Evidently, Microsoft got the message that the Jerry Seinfeld ads weren’t working. (Hard to tell if you’ve arrived if you have no idea where you’re going.) That’s the good news.
The bad news is that Mickeysoft has decided that a one-to-one face-off with Apple would be a good idea.
What is spin? From a marketing frame of reference, spin can be defined as using marketing and public relations to influence public opinion in your favor, by way of slanting the argument. Spin is a fact of life. Some spin is opaque. Some is transparent. Some is so well-constructed that it’s virtually invisible. But spin is usually REactive, not PROactive. To be more accurate, spin is usually employed as damage control as a tool of defense, rather than as a offensive tool.
In recent years, we’ve seen spin that would make a top envious from organizations like the tobacco growers, automobile makers, and scads of politicians (who virtually invented spin). Last night, I saw a TV spot for a group that has decided to take spin to a new level, proactively seeking to change the hearts and minds of the great unwashed before they even get their hackles up regarding the group’s product. Read the rest of this entry »
I’m increasingly interested in cause and effect, and patterns. Part of that has to do with my ‘day job’ as a marketer. Part has to do with my hobby of practicing sleight-of-hand magic. (The two relate more closely, sometimes, than I’d care to admit.)
When I see a great magician, like everybody else in the audience, I try to figure out how the illusion works. It’s quite a bit easier to figure out the mechanics of it, once you know the secret. The same is true about big marketing projects – the best marketing is invisible…you don’t notice it, and it seems as though everything just happened spontaneously. Read the rest of this entry »
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