I’m at a TOTAL loss to explain this Microsoft commercial for the new Zune MP3 player. Certainly, we advocate that companies be “bold” and “fearless” in their advertising and overall brand development. BUT, what we mean is to not be afraid of connecting with the target audience emotionally (as opposed to rambling on about products and services). This commercial, however, is simply bizarre and disturbing.
Consider Seth Godin’s comments about why upstart products have such a difficult time kicking the dominant player out of the top seat and you’ll understand the abysmal Christmas sales of the Zune. That fact then explains this … errr, “interesting” photo of an iPod display table at a Tukwila, WA Costco.
The point; If you’re going to try and unseat the dominant player in YOUR industry, you’ll need to do it with innovation, creativity, freshness and ideas from the edge … not “more of the same”, bland, poorly launched, bizarre branding. EVEN if you have a gajillion dollars, like the team in Redmond, it just doesn’t work that way.
I love my 17 inch Mac Laptop with it’s big, bright, vivid screen. Alas, not all things are perfect. A couple of weeks ago the Power Adapter started throwing off large, loud sparks. So, I’m thinking to myself “this CAN’T be good.” Once it was plugged in and didn’t move around, it seemed to be fine, so I made sure I plugged it in before sticking the plug into the computer. That didn’t last. It eventually died (thank God, with no damage to the computer). Sigh.
A quick trip to the online Apple store (type “Extra portable power adapter 65W” into the search box and click on the… first product) showed the part costs freakin’ $79.00! Deep breath, deep breath. For cryin’ out loud, this thing is just a plastic box, a plug and a wire. How could Apple possibly charge that much for it?! Justifying the situation, I convinced myself that it was because of the high quality and specialized components used in its manufacturing. Ummmm … nope.
Click on the link above and quickly scan through the 1348 reviews on this piece of doo doo! What amazes me is that Apple endures this kind of bad press but does NOTHING (apparently, over the course of almost two years) to change the design. They now have thousands of irate customers when the whole situation could have been salvaged if someone was paying attention.
Relegated to chucking the broken adapter and buying a new one, I tore the old one apart. I pried off the plastic cover of the small part the prongs stick out of and used a pair of needle nose pliers to re-shape the poorly designed copper strips (which were, by now, damaged from the previously mentioned electrical arching). I glued the cover back on and VOILA! … the adapter works like a champ! No sparking … and the prongs are more secure than when the computer was new.
I didn’t write this to share my stories of woe. I’m pointing out that even a company like Apple, who spends hundreds of millions on development, uniqueness in product design and being a thought leader can sometimes “blow it” because somebody didn’t figure out that a piece of copper was the wrong shape. It’s ALLLLL in the details.
The first day of Nintendo’s new Wii system (pronounced “we”) has officially attained “hub bub” status. Lots of sales, lots of standing in line (including my wife at 4:00 AM this morning only to find out at 7:00AM that she was number 21 for the 20 units in the store), and lots of hoopla.
Clearly there are some issues with the system …€” not too surprisingly for a v.1 device …€” but that’s expected. So, why am I posting about it on a business/branding blog? A quick search for the Nintendo product on Amazon shows the Wii system is “currently unavailable”. Early announcements stated the device would be available at midnight. After well over 500 irate customer comments, you would think that Amazon would step in with SOME kind of comment or explanation of what was promised. Not so.
Will you have hiccups in your product/service delivery some day? OF COURSE you will. Communicating professionally with your audience won’t make the problem go away but it will go a lonnnng way in controlling brand damage.
Described as a “Coding Horror“, I’d have to agree that the old Windows “Hot Dog” theme was obnoxious, loud and in your face. What it had going for it, however, was it was different, fun, playful, fresh (for its time) and … oh yeah, DIFFERENT! Parked in front of a Mac AND a PC every day for almost 15 years gives one perspective. I change the screen savers and wallpaper on the Mac every couple of weeks. I don’t even bother on the PC because it’s that much more difficult and the selections are …. um …. errrr …. let’s just say that there’s a reason why it’s called Windoze.
There’s certainly not a shortage of interesting campaigns this year. A couple come to mind …
Sandy Sullivan’s “I had sex with the Green Bay Packers” strategy may turn out to be slightly less effective than Christy Mihos’ “Head up their butts” ad. Both have created an uproar in their regions but only one really strikes directly at the sentiments and emotions of the constituents … unless, of course, you’re …. um, well, let’s not go there.
My prediction is that they’ll both fall short at the polls, but the Mihos ad scores BIG points in my book for being fearless. Of course it’ll offend people, but it’ll also be remembered for a long time for coming right out and saying what A LOT of people in the Boston area are thinking.
