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I wrote a few weeks ago about the latest Kinect travesty to be released by Microsoft. No I'm not talking about Blackwater Kinect the game, I'm talking about the recent Kinect all Access show which focused on Star Wars Kinect. If you haven't seen it yet, you can check it out here. It's awkward, horrible, forced and the wrong tone to attract any of the 'core' gamers that Microsoft is trying so hard to ween onto the Kinect bandwagon.
Microsoft's relationship with marketing has generally been a sour one as of late. Perhaps it all came to a head with the blitz of Kinect marketing which centered on Nuclear Families in bad clothes playing kids games in mansion sized living rooms, but it's never been limited to just this. For the past five years or so the company has had more difficulty than most capturing that lighting in a bottle, and crafting a marketing campaign that was able to capture the hearts and minds of gamers and technological enthusiasts the world over.
Lately Apple and Sony (at least on the gaming side) have been the current leaders here. From Apple's iPhone marketing to Sony's use of Kevin Butler and the now famous Long Live Play commerical, these companies have have shown they understand that grease in the wheels of their consumers, and have used that grease to craft some fairly impressive marketing machines.
But it hasn't always been this way. Microsoft has crafted some winners in the past. During the time when Microsoft had just entered the console race with the original Xbox, they were the new kid on the block, the underdog, and so had to utilize much more imagination to claw their way to the top of the pack.
Take a look at some of these earlier endeavors below, and wonder with me where it all went astray.
Original Xbox Ad:
German Xbox Commercial:
Work Less, Play More Xbox Ad:
Comments
12 years, 2 months ago
Can't think of a bigger fall from grace than microsoft when it comes to marketing ...I think Nostradamus predicted microsoft would suck at marketing...another kinect commercial and ill be "kinect"ing my foot up Microsoft's @$$ !
12 years, 2 months ago
What about this one? - http://youtu.be/UF833-lpJDU
I remember it causing a lot of controversy when it came out.
12 years, 2 months ago
I used to love the OG Xbox commercials. One of the few times a commercial made me want to buy something.
12 years, 2 months ago
Ultimately I think those ads worked because the original Xbox was something worth owning. If your product is good people will buy it, regardless of how quirky the ads are. The Kinect and the associated software are a lot of things, but I doubt many would call them products worth owning (from a gaming standpoint).
12 years, 2 months ago
Oh man I just realized, was that Xbox commercial the inspiration for Baby Maker Extreme?
12 years, 2 months ago
"It's 10pm and I know where your children are." I remember when these were aired. Always liked old Xbox "green sphere" commercials. Reminded me Alien egg.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rSuLMZJXKLE
12 years, 2 months ago
That Long Live Play commercial was damn good. Honestly I'd say it's better than those old school Xbox commercials.
12 years, 2 months ago
They just need to stop with the kinect....if i see another E3 with kinect as its center piece at microsofts conference, im going to lose it. The artificial families playing hassle free with tons of space to move...is not realistic, many ppl do not have huge spaces...perfect lighting, or a hassle free kinect experience.
12 years, 2 months ago
Great article, thanks!
12 years, 2 months ago
So it seems that marketing becomes good (in the gaming industry) when it appeals to "actual" gamers...maybe Microsoft is too busy fondling our wallets to remember this.
12 years, 2 months ago
These videos are awesome! Thanks for the post! I couldn't agree more on the matter that their marketing has gone downhill, I wish they'd stop this ''Kinect is the second incarnation of Jesus Christ!'' nobody really cares anymore, and the ones that do should get proper advertisement than what they put out now.
12 years, 2 months ago
This is article is hilarious, ironic, and bullshit considering that Microsoft has done a far, far superior job marketing Kinect than Sony has marketing Move. Microsoft has also done a far superior job marketing it's exclusives than Sony has marketing it's exclusives.
As for Kevin Butler, the only people who thought those ads were worth a shit were Sony fanboys. His commercials were awful and pointless.