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Dance Video Proves Microsoft Stores Officially Uncool

Bart Salisbury — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:53:16 -0600

It’s sort of hard to classify this one. Gizmodo has linked to a video of staffers at the Microsoft Store in Mission Viejo, California, dancing. Not just one or two, and not just a shuffle step or two, but a full-blown, choreographed (?) routine involving all the staffers--and while the store is open for business.

What’s most surprising about this? That staffers would put up with it? (Pay must be good.) That techno-geeks can dance? (If Texans can line dance, geeks can too.) Or that customers didn’t leave en masse from the spontaneous St. Vitus outbreak

Commenters on the video were less than kind. “Reason number 6751 why I avoid Microsoft products like the plague,” writes cance440. JohnMunsch notes: “If Joe’s Crab Shack ran your local Microsoft franchise.” SunsetChaser sums it up: “O good grief, Does everything microsoft do have to be so cringeworthy.”

Whatever the case, it doesn’t seem a particularly good in-store marketing strategy. Customers seem a bit confused by it. It is a distraction to serious shoppers. And business comes to a standstill during the 4-plus minute routine.

Let’s hope this is one of Microsoft’s ‘working out the bugs’ moment.

Image Credit: bkslavin/YouTube

Twitter Attempts to Shut Down uSocial

Andy Salisbury — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:08:50 -0500

Twitter has made recent moves to get rid of web promotion company uSocial by claiming that their means of advertising count as spam.

uSocial’s CEO Leon Hill claims that the accusations from Twitter are false. “The definition of spam is using electronic messaging to send unsolicited communication and as we don’t use Twitter for this, the claims are false.” He believes that the claims are because of their service, which allows users to buy followers on the popular microblogging site.

“The people at Twitter who are sending these claims are just flailing around trying to look for any excuse they can, though it’s going to take much more than this if they want us to pack up shop,” stated Hill. “We’re not going away that easily.”

So what do you think? Are the folks at uSocial trying to make a buck in a spammy way, or should the folks at Twitter back off? Make your voice heard in the comments.

Image Credit: uSocial

Sony Tweaks its Ebook Strategy

Paul Lilly — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:15:18 -0500

While Amazon's Kindle seems to receive most of the attention surrounding e-book readers, don't count Sony out of the running. On the contrary, Sony has started tweaking its marketing strategy to better compete with the Kindle.

Last week, Sony introduced two new e-book readers at comparatively affordable price points of $200 and $300, with the higher priced model sporting a touchscreen interface. In addition, Sony reduced prices at its online e-book store for new releases and New York Times best sellers by $2 a pop. And finally, Sony has also started offering a handful of newer titles for free from authors such as Brenda Jackson, James Patterson, and others.

"I think the trend toward lower-priced devices will help to encourage adoptions, and it also helps that Sony's best sellers will now be priced at $9.99 -- down from $11.99," said Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst for Forrester Research. "Even though there are many books priced lower than $9.99 in their online store, just being able to add this price point has psychological appeal."

Epps went to say that while Sony is moving in the right direction, it still needs to do more to make it easier for consumers to find the e-book content they're looking for through its online stores.

Image Credit: Sony

Twitter Followers & Digg Votes for Sale – The Ugly Side of Social Networks

Justin Kerr — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:24:23 -0500

How much is a Twitter account or Digg vote worth? uSocial.net thinks they have the answer to that question with a recently announced new service that will sell social media accounts or votes to companies or individuals having trouble doing it the old fashioned way. $87 USD buys you (or your company) 1,000 followers added over 7 days, or as many as 100,000 over a one year period for $3,479. It turns out money really can make you popular both online, and in real life.

I have to admit however, I find it somewhat doubtful that companies would find these “purchased masses” very responsive, and in fact, uSocial itself claims “we'll Tweet our followers three times a day, every day for a month to go and check out links directly to the content that you'd like promoted.” This type of ad spam would have any normal user searching frantically for the unfollow button, but it certainly points out how modern social media is just as vulnerable to abuse as telephones, or the post office.

uSocial.net is also responsible for launching a program last year that allowed companies to buy votes on Digg and StumbleUpon. Both companies have issued cease-and-desist orders to uSocial, which according to a statement from Digg, have been ignored.

Is this the ugly side of social networking? Let us know what you think.

Redmond Preps Spending Binge to Roll Out 'Bing' Search Engine

Mark Edward Soper — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:45:23 -0500

Ready, aim, SPEND! That's the approach Microsoft is planning for Bing, its new search engine, Advertising Age reports. How much coin is Redmond prepared to spend to market Bing (previously code-named Kumo)? Somewhere is the $80-100 million range, Ad Age says, compared to Google's non-recruitment ad spending in 2008 of around $13 million. But, can spending 6-8 times as much as Google give Bing the jump it needs?

Microsoft's ad push (helmed by ad-agency powerhouse JWT) will not, unlike the recent anti-Apple campaign, mention Microsoft's search rivals - instead, the planned ads will ask consumers if search works as well as they'd like.

How about the product itself?

People who've seen the Microsoft product suggest it's useful and has some nifty filtering tools, even though it's not a markedly different-looking interface, at least for text search (some of the multimedia search results, however, do look quite different from how Google currently displays them).

When will Bing shove aside Live Search? The Register says "June," and also suggests keeping an eye on the D: All Things Digital conference this week for more details.

Microsoft is Keeping on the Offensive with another "Laptop Hunters" Commercial

Paul Lilly — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:03:21 -0500

No one has been more critical of Microsoft's first attempts at responding to Apple's "I'm a Mac" ads than myself, and I still contend that those quirky commercials featuring Jerry Seinfeld missed the mark wider than Brett Favre in a critical game (you Jets fans still steaming over a 3-interception, 24-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins know what I'm talking about). Judging by the comments in those earlier blogs (see here and here), either expectations were disparingly low, or other PC users really did find a certain charm in talking about chewy computers or watching Bill Gates do a geriatric robot.

This time around I'm more than willing to give credit where credit is due, and it belongs to Microsoft for its latest offensive against Apple. Microsoft has finally zeroed in on the high price tags that accompany Macs, and it isn't letting up. The first ad featured a woman named Lauren on the hunt for a 17-inch laptop under $1,000, and not surprisingly, she wasn't able to find one in an Apple store. "I'm just not cool enough to be a Mac person," she concluded. Not long after, a second ad emerged, this time upping the ante to $1,500 and featuring a member of the opposite sex who surmised that "Macs, to me, are about the aesthetics more than they are the computing power. I don't want to pay for the rent, I want to pay for the computer."

Now for the third time in only three weeks, Microsoft has released yet another "Laptop Hunters" commercial, this time with the camera crew following a mother-and-son duo looking for a sub $1,500 gaming notebook with a large hard drive. Talk about being at a disadvantage from the outset, and predictably, neither one finds what they're looking for in the Mac section of a local Best Buy.

"Whoa, these are way more money, dude!," the mother exclaims as the two check out a MacBook, while the son is quick to add "It's a little too small. Maybe we'd rather go with PC."

You can guess how it ends, or view it for yourself here.

Anyone else like what Microsoft's doing with its latest ad campaign?

It’s no Joke – Microsoft is in the Tee Shirt Business

Justin Kerr — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:27:24 -0600

When we first broke this story, though it came from a credible source, it was a bit hard to believe. Microsoft is in the software business, so what is all this talk about softwear? Turns out it’s all true and the official Microsoft website for the product line has now launched. The project is being managed in collaboration with thinkcommon.com, and the designs certainly are… interesting.

The majority of the shirts are tributes to the olden days of MS-DOS, but my personal favorite is “The Misdemeanor”. This classy tee (shown above) sports Bill Gate’s mug shot, and is sure to make you a hit at parties (not guaranteed by me or Microsoft). The shirts supposedly retail for a very reasonable $10, and the website can help you find a store near you.

So is this brilliant marketing or painful to look at?

Return to the Days of DOS with Retrowear from Microsoft (Yes, Microsoft!)

Mark Edward Soper — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:01:17 -0600

Advertising Age (via Cnet) reports that Microsoft and rapper Common are teaming up with ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky to put classic Microsoft imagery from the '80s and modern remixes on T-shirts. Yes, the line will be called "Softwear by Microsoft."

The first two designs unveiled bring back memories of MS-DOS (if you've forgotten all the DOS you ever learned, be sure to see our 50 Skills Every Real Geek Should Have article for a refresher) and the days when MicroSoft was two words. You can see more designs, including Common's remixes, at the Softwear by Microsoft website.

So, how about it, Redmond fanboys (and fangirls)? Are you going to embrace your roots, or do these designs make you hit your reset button? Hit Comment and tell us what you think.