Quote:
Originally Posted by
addabox 
I think it's an interesting ad, well done, but I think what they're selling (we can get you-- or perhaps more pointedly
those other dicks who keep ramming into you-- involved in life again by making your phone so easy to use you rarely have to look at it) is nonsensical.
You're right that it might stir some interest, but I can't see that translating into sales. Windows Phone 7 will sink or swim on its merits, not some high concept "this fixes a terrible wrong" campaign.
Now, of course, this might just be an initial teaser piece, with more substantial sales pitches to come, but it sort of sounds like the hook they're going to hang the whole campaign on--"get in and get out fast." But the trouble there is that's
not what people want to do with their phones. If it were, they'd already be doing it, because neither iOS or Android actually preclude, say, quickly checking your email and putting your phone away. Compulsively needing to be constantly in touch is not a failure of hardware or software, and pretending like it is really can't build good will.
Precisely.
I don't even think it will intrigue people, because they usually don't like a caricature of themselves (a justified one for that matter) thrown at them.
And some are sensible enough too to understand the whole idiocy of this campaign:
You want us to use our smart phones less and be more involved in life, so you are selling us another smart phone which is supposed to be even more intuitive to use so we are going to use it LESS than we already do.
So it's either no thanks -the defensive stance- I am already using my phone as much as I want to, or it's -the more aware stance- what the hell are you on about? If you wan't me to get a rest from email checking, texting, calendars etc. then sell me a one way trip to some god forsaken island or at the very least a dumb phone from 10 years ago.
On a side note, MS have started (alongside their track record of vapourware, bloatware, etc.) to build an impressive track record of failed and extremely misguided ad campaigns. And to me it seems the harder they try, the worse it gets. I really did mean it that the Jerry Seinfeld shoe ads and the bang bus styled laptop hunter ones, strangely enough make more sense than this admittedly very pleasing visually but colossally misguided ad. It's very funny btw how they aimed for some high concept ad, including a social phenomenon in and all, only to make it even more vapid than their previous ads.
Why can't they get a cue from apple, again, here too, and make a simple ad?
Enough with the garbage, people are very ad savvy nowadays, and most of them can smell a crock of shit. Don't patronize them on how often they use their phones or how better you are to everyone else. Because you aren't better than
anyone else microsoft, and people are very aware of that, and you know why? Because they paid with their hard earned cash to get a device from someone else instead. So, seeing you are in the tight corner you painted yourselves into, just make a simple ad, because everyone knows you are not going to revolutionize shit, because you never did, because the last time you tried to have a similar campaign for the kids' phones only 534 poor kids were suckered in.
So what you should have done, is get your damn phones out there, get some of the good paid reviews out, and some of the morons in the flock commenting about them on the engadgets and the macrumors of this world, and put out a simple campaign that says hey you most probably have our os on your computer, here, we make pretty good phones too, these are our new ones, check them out. That should have been the motto.
But patronizing people on phone usage and selling them horse shit revolutions in terms of user interface isn't going to get you very far. Especially when people pick up an iphone, and they can tether, video chat, copy paste, run background apps, have tons of apps, all a touch away and you don't have any of that.
Of course one can sneakily respond to me, that's their whole point, if you have a smart phone that can't do shit you use it less and you get more involved in life. Hypothetical point well taken.
