Ms why NO commercials about Surface PRO or even RT

jimbo45

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Hi there
I think Ms marketing must be totally hosed up.

It's only on THIS (and W7) Forum(s) that I have heard that Surface Pro is (finally) due to ship on Feb 9th.
Considering this is intended to be an "Ipad Killer" I would have thought that we would be SATURATED with commercials about this device. A company with the clout of Ms could probably get some real good deals on TV commercial time at the moment

For example Andy Murray from GB is playing Tennis in the Australian open final on Sunday Morning (European Time) so loads of Brits will be watching this -- what a great opportunity for some commercials about the Surface pro.

I haven't seen ANY commercials at all in most of the popular papers in Germany, Holland, France, Belgium or the UK yet - and these countries BY FAR make up the biggest market for Technology in the whole of the EU.

I also haven't seen any TV commercials yet (In Brussels I get TV from all these countries via the cable network) .
I've seen some for Windows 8 phone and a few (not many) for Windows 8.

Go into a halfway decent technology store like MediaMarkt in Brussels or Antwerp where the staff are usually pretty good and they tend to have most recent stuff available (and NOT OUT OF STOCK like PC world / Curry's in the UK which invariably displays an item you want but it's always out of stock) and mention Surface Pro -- and the usual reaction is "What's that" -- most of the staff don't know Ms is even Making tablets.

Anyway Ms -- I think you need to issue your whole marketing dept with a truckload of "Pink Slips" / P45's or whatever the paperwork is for "On yer Bike and find another job".

What I've gleaned is that the device will be excellent (price though could be a problem) - but most people don't read or get their info from sites like this.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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Hi there
I think Ms marketing must be totally hosed up.

Cheers
jimbo


M$ must be redoing there marketing after the RT failure only selling 1Mil instead of 2Mil as projected means that 1Mil is still in stock. I think that selling it here as a toy backfired ( trying to sell it as a child can use it so can you) users saw it as a real TOY.
 

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I've seen the odd commercial here and there. They were gimmicky at best. I didn't see anything that would inspire me to run out and buy one.
 

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I, too, am very surprised that it has been so quiet, marketing-wise for the Pro.

After all, I think it is reasonable to expect the RT sales numbers to be less and not as widely accepted because most of us definitely want to be able to run our existing apps. Thus, I was expecting the "real" marketing to start once the Pro was set to come out.

Maybe we will be surprised by a Super Bowl ad. :D
 

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First, I've seen tons of Surface ads. I wouldn't call them especially great (people dancing around), but they were everywhere. These ads mostly focused on the "click" when attaching the keyboard. The problem with Surface sales was that you could only get them online and in Microsoft's retail stores. You couldn't buy them at Best buy or Fry's or Costco or wherever, where most people buy computers. Microsoft even acknowledged that they didn't expect large quantities because of this. A few weeks ago they started selling them in a few other stores, like Best Buy and Staples, but it's still not a very big list.

I wouldn't expect to see Surface Pro advertising until it's actually available. What point is there in advertising something that people can't buy? If they go into a store to buy a Surface pro, they just end up buying a competitors product.

Microsoft is not focusing sales of Surface in the UK or elsewhere, largely because they had planned a "modest" rollout (Ballmers words). I would expect a superbowl ad though, given the timing is similar.
 

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But what is surprising is that beyond the tech websites, you'd never know that the "full-blown" version of Surface is coming on Feb. 9th. They announced a firm date for availability, so I was expecting some sort of "Coming Feb. 9th" type of ad campaign.

Then again, perhaps it really is too early to criticize if they will start the campaign on Super Bowl weekend. We shall see.

And, yes, there definitely have been lots of RT ads.
 

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Microsoft has never been real great about television advertising. I was seeing IE9 ads even after Windows 8 launched. They've typically focused more on print advertising.. and for years, they've never really had to promote windows.

For example, I don't think I've EVER seen an Xbox TV Ad. Ever. But then, I don't watch G4 or other gamer centric programs, so maybe they advertise on those.

I've seen a lot of Windows Phone 8 ads, but most of those seem to be Nokia ads co-sponsored by MS. I thought those were cute, the "Beta test is over" ads were kind of funny.

I'm not really sure Microsoft knows how to advertise hardware. They simply have never needed to.
 

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I remember when Windows 95 was launching and I was walking around Hollywood and there were big Windows 95 banners out promoting it.

What's really the basic/fundamental difference between Win7 and Win8? It's the touch/Modern UI in Win8 so that--finally--Windows can functionally be used on the tablet form factor. To me, that's very important and significant; consequently, I am baffled as to why it doesn't have the same level of hype/marketing campaign as, say, Windows 95, for example.

I think that it is one thing for RT sales to be slow because, after all, it is a new platform for which new apps will have to be (re-)written. However, PRO runs the existing software base, so if it fails/doesn't do well, then that will really be bad news for MS.
 

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Hi there
Maybe it's true about Ms not "really liking" TV for commercials --strange for a large company though -- but I'm still suprprised by the total lack of commercials in Newspapers etc.

Surface Pro means absolutely nothing to 99.9% of people over here currently.

(OK I know some companies don't need to advertise --I don't think I've ever seen a commercial for a Ferrari on TV - but I wouldn't compare products from "The Prancing Horse" with those of Ms somehow. !!)

Cheers
jimbo
 

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I remember when Windows 95 was launching and I was walking around Hollywood and there were big Windows 95 banners out promoting it.

The main reason that you saw so many adds for Windows 95 was O/S2 was out long before Windows 95, most of there adds were for vapor ware.
 

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First, I've seen tons of Surface ads. I wouldn't call them especially great (people dancing around), but they were everywhere. These ads mostly focused on the "click" when attaching the keyboard. The problem with Surface sales was that you could only get them online and in Microsoft's retail stores. You couldn't buy them at Best buy or Fry's or Costco or wherever, where most people buy computers. Microsoft even acknowledged that they didn't expect large quantities because of this. A few weeks ago they started selling them in a few other stores, like Best Buy and Staples, but it's still not a very big list.

I wouldn't expect to see Surface Pro advertising until it's actually available. What point is there in advertising something that people can't buy? If they go into a store to buy a Surface pro, they just end up buying a competitors product.

Microsoft is not focusing sales of Surface in the UK or elsewhere, largely because they had planned a "modest" rollout (Ballmers words). I would expect a superbowl ad though, given the timing is similar.

I've seen tons of Surface ads here in the US also. Hardly a day doesn't go by without noting one or more. A fair amount of product placement also. With all the advertisement they have done, it will be interesting to one day finally hear how many they have sold. I was in Best Buy the other day and Surface RT was prominently displayed, the sales person was knowledgeable about them, and he talking up Windows 8 -- a pleasant surprise.

I really don't expect to see a lot Surface Pro advertising in the general media since it is not a consumer focused product.
 

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I really don't expect to see a lot Surface Pro advertising in the general media since it is not a consumer focused product.
But if PCs running Windows <whatever> are consumer-focused products, then why would a tablet running Windows 8 Pro not also be consumer-focused?

To me, Surface Pro is the consumer-focused product, not RT, because most consumers have Windows apps that they want to continue running.
 

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But if PCs running Windows <whatever> are consumer-focused products, then why would a tablet running Windows 8 Pro not also be consumer-focused?

I don't disagree, but it's the manufacture who decides what a products market focus will be. Microsoft has made the RT the consumer-focused product and the Pro a corporate focused device.

To me, Surface Pro is the consumer-focused product, not RT, because most consumers have Windows apps that they want to continue running.

Most mass market tablet consumers are not using Windows based devices. They are buying Android or Apple tablets -- over 150 million of them so far. The Pro is going to have a strong appeal to the tech savvy and corporate client, but not (just my opinion) to the average Joe and Jane -- especially at US$899.
 

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Here, I've seen a couple of Surface RT commercials, there are about two or three Windows Phone 8 commercials running, and several Windows 8 commercials. If you watch TV, VERY good chances are that you've heard about said products at least.

Some of Microsoft's marketing effort went towards some things like the Windows 8 launch in Times Square where they had a crapton of electronic billboards running some advertising, as well as booths with different PC vendors showing off their offerings. Earlier in 2012, they had a Windows Phone event where they constructed a big arse Windows Phone 7 to show it off basically. They are doing a lot of events in the more impressionable markets, like New York. They and a certain OEMs, like Nokia and HTC, are doing celebrity endorsements. But I think Microsoft needs more advertising on the Windows Phone front. They LITERALLY have to throw everything and the kitchen sink (that saying makes me giggle) in getting people to know about the product.

But for the Surface Pro advertising, I have a feeling that will come later this week or a week before launch. The Surface Pro is different from the RT model and we've already seen the commercials quite a bit. So by time the Pro hits retail, most likely there will advertising to get the word out. Although I have to question, the Surface RT tablets hit retail first, and it wasn't shown what one could do with it. The Surface Pro will come out and probably the advertising will show some typical Desktop work and the metro UI, but I have wonder if that will conflict with people.
 

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Most mass market tablet consumers are not using Windows based devices. They are buying Android or Apple tablets -- over 150 million of them so far. The Pro is going to have a strong appeal to the tech savvy and corporate client...
I completely agree.

But what I'm saying, however, is the consumer computer OS with the largest market share is Windows and MS is in the perfect position (if they execute correctly) to transition a lot of those consumers onto a more portable/mobile platform that is still running their OS and their apps. The end result (if they execute correctly) would that MS would then become the dominant tablet OS maker, as they are right now with the desktop/laptop/ultrabook OS.

In my case, for example, I do not want another computer platform for my computing. For my mobile phone, it isn't an issue as long as I can sync my calendar, contacts and get mail, since I do not "compute" on my phone. I currently have an iPhone but for my computing purposes, I am Windows, be that on a desktop, laptop, ultrabook or tablet. Consequently, I am not willing to replace and/or supplement any of my computing platforms with a non-Windows device.

In the end, though, if the Pro fails because consumers still flock to non-Windows tablets, then I'll have no choice. But in the meantime, I will be at Best Buy on Feb. 9th to get me a new Surface Pro. :D
 

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nuspieds: Agree about how important the ecosystem is. Sure makes life easy when everything can "talk" to each other. I have Windows 8 desktop and laptop, an ASUS Vivo Tab RT (Windows RT tablet) and a Nokia Lumna 920 WP8 smartphone. It's a joy.

Looking forward to seeing your comments and experience when you get that new Surface Pro.
 

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Oh, I certainly will share.

I'm so excited and anxious about it that since last week when I heard about the confirmed availability date, I have been preparing for its arrival by getting all sorts of standard accessories (cables, USB hubs, etc.), including replacing my portable USB 2.0 drives with 3.0 versions.

I'm all set...all I need now is for Feb. 9th to arrive! :D

By the way, I always had a Windows-based phone; as you stated, it's nice when everything easily talks to each other. However, when MS decided that Windows Phone syncing was only via the cloud (as opposed to direct desktop syncing with Outlook as they have always provided), that's when I jumped ship.

I'm very security-minded and I do not want my personal and confidential data stored up in the cloud. So, I switched to iOS; otherwise, I would have stuck with the Windows platform all the way.
 

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