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Blog: Microsoft's Life May Depend on Defining a PC Lifestyle

Blog: Microsoft's Life May Depend on Defining a PC Lifestyle

If Microsoft has been accused of being to vague in their advertising, these videos fix that. They directly address the PC lifestyle question by showing all walks of life using PCs, Vista, Windows Live and Windows Mobile to "bring together all the parts of your life."

Here we have a father and son on their laptop laughing at photos; a busy mother multi-tasking in the kitchen with a Dell laptop in front of her; a mobile worker checking over an Excel spreadsheet on his Windows Mobile phone; a teenager on her PC IMing with Windows Live Messenger. Voice-over narration is included. You get the idea.

The message: that our complicated lives have extended beyond the PC and that Windows products have got you covered in all aspects of your life. There's a video for Vista (they even say the word "Vista"), Windows Live and Windows Mobile, and then one that covers them all (embedded in this post).

So I guess this is the PC lifestyle: It's not hip and cool like Apple, but it's pragmatic. It's about kids and families and busy workers on the go. It's about keeping a work/life balance.

I have not seen "The Possibilities" on TV and my contact at Microsoft said they are not part of any TV campaign. They do seem a bit "informercially" for mainstream TV.

Like most ads, "The Possibilites" videos do not reflect reality, just the reality Microsoft wants. People are not brand monkeys who live under the Windows umbrella, using all things Windows. In the real world, most people use Google's gmail for personal e-mail and not Windows Live/hotmail/Windows Live Hotmail (still don't know what to call it). They don't use Windows Live Messenger, they use AIM; most businesses use BlackBerrys, not Windows Mobile phones; people organize their photos using Yahoo's Flickr and Google's Picasa much more than Windows Live Photo Gallery.

This is the integrated reality Microsoft is contending with as it defines the "PC lifestyle." Yet it's a marketing movement Microsoft has to cultivate. Without some sort of positive PC lifestyle on peoples' minds, those retail stores are toast.

What are your thoughts on the "PC lifestyle" and Microsoft retail stores?

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Tags MicrosoftAppleadvertisingDellWindows VistaWindows MobileWindows LivezuneXboxWindows Live Photo Gallery

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