Can Microsoft Bring the Love Back for Consumers?

You’ve likely already seen the clever movie put out by Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions that illustrates the divorce that is currently happening between consumers and traditional advertising. People have learned to hate it (previous post). Nothing could better illustrate the disconnect that many companies are slow to acknowledge.

In just 40 hours, the movie had been viewed 14,000 times. That speaks to the effectiveness of a Web 2.0 marketing tool like this (see my article on Web 2.0 marketing), and its ability to reach an audience at lightning speed.

Internet users support one another. When they find something they like, they spread it like proverbial wildfire. When they don’t like it, they bury it in the sand. Digg is a perfect example of this. Companies need to pay attention to this factor, as it will play an increasing role in whether or not their products sell. We as a people are speaking as a democracy and deciding how we want to receive marketing messages. We have the ability to shut out what we don’t want to see or hear, essentially sending companies’ large marketing budgets down the drain.

It’s amazing to me that Microsoft gets it. Long been the, shall I say dictatorof the software industry, Microsoft hasn’t had to care how it markets to people. We simply don’t have much of a choice but to use Microsoft products (I’m actually a fan of their products, despite what it sounds like). But here, a representative is saying, “digital media is not about technology but about quality of communication, about the interaction between 2 people.”

I’m eager to see how Microsoft puts this ideal into play, especially now that it has so many eyes watching its next move, as a result of this video.

-Susan