Bob—the programmable cartoon interface/shell. It was one of the many unique
products the company developed that have been expunged from the official Microsoft timeline. This
product, which would have revolutionized computing for children, was mismarketed and sold to adults.
Consider the fact that there is no VP of marketing at this huge company. In the executive hierarchy, a few
people have "marketing" attached to their titles in a haphazard manner, but that's about it. Does anyone
find this a bit odd?
I think this lack of high-level marketing skills is why Gates is always fearful that some new thing will
come along and wipe out his company. Essentially, Microsoft thrives on being a monopolist (in the legal
U.S. sense) and on leveraging this monopoly. Secondarily, it is a merchandising company, filling the
channels with various boxes that ride mostly on brand-name coattails. This is hardly marketing at all.
Microsoft does not seem to understand the concept of marketing. It does no market development, for
example. It's best at jumping into existing markets, which is how it gets its copycat reputation. When it
perfects products such as Microsoft Bookshelf or Encarta, it cannot develop the market for them.
Sun is another company with zero marketing. I'm reminded of the comments Scott McNealy once made
about Java becoming popular. He boasted that the company did nothing: It just happened—no
advertising, no promotion. And this made him proud. Here was Sun's CEO not just telling the world that
his marketing strategy was sheer dumb luck but bragging about it.
This is the problem with pen-based machines. Cut to a speech that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave at
the Executives' Club in Chicago last November. Noticing the video camera there, he said:
Why is that video not being broadcast over the wireless network in this room? Why don't you all have
[tablet PCs] so that my PowerPoint slides ... the video, the audio is ... captured and you can write a note
that says, "Boy, it got a little bit thick here, he wasn't making any sense" and e-mail it to one of your
people and they just click on it and it takes them exactly to the PowerPoint and exactly to what I was
saying and talking about at the time.
Great vision. Ballmer actually managed to describe a new market. But since when does complaining
about something qualify as marketing? Who is to blame for the lack of the pen machines used as Ballmer
describes? Microsoft is the current torchbearer for the technology, but as far as marketing is concerned,
we are seeing the "do nothing and hope for the best" approach again. I should temper this a bit, since the
company is adept at PR. But PR is not marketing, either. It just draws attention to the failures.
High tech has always been plagued with the "build a better mousetrap" mentality. Why should Microsoft
be different? Of course, observers always lament that this or that better mousetrap was not successful
because people are idiots. And they go on to the next mousetrap. There is no such thing as a better
mousetrap. There are just different mousetraps. The successful mousetrap marketing company finds new
ways to sell its products and, more important, develops or invents new markets.
Microsoft is the pig in the hurricane—flying where the winds take it. It spends most of its energy
worrying about where it will land. Currently, the company is worrying about Linux—a nonthreat if ever
there was one. Linux has no marketing machine either. And so it continues.

Fear, marketing and Microsoft

Will software-piracy busts and the coming of a new millennium scare you into
buying more software?

By Kaitlin Quistgaard

I came home to a scary letter from Microsoft on Monday. It began with news of three lawsuits Microsoft
has filed against software pirates in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I live, and went on to describe
how 30 FBI and police agents brought down a stolen software ring and sent the offenders to jail. Then it
asked me -- well, actually it asked a friend's one-person company, with which I share a mailbox -- to be
"part of the solution."
"Organizations like yours are their targets," it warned. "If your organization becomes a victim, you risk
losing your software investment, gaining software viruses and becoming involved in the legal process
associated with law enforcement raids and criminal prosecution."
But, wait a minute, how am I -- or my friend's company, for that matter -- a "target" or a "victim"? The
nomenclature was confusing, but I think Microsoft was trying to be threatening and opaque at the same
time. The company doesn't want to sound mean -- it couldn't very well say, "If you buy illegal software,
we're going to hunt you down like a dog."
But for those who are fearful of becoming such a victim, Microsoft offered a foolproof solution:
Conveniently tucked in the envelope with the warning letter was a glossy brochure for Microsoft Open
License, a software licensing program for small businesses. "Open License is an easy and efficient way to
help ensure your software is licensed and lawful," it explained, after reminding that, "If you're caught
using illegal software, you'll jeopardize your reputation and face legal action and/or penalties." The
brochure also explained something called "Upgrade Advantage," which promised to reduce the total cost
of the software while providing two years' worth of upgrades.
The message was far from subtle: If you're using pirated software, even unknowingly, you'll pay the
price. So, your best bet is to get legal -- and while you're at it, why not sign up for an upgrade program?
The piracy letter was sent to 28,000 Bay Area residents, a drop in the bucket compared to the 60 million
customers Microsoft hopes to educate about Y2K problems. Touting a massive direct-mail program as the
largest non-governmental consumer campaign in history, an Aug. 4 press release says: "The effort urges
PC users to address their Y2K concerns in a timely fashion by taking advantage of the preparedness
resources available at the Microsoft Y2K Web site." The release quotes President Clinton and refers to
assertions of millennium-bug doom made by everyone from the U.S. Small Business Administration to
Chicken Little alarmists, then advises that consumers take a "prudent approach to Y2K" -- "sooner is
better than later" to rectify your system's potential problems. Iinstead of offering concrete tips, the Y2K
site sends consumers to an MSN site, which guides them through software upgrade decisions.
It's been more than a year since Microsoft's Windows 98 upgrade enticed a million buyers in its first three
weeks. And Windows 2000 isn't due before year's end. But who needs new products to keep up sales?
Surely, the threat of lawsuits, jail time or just a total system failure will be enough to convince many
consumers to upgrade their software.

Who are we?

Over the last three decades, technology has transformed the way we work, play, and communicate.
Today, we access information and people from around the world in an instant. Microsoft Sales,
Marketing, and Service Group (SMSG) is the sales, marketing, consulting, technical support, and
customer service arm of the world's leading software company. The organization helps customers and
partners discover and implement high value Microsoft solutions that generate rapid, meaningful, and
measurable results. With its global partner network and support infrastructure, Microsoft SMSG enables
the successful adoption, deployment, and use of Microsoft solutions and technologies for all customers
around the globe, from the individual to the enterprise. Microsoft SMSG is designed to provide the right
scope of sales, services, support at the right time, including localized support solutions for businesses and
consumers around the world.

How far will you go?

Imagine having the resources to influence tomorrow's reality today, and having fun while you do it. That's
Microsoft. Right now, we're looking for people who think big and dream big - people a lot like you. If
you're ready to discover just how far your talents can take you, we invite you to explore Microsoft Sales,
Marketing, and Service Group.

Are you ready?

Imagine being able to influence tomorrow's reality - Today
At Microsoft, we are seeking people like you whose ideas can make a difference; individuals who thrive
on the opportunity to think creatively and be empowered to deliver. If you're ready to discover your full
potential and believe that working in this great industry is supposed to be fun, we invite you to explore
Microsoft. It is amazing what you can do here.

Holiday campaigns
Coca-Cola Christmas truck in Germany

The "Holidays are coming!" advertisement features a train of red delivery trucks, emblazoned with the
Coca-Cola name and decorated with electric lights, driving through a snowy landscape and causing
everything that they pass to light up and people to watch as they pass through.[60]
The advertisement fell into disuse in 2001, as the Coca-Cola company restructured its advertising
campaigns so that advertising around the world was produced locally in each country, rather than
centrally in the company's headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.[61] However, in 2007, the company brought
back the campaign after, according to the company, many consumers telephoned its information center
saying that they considered it to mark the beginning of Christmas.[60] The advertisement was created by
U.S. advertising agency Doner, and has been part of the company's global advertising campaign for many
years.[62]
Keith Law, a producer and writer of commercials for Belfast CityBeat, was not convinced by Coca-Cola's
reintroduction of the advertisement in 2007, saying that "I don't think there's anything Christmassy about
HGVs and the commercial is too generic."[63]
In 2001, singer Melanie Thornton recorded the campaign's advertising jingle as a single, Wonderful
Dream (Holidays are Coming), which entered the pop-music charts in Germany at no. 9.[64][65] In 2005,
Coca-Cola expanded the advertising campaign to radio, employing several variations of the jingle.[66]

Sports sponsorship
Coca-Cola was the first commercial sponsor of the Olympic games, at the 1928 games in Amsterdam, and
has been an Olympics sponsor ever since.[67] This corporate sponsorship included the 1996 Summer
Olympics hosted in Atlanta, which allowed Coca-Cola to spotlight its hometown. Since 1978, Coca-Cola
has sponsored each FIFA World Cup, and other competitions organised by FIFA. In fact, one FIFA
tournament trophy, the FIFA World Youth Championship from Tunisia in 1977 to Malaysia in 1997, was
called "FIFA — Coca Cola Cup".[68] In addition, Coca-Cola sponsors the annual Coca-Cola 600 and
Coke Zero 400 for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North
Carolina and Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, Florida. Coca-Cola has a long history of sports
marketing relationships, which over the years have included Major League Baseball, the National
Football League, National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League, as well as with many
teams within those leagues. Coca-Cola is the official soft drink of many collegiate football teams
throughout the nation.
Coca-Cola was one of the official sponsors of the 1996 Cricket World Cup held on the Indian
subcontinent. Coca Cola is also one of the associate sponsor of Delhi Daredevils in Indian Premier
League.
In England, Coca-Cola is the main sponsor of The Football League, a name given to the three
professional divisions below the Premier League in football (soccer). It is also responsible for the
renaming of these divisions — until the advent of Coca-Cola sponsorship, they were referred to as
Divisions One, Two and Three. Since 2004, the divisions have been known as The Championship (equiv.
of Division 1), League One (equiv. of Div. 2) and League 2 (equiv. of Division 3). This renaming has
caused unrest amongst some fans, who see it as farcical that the third tier of English Football is now
called "League One." In 2005, Coca-Cola launched a competition for the 72 clubs of the football league
— it was called "Win a Player". This allowed fans to place 1 vote per day for their beloved club, with 1
entry being chosen at random earning £250,000 for the club; this was repeated in 2006. The "Win A
Player" competition was very controversial, as at the end of the 2 competitions, Leeds United AFC had
the most votes by more than double, yet they did not win any money to spend on a new player for the
club. In 2007, the competition changed to "Buy a Player". This competition allowed fans to buy a bottle
of Coca-Cola Zero or Coca-Cola and submit the code on the wrapper on the Coca-Cola website
{www.coca-colafootball.co.uk}. This code could then earn anything from 50p to £100,000 for a club of
their choice. This competition was favored over the old "Win A Player" competition, as it allowed all
clubs to win some money.

Responsible Marketing

Advertising and Marketing to Children Policy*

The Coca-Cola Company is steeped in history and tradition, where heritage is honored
and values are respected. We are a global family of people working together to bring your family a wide
array of beverage choices to meet your beverage needs each and every day.
We are honored that for over a century, we have been invited to be a part of your everyday lives; from
your simplest routines to your social celebrations. You have trusted our products and brought them in to
your home to be enjoyed by the whole family.
Your right as a parent or caregiver to make the appropriate choices for your children is at the cornerstone
of our "Responsible Marketing Practices -- Advertising and Marketing to Children." While this policy has
been in effect for our sparkling, full calorie soft drinks for more than half a century, our efforts continue
to change in step with consumers' needs and the marketplace. We know that children are increasingly
exposed to marketing messages across more mediums and your need for greater control and guidance has
been heightened. It is for this reason that we have broadened our "Advertising and Marketing to
Children Policy" to include all of our beverages, so that children under the age of 12 will not be
directly targeted by any of our marketing messages in traditional advertising mediums, nor will
they be shown drinking any of our products outside of the presence of a parent or a caregiver.
The Coca-Cola Company respects and supports your role as a parent and a caregiver. We also
acknowledge that as an informed parent or caregiver, you are best equipped to make the right dietary
choices for your children. We believe that by providing you with easy-to-access nutritional information
both on our product labels and online, as well as providing you with portion control sizes for all
occasions, you have the necessary tools to make informed choices. View product nutritional information
for a variety of our products. Your guidance in helping your children make appropriate choices during the
many occasions of their day, will enable them to make more informed choices for themselves in the
future. Learn answers to children's health questions and the role of beverages.
The Coca-Cola Company's "Advertising and Marketing to Children Policy" is applied to all
marketing mediums where targeted demographic tracking is available: television, radio, print, the
Internet and mobile phones. The Coca-Cola Company also makes every attempt to avoid directly
targeting children in other areas where parents may not be present to supervise, such as schools.
As a global company, The Coca-Cola Company also makes every effort to adhere to the local, cultural,
political and religious requirements in every market that we serve. We are committed to monitoring this
policy to ensure it is responsive to the needs and requests of parents and caregivers, and reflective of the
ever changing marketplace. We have advocated with the entire non-alcoholic beverage industry
worldwide to follow the same approach and are delighted that a set of Guidelines consistent with our
policy has been adopted by the International Council of Beverage Associations. We will work at creating
an independent monitoring mechanism together with other willing partners, peers and competitors.