Microsoft is Somewhat Less Terrible at Branding and Marketing Than It Used to Be

Microsoft is a company that doesn't seem to understand how to handle the branding and marketing of its products. Poor branding has been part of its corporate culture for a long time now. This might be somewhat understandable for the enterprise side of the house since IT managers aren't typically interested in how cool a product name sounds, but even the consumer side of Microsoft has fallen victim to misguided branding. Recently, the folks in Redmond admitted "...that there was some confusion in the market last year on the difference between Surface RT and Surface Pro". Microsoft certainly didn't help matters by releasing terrible commercials for the Surface product lines.

However, it appears as though Microsoft has learned a lesson or two from its disastrous year for the Surface. This year, the Windows RT-based tablet will be dubbed the 'Surface 2' while the Windows 8.1-based tablet will be dubbed the 'Surface Pro 2'. This naming scheme doesn't really help reduce consumer confusion surrounding the incompatibilities between Windows RT and Windows 8.1, but at least it does a better job of helping consumers figure out which tablet is meant for their needs. As a bonus, this new naming scheme does away with the 'RT' moniker that was meaningless to consumers.

The new branding is highlighted in a series of new commercials. Unlike the previous terrible commercials, these new commercials do a good job of of describing what the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 can do and why I should care as a consumer. 

Surface 2 commercial:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSCpOvTHmtU

Surface Pro 2 commercial:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lr1WbNz7g0

Folks, Microsoft might finally have figured out that it needs to be better at branding and marketing its products if it wants to compete with the likes of Apple, Google, and Amazon. 

Microsoft's Terrible Surface Commercials

Microsoft recently released a commercial for the Surface Pro. This commercial is in the same vein as the Surface RT commercial released last year.

The commercial is also rubbish.

Why is this? It's because in an attempt to look 'cool', 'hip', and 'edgy', Microsoft has failed to inform the public what its product actually does. This is an especially terrible idea when you are clearly lagging behind the market leaders. What are the market leaders doing right with their commercials that Microsoft is doing wrong?

Apple's iPad Mini commercial takes half as much time (roughly 30 seconds) as the Surface Pro commercial (roughly 60 seconds) to explain twice as much to the user in a more easily digestible format. This particular commercial shows that the iPad A) can let you communicate in real-time via voice and video, and B) comes in different sizes (standard iPad and Mini).

Amazon's Kindle Fire HD commercial has a narrator discussing the various features that the device has, overlaid to video showing people using the device in real-world scenarios. In 30 seconds, the video shows us that you can read books, play games, watch movies, play music, and communicate in real-time via voice and video.

Google's Nexus 7 commercial, at 60 seconds, is the same length as the Surface commercials yet is so much more informative. The commercial shows us a little girl reading a book with her mother, using a drawing app, communicating in real-time via voice and video with her grandmother, playing a video game, and using Google voice search to find out how far away the Earth is from the moon.

What could someone possibly learn about the Surface Pro from the commercial? If they are paying very close attention, they might possibly see that it has a stylus, connectable keyboard, and kickstand. Everything else gets lost in the blur of song and motion. Microsoft's competitors communicate the value of their respective devices in a very efficient manner by crafting short stories that resonate with the viewer. We already know why we want to communicate with our loved ones. We already know that we would enjoy playing games, watching movies, or listening to music. It's unclear why we would want to have a stylus, connectable keyboard, or kickstand.

Ultimately, Microsoft fails to inform the viewer why they should care.