Windows Phone commercial is confusing for a variety of reasons
By Nilay Patel 
posted Oct 11th 2009 10:02PM
posted Oct 11th 2009 10:02PM
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MIcrosoft has to have the worst advertising agencies in the world...
Quite the contrary... :)
Songsmith, Windows 7 parties
ORLY? Sony PS3 ads beg to differ.
I watched it without sound, but I actually smiled at that.
Way better than every Apple commercial that overflows with smugness.
Sony change their ad agency the new ads are real good, maybe MS hire Sony's old agency?
the way I interpreted the commercial is that the guy was sick of WinMo and was taking his iPhone to work, so the windows icons were depressed, but then he changed his mind and the new and improved 6.5 phone saved the day so they could cram in the car. Almost like Microsoft is admitting that they took to long for a refresh but now 6.5 makes it all better.
Actually, no
The laptop hunters ads were quite good. They got people talking, and if your ads get people talking that much, then they're effective. Did you ever see the, maybe internet only, ad for the new office? Advertising an office package as though it were a movie? Making fun of your very own clippy? Brilliant. Life without walls is also an awesome slogan for the product it's advertising. Having a little 5 year old girl demoing your products is also an awesome move, shows ease of use.
Then again, they could have rehashed the same old "I'm a PC" commercial for the last 5 years...
okay apple fanboy, good job trolling. everyone knows that sony's marketing agency is the worst in the world.
i for one completely understood the message, and i like how it emphasized that you could bring all of the things you do on a "normal desktop" with you wherever you go.
the one place i can see where an apple fanboy could be confused was how they called it a "windows phone" at the very end, but since i know that it is simply a phone that runs windows [mobile] it made total sense to me. [and probably will make sense for anyone even remotely clued into the smartphone market.]
What are you talking about? That was hilarious XD.
Apparently Apple tried to do this too, but it was just 30 seconds of some man in a black shirt trying to run away from 1000000 zombie iPhone apps inside a white abyss. The iFart app almost got him, but he got distracted and duked it out with Zippo instead.
...and software.
"Do not turn off or unplug your computer... Windows is installing update 19 of 27."
I have yet to come across an Apple that doesn't wake from sleep or hibernation, much less greet me with this... Grrrr.
You see, I looked past the confusion and was just amused by the commercial.
Why? Because there's no chance of me buying the damn phone anyway.
I am still waiting for them to bring back Seinfeld and Gates!!! FTW
It's good that Microsoft is renaming stuff. That way it fools people into thinking it's something brand new.
Why not rename it to Vista Pro? Problem solved!
@ Jordan
You obviously know nothing about marketing. The biggest marketing mistake is to assume that people are like you, so what you like must be what your "market" likes. Just because you think making fun of Clippy and having a 5 year old use a computer is good advertising, doesn't mean that they were effective campaigns.
All theories about "just get people talking" advertising have been debunked and proven ineffective. The most proven advertising method is to have people have good experiences with your ads. To make them feel good about what they are seeing. It is also widely understood that Microsoft has not done well with their marketing. True to form, they came out with this new "Windows Phone" campaign. Microsoft, for some reason or another, has not been able to consistently put together good advertising campaigns.
If you think "I'm a Mac" ads feel old, sorry. They work. U.S. News & World Report named the “Get A Mac” campaign one of the best marketing jobs in recent times.
The old PS3 ads and the apple ads came from the same agency.
How about WINDOWS SIDEKICK?
@Greg
Actually Jordan does and you don't judging by the increase in the brand perception scores that Microsoft received after their campaigns.
You might want to do a little research before assuming your own subjective opinion is right in future.
I don't agree with you, I love zune ads
Why did I get lowest rangked? o_O
Just think about it. No matter what your opinion about this ad is, it clearly works as it shows up FREE on all major geek and gadget sites etc... so even MORE people see it, even if they hate it, absolutely free of charge for Microsoft.
So, I'd say, the ad. agency did an excellent job.
Not when people don't know what you're advertising. What are they trying to sell me? Halloween costumes?
@Sean
If you didn't at least work out this was advertising a phone or range of phones then you have attention span issues.
I mean, come on. In what way was this puzzling at all?
I will agree that microsoft's add is stupid.
But we are not talking "Creepy Pre Girl" class of stupid.
At least MS add does get the point across that the stuff you do at home on your computer, you can now do while you are driving in your car.
@Jordan - Life with out walls makes sense? With out a wall you can't have a window. so MS basically states No walls no windows?
@Gaerm:
Or they could be saying with just walls you're in a box, bound by only what the walls allow you to do, but with Windows you are free to look further.
Life with walls = limited
Life without walls, ie windows = freedom
Apple = the walls, only letting you do what they want
Microsoft = The Windows, letting you do and see more
LOL @ eric1080
and I loved the commercial. It made me laugh - but not as much as that cute little 5 year old and her slideshow. That one was so hilarious.
my only question is, what is MSN doing there...?
Microsoft doesn't have the worst advertisers... that award goes to Burger King. I personally completely disagree that this commercial fails to convey that Windows is a platform. That was exactly what it said to me. I don't own a smart phone, and I don't follow mobile devices closely, so maybe my lack of education on the subject allows me to view this a bit more objectively.
Honestly thought it was for a device.
the usage is so awkward, I'm pretty sure it's just a new name for any phone with Windows Mobile 6.5, but they usage makes it sound like a single devices, if you check the site they have a bunch of phones but never use the plural "windows phones"
I really did too...saw the commercial a few days ago and thought it was a new device...i feel dumb.
I completely agree with engadget that it seems like its for a device...
That being said...
I thought it was really funny and made me want to check out this "windows phone"
With so many people allready confused about the commercial, i wonder if this is a foreshadowing of the OS... or it could be and omen....
No, you guys have it all wrong? See its Microsoft showing us that they have this brand new and innovative device unlike any other that can magically bring the internet, email, twitter and facebook on the go with you. You know, because there is no other phone or phone os that lets you do that. Who ever else heard of a phone where you could use a phone for more than a phone, i know i didn't. What next's Microsoft. A device to heat something up without using an oven? now that would be innovation right there.
when i was working for at&t and tmobile launched the G1, the "average consumer" came in all of the time and was asking if they could get "the google phone." even though "the google phone" wasnt just a single device the marketing department did a good job at getting people wouldnt normally be interested in a smartphone, talking about one.
i think this commercial COULD be a win for microsoft because its simple, its adorable and it doesnt over explain things. but well have to wait a few months to see if theres a boost in winmo sales or not first.
I'll have to agree with Invisiblemoose, below when he says:
"The thing is, 99% of the people who would be confused by the "Windows Phone" thing really couldn't give a damn, and the people who do give a damn aren't confused"
Most people who use WM to begin with are tech-savvy (or business-savvy) and know what is going on with mobile devices already. For those who don't already know, and the average consumer, this commercial says clearly - use your windows stuff wherever you want, you interested?
You know your average consumer will be asking their customer service rep for details about this "windows phone" (or any phone they would want to buy) anyway.
You know, since if they were confused, they clearly don't read Engadget.
The thing is, 99% of the people who would be confused by the "Windows Phone" thing really couldn't give a damn, and the people who do give a damn aren't confused. Just possibly a bit frightened. The hell is this commercial.
pretty much. just like most folks didn't notice/care that the laptop hunter ads by Microsoft were really about the hardware, which Microsoft doesn't make. or that that 5 year old girl was using a service you have to be 18 to sign up for.
as for this new ad, I'd call it gay but I have too much respect for my homosexual friends to insult them like that.
I wonder if it was another CP+B (who by the by are a devoted Mac House. lol)
I agree... here's the problem with the ad, that being said. Basically the people that they confused, i.e. the everyday people who aren't tech savvy and who wouldn't understand this right off the bat, are the people they need to win over. The tech savvy business people already use WinMo, or iPhone or Blackberry and I would bet that almost every single one of those people are not going to change whatever platform they are using, because they are happy with it. These are the people who have tried more than one and have a reason to like whichever one they use. It's the common masses they need to win over if they want to have success.
I'm certainly not saying this is a hard commercial to understand, but for a common phone user who puts very little thought in to what their phone does (which is still a lot of people) they will just skip over this commercial and it won't do anything for them, and probably won't even remember seeing it 10 seconds later.
The twitter icon was so gay for him.
yah he was...he even got in his trunk
I hated the IE logo.
Indeed, and the downside to banging the twitter icon is it's gonna go tell eeeverybody about it.
I'm GAY and I'm a PC. So there.
Is the new trend for advertising agencies to drop acid and just write down whatever comes to mind?
Sometimes it works, it really does.
BASEBALL DIARY PEANUT GARAGE TUBA
They should give manatees with idea balls a shot.
I assume you've never worked in advertising?
@ Decoy
Those aren't random...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKM8kCPBn5E
No, the trend isn't new at all.
WOW
But I rather enjoyed the giant Messenger and Outlook suits... Thanks Nilay.
Hmm, Halloween is coming up and I've always wanted to be Microsoft Outlook... *ponders*
Microsoft costume suits for Halloween? Hooray...!? I can imagine at least a few poor souls would do that.
I thought it was a decent ad. It sort of communicated what was available on some WM phones, like the new HTC Pure AT&T has for example, and since I apparently like HTC gadgets, that certainly caught my eye at the end. Sure, MS ads could step up their game a bit, but hey, I'm considering using a similar plot scheme from the Laptop Hunter ads in a satire I'm working on. Their ads work, and I think that'll do it for 'em.
However, I'd rather see more live-action ads for ODST come from MS + Bungie. They did an excellent job with those clips.
This makes me wonder how much more interesting the Windows 7 Launch Party ads would've been if Microsoft realized how close the launch is to Halloween.
Too bad the icon costumes couldn't be party favors.
Heh, that's actually a good point. I guess I'd take one of these as a Halloween favor, depending whether or not I was trying to scare some of my Mac/Linux friends...
I wish 6.5 was that slick in actual use. It should have more transitional animations to better differentiate it from 6.1.
i never really looked at it that way but thats just because i understood what it was before seeing this ad. now that i think about it this would be extremely confusing for someone who doesn't have preexisting knowledge of WinMo
This kinda reminds me of a Harold and Kumar movie.
Yeah, the commercial accomplished very little. It didn't seem like it was very oriented to the average consumers who I assume was their target because of how the way the guy is dressed and the fact that most people in business are likely famililar with "business phones."
Also: paying adults in stockings and Windows icons costumes to follow after a guy is never good for a brand.
Thinking about the adults in stocking and Windows icons look like hookers after the mans money especially the Twitter one that jumps in the back of the car!
That looked like a Fuze so technically speaking its still an AT&T "WIndows Phone"
(*Sigh*) If only that was the HD2...
I have a windows 6.1 phone. When running stock applications, and I try to take a picture, it says "out of memory". Then I have to go into task manager, ON MY PHONE, to open the camera application.
Why does anyone pay money for Windows Mobile garbage? Yes, it was understandable when it was the only game in town, but now there are choices -- even if you need to connect to an exchange server!
This isn't a place for you to complain about your experiencs with your phone. If anybody wanted to hear about how Windows Mobile sucks, they can Google it. Same goes for how great it is. As well as any other product on the planet.
this is why they renamed it to windows phone because it has all of windows problems in it.
Hi there,
welcome to the InterWeb.
You do not make the rules.
If Microsoft thinks they can use dress up icons to make us forget about a decade of fail, they are wrong.
p.s. astroturf much?
Of course, my "decade of fail" comment was addressed to WixosTrix. Stupid engadget comment system FTW!
Android FTW!
Well I mean you could do it on an iphone...or wait...that would require multitasking, nevermind.
I don't know what kind of crap phone you got, but I've never had such a bad experience with my Touch Diamond. I'm running a stock Telus ROM, and it's not as bad as people say.
That said, Windows Mobile still falls behind compared to other software platforms like iPhone, Android, etc.. But Windows Mobile also has a great potential to improve, because they have the user base and the resource to do so.
if you have money to burn then setting fire to the money is a better alternative than paying the ad agency that's creating commercials like these...
The phone does look cool :)
I don't see how this ad is all that bad?
i liked it
there goes my night...
Hehehe. Coming Soon on Broadway: Disney Windows Musical
We're all in this phone together...
When we stand byte to byte
Make our dreams come true...
Together, together, together everyone...
Windows in the house
Everybody say it now...
How is that in the least bit confusing? All his Windows apps are sad that he's leaving the house, but when he turns around and shows them his Windows Phone they're excited they get to go with him. I don't see how anyone can be confused about a new windows phone on AT&T.
Also. I liked the messenger icon that looked like a parasitic twin.
It's not confusing - it's just lame. Fortunately, crap adverts do not mean crap products (necessarily).
Yawn.
WTF this make ALOT of sense, i don't see what people are complaining about?... I wish i had windows mobile... (touch wiz sucks alot and now new widgets wtf samsung)
TouchWiz is on Windows Mobile.
What you probably meant to say is that you want a Windows Phone, but as far as I know, the ones available have Sense or some other skin on top of them.
Reunited and it feels so good
Reunited 'cause we understood
There's one perfect fit
And, sugar, this one is it
We both are so excited 'cause we're reunited, hey, hey
Is this a contender for the worst ever?
i dont get it. ?_?
I thought the commercial was for MSN
I like it. It is like... the applications were trapped at home (laptop, desktop bound) and they became freed to go thanks to Windows Mobile. C'mon, the Outlook making tea - that was charming.
The commercial has some sort of "Beauty and the Beast" tone.
wow he even drives a Vdub, and has a hip bag... he must be cool and "with it"! where's his latte?
It's playing on people not knowing that it's a platform, but rather a direct competitor to the iPhone. iPhone vs Windows Phone. Same as the laptop hunter ads. Microsoft vs Apple, Nokia, et al.. Software, hardware, it doesn't matter.
I agree with you. I honestly prefer the walking icon in white bright tights than Microsoft coming with something like the wPhone.
The biggest problem with it is the lack of distinction from other phones. It shows you can take Twitter with you. So what? Mobile Twitter is nothing new. Mobile browser is nothing new. If there's really something unique "Windows Phone" offers that others don't, they should push that walking icon in tights.
Ok this is more of a comment then it is an actual blog entry worthy of a full engadget article. Your thoughts on a tv commercial are not worth a new entry which is currently showing at the top of Engadget for everything. Thanks for your opinion on TV and all but lets leave actual article space to technology related news releases right?
Turns out that not a lot of new tech gets released at 10pm on Sunday night, you know? :)
I didn't 'get' the stuff engadget was complaining about.
What I didn't like was that I didn't understand until the last 3 seconds that the icons were sad because he was leaving his home computer and the idea was that he didn't have to leave them behind since he has a Windows Phone.
I was going into the ad assuming that it was a comparison to other mobile phones and the apps they have.
Maybe the problem is that it's 2009 and people already understand you can stay connected on the go. Or maybe the problem was that I was just expecting it to be a comparison-to-other-smartphones rather than smartphone-as-a-whole-new-concept ad.
The HTC Pure / Windows Phone as a platform versus single device bit didn't even cross my radar as I watched it.
I actually smiled.
The same thing happened when the Android G1 (the first T-Mobile Android based phone) was released. I had several people ask me if I liked this new "Google Phone" and they were convinced it was googles equivalent of the iPhone, not a software platform like WinMo. Now with this Windows phone crap the same kind of consumer confusion will ensue.
The advert makes sense to me.
The ad is about Unifying the MS platforms.
You're used to Word and Outlook and MSN? You use them all day on your PC? Well here are your familiar programs on your phone. A simple message. Windows on your phone. (Whether the reality matches the message, well, that's another story)
And that's what I want from Microsoft. Get all your stuff streamlined and interoperable. Merge in your Zune and XBox stuff too.
I agree, I don't really see what was confusing about it.