The Microsoft Office marketing team in Australia have a new target in their sights - uni students. Mentioned on many blogs, e.g.
here and
here (as well as on the aus-dot-net mailing list too), they're selling
Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 for 25 bucks for a year, or 75 bucks for an unlimited-time licence. They've launched a promo site for this offer titled,
It's not cheating! (
http://www.itsnotcheating.com.au/).
If you're just cruising through seeing if this offer is a scam, here's the answer:
this offer is not a scam; it is a legitimate offer from Microsoft Australia.What follows is a promotion nearly as bad as the global Office dinosaur campaign. Here's what's wrong in my opinion, and given I'm a uni student atm, I think it resonates with many others:
- Why can't Microsoft be innovative and stylish about their advertising? The idiot (that's the nicest word I can think of - he reminds me of Borat actually) is hardly appealing, the site lacks design (check out www.scouta.com for a similar style but better design - cool site btw), and looks like a promo site for crappy 'made in china' products (but without the spelling misteaks). There's hardly any authority conveyed in it, apart from the Microsoft logo at the bottom of the page. Curious types aside, I wouldn't have even looked that far.
- Following on from the previous point, add more credibility! The 'don't believe its real' link at the bottom of the page after you've selected your uni is not good enough. We're a skeptical bunch, especially when it comes to 'special offers', though we're easily swayed by them too.
- Why do I want the new Office? What's wrong with the old (or pirated) one that I'm using right now? What's included in Ultimate? Hell, there isn't even a link to the Office site on it at all (not that I could find, and I looked unlike most other visitors)! The only somewhat helpful page is the one is the 'don't believe its real' link, and that's the boring-est page ever. Looks exactly like one of those licence agreement pages, and everyone knows noone reads them. Doesn't tell me what the lesser-known components of Office do either - wtf is InfoPath or Groove? Geez, do you expect us to go spend our precious non-drinking time researching your product too before we part with our limited cash supply? Only those who intended to buy it anyway will benefit atm (i.e. geeks who researched it, or those with new computers without Office on it at all). Sell your product (not overly, but smartly and in context with uni students) - the new UI is a good starting point because we're superficial creatures (admit it); if it looks good we're more likely to take a second look.
- What's do I have to do to win the competition? Having a competition is a start, especially one that taps into our new social communication mediums, but ambigiuity lets it down. Just include the two phrases, and it'll be judged on the creativity of the story - story on what? Not getting caught cheating? Be more specific, or get us to answer a question, e.g. What was the biggest scam you've gotten away with? I reckon creating a social site where users can submit their best stories then getting that rated would work better, but its nice that they're trying new things, just that they're not pulling it off right. The 'highest supporting comments' thing is just screaming out for solicited blog comment spamming...
- Email signatures? Which uni student actually uses email signatures? Hell, I'll bet half don't even know what it is and how to set one! Email's old and tedious anyway, especially given Windows Live Messenger now has offline IM too. The only time I use email is to submit an assignment, or sending it to a group member. Get with the game - how about providing blog widgets and images, like you did with the Imagine Cup and various other conferences? I reckon more of us know how to get a blog widget/image up on their myspace than setting an email sig.
- Does anyone actually know about this promotion? What's being done to promote it? I know because I read Microsoft blogs, but I can assure you the average uni student doesn't. I know the promotion's still new, and runs til May, so I'm not sure what your plans are yet. But here's one - you've already got a student partner network, use it! (speaking of which, I wonder who the Monash Clayton one is this year...) Sponsor bbqs, stick up posters, give them stickers to place around uni, give students stickers to stick on their laptops (preferably with witty messages/comics), give out trial version CDs... Of course we hate blatent and pushy advertising, but that doesn't mean you don't sell your product at all; they're two extremes and a compromise needs to be found.
It remains to be seen how good this promotion is, but personally, in its current state, its worse than cheating. The site is worse than if the promotion company decided to cheat themselves and copy the various other uni promotional campaigns out there that have worked. The offer itself is good, and better value for money than the Home & Student edition (which retails for 250 bucks, and less Publisher, Access, Outlook, InfoPath and Groove, but you get 3 non-commercial licences). It's really not that hard promoting it, and there are plenty of uni students out there willing to give you ideas. Just give us a shout.
I know I've been bashing Microsoft recently, but they seriously need to wake up and get their marketing act together (among other things). It's not as bad as the politically-incorrect
WhatsWrongWithU.com, but it can be so much better, and hence more effective. Put it this way, and I'm not saying Microsoft should copy directly, but would marketing-genius Apple ever do this?
P.S. Yes, this counts as an entry into their competition, but I doubt they'll pick it
P.P.S. The site's just begging to be parodied - I'm sure there's tons of variations available on the URL. I know
www.itsworsethancheating.com.au is available for starters...
UPDATE: One of the points I made above is partially incorrect - see
this update post for more.