Failure of Microsoft's Rebranding Campaign and What We Can Learn from That?

Mac had been lampooning PC in different advertisement campaigns since 2006. You can think about all those "Get a Mac" advertisement campaigns run by Apple. And after a long time Microsoft replied back to them with almost similar icebreaker campaigns featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld (comedian) to promote and redefine the brand image of PC in the target market.

However, as Microsoft points out now, these campaigns are just wastage of money and only shows that they are out of touch with their consumers. This had never been a good campaign to redefine the brand image and at the same time not a good solution for Bill Gates to spend his retired life.

Does this mean that Microsoft is in such an awkward position that it needed to hire an out of date funnyman like Seinfeld (iconic comedian from 1990's) to regain its position?

Nope, they are not running those ads anymore. CPB (Crispin Porter & Bogusky), Microsoft's Advertising agency have declared that though another similar advertising campaign is ready, it will not be aired.

David Webster, general manager of brand and marketing strategy at Microsoft, explained these advertisement efforts to an online brand marketing magazine. According to David, they just wanted to communicate a message with the target audience that they were back. He agreed that they had been off from regular brand promotional activities for some time. They just wanted to "warm people up" for a smooth conversation.

However, they have taken up a new branding strategy after knowing that the target people are not very happy with the proceedings. In the next campaigns, they would try to explore how Microsoft has changed the life of millions of people worldwide.

Undoubtedly this is a good strategy to redefine the brand in the target market. More importantly this is the safest mode compared to the subtle but aggressive strategy taken up by Microsoft in the earlier campaigns.

Anyways, Microsoft can afford to spend $300 million for such a mistake. But what about smaller companies that don't even have a total asset of $300 million!

When you are rebranding a product you must clearly answer a few important questions:

0. What: What do you want to achieve from the rebranding campaign? Do you really think that the existing situation is not enough to get the most out of your brand?

1. Why: Perhaps, this is the most important question that you must answer and the success of your campaign depends on how clearly you can identify the situation. We often tend to miss the actual situation until it is too late.

2. How: Once you have identified the problem or situation, it is your time to find out how you can effectively address the issue. Microsoft did a mistake in this section - do you want to continue with that? At the same time, you also need to find out the most effective medium for the campaign.

3. When: Is this right time for you to carry on the branding plan? Is the market favorable for you to achieve what you are planning?

So what are you thinking?