3 Lessons Microsoft Taught People About BrandingPosted by Chambers Sparks on May 17th, 2021 For years now, Apple using its "I'm a Mac. I'm a PC." campaign has essentially established Microsoft's marketing position in the minds of consumers. In fact, Apple has "positioned" the entire PC world, but Microsoft, being synonymous with PCs, has become the greatest victim in that campaign's wake. Most everyone appears to enjoy Apple's ads. The casting is brilliant, the ads are entertaining and the messages hit any sore points about Windows from Vista to tech support, and even, these ads have grown to be culturally iconic. The Wrong Thing To Do Just what exactly has Microsoft done over time? From a branding standpoint, pretty much nothing. They recently hired the super-hot agency Crispin Porter for a reputed 0 million+ ad campaign. The first ad used Jerry Seinfeld with Bill Gates in what were an attempt at humanizing Mr. Gates and Microsoft. Ad critics grimaced. This ad was launched with the tag line, "Life Without Walls" which became a punch line for Mac enthusiasts and beyond. Mac-loyalist blogs commented, "In a life without walls, who needs Windows?" Ouch. The Wronger Thing To Do Then, Microsoft delivered a number of ads where the position they were trying to dislodge made up about 90% of its commercial copy lines. The "I'm a PC." campaign was created with very loose, amateur-styled video techniques, again to humanize. The obvious goal was "Just how do we become cool and relevant?" Only read more is that it directly played into Apple's campaign. It's impossible to see one of those ads and not think about Apple. I could understand their thinking, however they were bringing nothing new to the table. It was all defense, without strategic offense. Nonetheless, the Microsoft stores are increasingly being compared to the Apple stores. What Have We Learned? So, if the deep-pocketed Microsoft machine can make these missteps, is there anything we can learn from this so we are able to spend (waste) less marketing dollars in the marketplace to promote our brands and our very own businesses? Yes. In 3 easy steps. The 3 Branding Lessons Microsoft Taught the Technology World: 1. Don't try to be something you are not. Pick your sweet spot and embrace it. Don't try to simply follow the lead of others because (even though you're Microsoft) if you're following, you are not leading. Just look at Zune (and its lackluster market share) as an incident study. What to do: Don't fake it. Elaine on Seinfeld once told Jerry that she'd "faked it". Totally shocked, Jerry asked, just how many times? Her response was, "each and every time." Jerry compared Elaine to Meryl Streep on her behalf incredible acting skills. When it comes your brand, be real. Don't try to fake it. Find something you can find passionate about and something your brand can perform remarkably well. 2. To do there is nothing branding death. Saying and doing nothing or too little leaves your customers to seek elsewhere to obtain the facts (or any ideas if facts don't exist). They'll take whatever information there's unless better, smarter, more thought-provoking information occurs to supplant it. If you don't like your fate being dictated randomly, then you've got to speak up. Then improve what you say. Then increase just how many people hear it. Because the business guru Peter Drucker said, "You can't shrink your way to greatness." How to proceed: Something. Anything. Give a regular stream of information that's informative, educational, interesting, engaging, and preferably, new. 3. If your branding is defensive, you're promoting the war, not your individual brand. Branding has often been compared to war on the battlefield. I like this analogy better: A brandname is like a person. A person can engage someone or bore them. So can your brand. You can be genuinely interesting or you can test to be interesting (as being a brand). You will be passionate or monotonous. Inventive or ho-hum. In each case, your brand can embody those qualities aswell. Here is a good acid test: If your brand were an individual, would you want to venture out and hang out with on your time off? If the answer is no, then the odds are others will have an identical response, leaving your brand as something one buys as it's needed versus being a thing that is passionately sought out.Like it? Share it! More by this author |