Microsoft is doing it the customer´s way

I have found an interesting article at betanews.com (the whole article read HERE).

Why is it brilliant? Because it describes the contrast of Marketing and Apple´s strategy today.

Where is the contrast? The strategy of Apple is much less about choice than customers being chosen for. They offer examples:

• Apple product development is secretive, rather than encouraging customer feedback and participation.
• Product choice is limited to the few computers that Apple releases, such as the same aluminum construction and design for iMac or MacBook Pro.
• Mac OS X is deliberately designed to discourage customization. There is one look for all Mac desktops.
• Apple sells only one computer -- the entry-level Mac mini -- for less than $999. Buyers must choose to spend $999 or more.

Apple's product and marketing approach is very much "Have it Our Way." Microsoft wants you to "Have it Your Way":

• You help Microsoft improve Windows to meet your needs.
• You choose the PC that looks and functions your way.
• You customize the desktop any old way you want it.
• You choose how much you want to spend on a computer.

Microsoft long has advocated this kind of choice and participation. The difference now: Microsoft is using these attributes to really sell Windows, in ways the company hasn't done for years and in other ways like it never has. Perhaps it's no coincidence that Burger King and Microsoft share the same advertising agency: Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. Some examples of Microsoft's Windows 7 participation marketing:

• The aforementioned TV commercials asserting that "Windows 7 was my idea."
• Windows 7 House Party, where real people celebrate the launch and share pics and videos online.
• Social Website that collects "What people are really saying about Windows 7" from blogs, feeds and social networks, such a Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube.
• Microsoft home page, which today rotates Windows 7 reviews and comments from real people -- mostly via Twitter -- rather than from bloggers or journalists.

How have we reflected this strategy here in Slovakia?

• Slovak beta testers significant contribution during product development
  
• Consumer campaign asserting that "Windows 7 was people´s idea."
• Social Website that collects "What people are really saying about Windows 7" from blogs, feeds and social networks, such a Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube.

The environment is changing and so is Microsoft. We have very good feedback from customers and from press so far. Our mission is now to let people try the product and with that the idea of "your PC, simplified".

BTW my MSI Eee PC with Intel Celeron processor took 14sec to start from hibernation this morning. This is what I wanted!

Peter

Bing bang?

Few people turned to me concerning Bing so you may want to hear something from myself to this new engine.

Okay so what is the primary reason why were are still working to be Nr 1 on providing easier access to informations on internet (objective)?

In spite of undeniable progress up to 40% of searches still remains without relevant response. Almost half of attempts to find information lasts up to 20 minutes. And that is why there is clear motivation for a company like Microsoft.

And what is the secondary (my subjective) reason?
As 5 years ago the catalogue search was the way we looked information on the internet, with the Google´s entrance into internet new era begun, the fulltext search. But as the internet is fastly developing, there will be something new again, soon. It might be visual, verbal search for instance but Microsoft doesn´t want to wait and we made the first half step and introduced the decision engine.

When will it be available for Central Europe´s languages?
Bing as a search tool is provided in all Microsoft present country. The full functionality decision tool is not only about search, but provides sophisticated answers based on language, first major market are already covered (English, Spanish and German). After the bugs will be corrected, more countries will come but for CE we don´t expect Bing as a decision tool before end 2010.

What are the results so far?

Bing already achieved 1% percent on the market (one month result) and based on New York Posts article from June 14th Google´s co-founder Segey Brin assembled a team of top engineers to conduct Bing study and try to upgrade their service.

If you think, this is subjective reasoning, of course, it is. But to do you own consideration, try Blind search and decide, which is the most relevant for you. There is not big difference, is there?

Cultural difference

Our globe is getting more cross connected but there are still differences:

• When I was in Spain or Italy you know that the restaurants are empty until 8pm but full at 9pm. There is hardly a chance to get a seat without reservation in good restaurant. That is the time when people get from work and have a good time in usually larger company.
• When I was on New Zealand you know that after 8pm you hardly get a seat in restaurant and after 10pm it is impossible. That is the time, when people are at home or getting to bed that is why you should hurry to restaurants before 6pm there.

We in Central Europe are somewhere in between. Our dinner time is usually between 6-8pm. We are the golden average.

Microsoft influencing presidential elections!

As Slovak presidential elections are in Slovakia in less than 5 weeks we wanted to use this opportunity for something extraordinary. We had a brainstorming and which resulted into joint online project with with largest printed media publishing house Ringier (best selling tabloid). We agreed to build an online entry page for all, who want to be informed about everything about presidential candidates in a modern way. After this I think better headline would be "Microsoft contributing to better information about presidential candidates" :)

Result?

Starting this week Slovak internet users have the chance to visit new internet site with presidential candidates – http://www.prezident2009.sk/. Ringier provides all important information to Slovakian voters such as:

• actual preferences today and how they evolved,
• hot news,
• comparison of opinions on 6 selected topics,
• Facebook fan site plus multimedia content like video, pictures,
• and all necessary infos about candidates like CVs, up-to-date career, etc.

So where is the difference?

The most important thing from my company is that the whole site is build on Silverlight 2.0 technology and candidates photogallery in DeepZoom. These technologies allows to visitor out of the box work with content showed on website, for instance continuous fluent zooming of pictures or dynamic work with charts and much more.

Since Ringier is very popular on Slovak market we believe that this cooperation will help us with Silverlight (plugin) penetration among internet users and change perception of Microsoft as provider of innovative though easy to use technologies. On the other side Ringier is connected works with state-of-the art technology which offers them advantage compared with competitors.

Check out the site at http://www.prezident2009.sk/

The 4 Ps

Yes, I know there are sometimes mentioned 5, 6, 7 and even more „P“ in marketing. But let´s still with 4 for this time.

Sometimes people ask me: "what makes your marketing job for an multinational company so interesting? You may hardly change what is dictated from the headquarters. You can maybe add something local to the promotion, but the rest is still outside your control."

Usually, this comes from people working for German or French companies, where the company culture USUALLY doesn´t allow much liberty. The US companies are other. Let make this as my first statement.

As my second point yes, the promotion is mostly where marketers are active and where the changes can be made. But why don´t state this for the rest as well?

The place – in our case the partners are the key to our success. Without healthy partner ecosystem with right motivation and up to date readiness about products and solution we cannot be succesful. And it this all company marketers are active in local or international level.
The product – we cannot influence it directly. But we are often asked for feedback or might participate in developing or testing teams at headquarters.
The price – yes, ther the specialy big deals there might be special price agreed or can decide whether or not to participate for retail price discount promo.
The promotion - this is, where we are most at home. We can decide either to adopt WW campaing, to adopt it with local changes or to create a new one. Of course, only after we decide the HQ marketers that it makes locally more sense.

Bottom line? Yes, we can more or less impact also the place, the product or the price. But what makes me happy even more is the fact, that if we create something interesting in promotion locally, it is often used also for foreign markets, where our company is present. What could be for marketing manager in multinational company more motivating?

Rule of success

Friends, colleagues often come to me to tell me about great new business idea they have.

I do believe, that great idea is only 33.3% of success. There are a lot of interesting new business suggestions in business magazines or internet, but is it enough?

I also do believe, that successful implementation is another 33.3% of success. Without having the right team, enough quality funding bringing idea into reality is difficult. But this is still not enough.

And finally I do believe, that endurance to survive the growth or initial troubles in first 1 or 2 years is the last 33.3% of success. Stats are clear 60-70% of businesses fail in first 2 years.

33.3% - 33.3% - 33.3% is success. Idea itself is not enough.

Polls

There are thousands of polls, surveys as a baseline for decision on marketing strategy or tactic.
But do we act upon results?

Most of the time no. Or not enough.
Managers, usualy not experienced enough or less connected with marketing profession still prefer their personal opinions in the end. I feel that this would be better...

In this situation I love to use the words of marketing guru Sergio Zyman: If you buy all the production, I act upon your preferences. Until then, let´s respect the customer.

Jobs I don´t want to do

I wanted to work as a marketer for premium car maker or premium airline company. Their business is often about fullfiling people´s dream. They work with emotions and might charge higher fees for top service.

But today no company in car or aviation industry is safe in these turbulent times. Customers are reprioritizing their needs and cutting budgets. Cars and planes are also depending on oil price and this brought and even will bring hard times for them.

Toyota predicts loss for 2008 for the first time in history and gives 4200 discount per new vehicle in the US today (according to BusinessWeek). Czech carmaker Skoda is down by 37% y-o-y in UK market.There is said in 3 years only 2 major carmakers will remain in Europe. There is also said that only 3 - 5 low cost airline will survive this winter in Europe. There are 58 of them today.

In spite of all this facts I think this is a challenging time for marketers in these industries. They are facing some of problems for the first time, but this is exactly the situation, when they can prove our impact on business. And in close cooperations with production and sales try to find the easiest way back to the growth.

People don´t trust company blogs

According to Forrester research only 16% of respondents trust in information found on company sites. 77% believe in personal recommendation, even 28% believe in email and 25% dmail from a company or a brand. Does it mean that companies should give up blogging and get back to traditional communication vehicles?
I don´t think so.

First: a company shold be specific in expectation, topics to communicate and needs on the market and accordingly select the mean. I think for long term awareness blogs are very effective.

Second: get credibility. Depends if you want to build renome for the professionals in the company, or change/build awareness for your product or brand.

Example? In Spring 2008 we in Microsoft Slovakia also considered how to get closer to public with informal communications which may send traditional press releases to the past. There were 2 possibilities:

• create company blog on our platform feeded by our internal profesionals, or
• create external plaftorm to blog for selected external bloggers, specialists in the field.

Despite the fact that we employe skilled professionals and that it was more challenging from development and time perspective to choose the second option was right decision. Not only looking at the results on Forrester above, but based on figures and feedback.

Based on my experience I believe that company specialist after a year loose the consumer/business partner insight which makes engagement of external contributors particulary important. About this in one of my following posts.

After first day: Euro conversion in reality

So the Euro has arrived to Slovakia. The Slovak crown was supposed to be withdrawn from the market automatically by paying in Slovak crown but the change given back in Euro in the retail. Reality after first day? 2 times payed yesterday 2 times the change returned in Slovak crowns. If it continues like this in following days we may expect long ques in the banks after dual currency flow end on January 16th.

Cause? Uninteresting awareness campaing about Euro that was communicated in last 6 months which didn´t attired the attention enough?

I don´t think so and I guess it is much more simple. It is about the attitude of each person. It seemed too far away even couple of days ago but today it is here. That is why I think the learning curve in following days will exceed that in last couple of weeks by far. If not, let´s meet in the banks.