Microsoft To Launch Ad Blitz -- $100 Million Aimed At Making Firm A Household Name
Microsoft Corp. has grown into a computer industry giant, a feared rival, a phenomenal investment for those smart enough to buy its stock back in 1986. Despite all the company's success, though, it still isn't a household name.
Beginning Monday, Microsoft will try to change that with a $100 million advertising blitz, pushing the Microsoft brand name in front of people on prime-time television, in newspapers and magazines and on the sides of buildings in cities from Seattle to New York.
After spending years courting large corporate customers who use its word processing programs and spreadsheets, the Redmond company is now turning toward the average consumer. It has been touting its Home line of software, programs such as children's tutorials, games, home budgeting advisers and the Encarta encyclopedia.
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's executive vice president of sales and support, said he wouldn't expect Microsoft to begin losing money without heavy advertising.
"The question is would we be able to seize the upside and the opportunities," he said.
Portland ad agency Wieden & Kennedy, which created the award-winning Nike ads, is handling the campaign and will take it to five countries outside the United States: Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Microsoft will spend more than $25 million during the holiday season and more than $100 million by next July.
The campaign will use the slogan, "Where do you want to go today?" emphasizing the ideas of exploration and access to information, Ballmer said.
One print ad describes what can be done with computers: "You can play golf on a rainy day, learn about music, art, baseball and history, or take a walk in space."
Ballmer explained: "We need to start by staking a position and helping people understand this notion of access and travel and potential, the new world of thinking and communicating."
Some observers wonder why the software industry has not done this sooner.
Stock analyst Michael Kwatinetz of Paine Webber has long criticized personal-computer companies for failing to capitalize on their potential market.
He contrasted them with computer-game makers Nintendo and Sega. The games cost more than many software programs and there are fewer to choose from. By all measures, Kwatinetz said, those games should not outsell computer software. Yet they do.
It's about time software companies do more with packaging, distribution and shelf space, along with advertising, he said.
Ballmer replied: "This is a very expensive undertaking. We had to reach a certain threshold of sales before we could afford to do this." The company had to wait for a critical mass of customers and a broad enough line of titles before committing to the campaign, he said.
Look for the ad blitz to begin next week with 30- and 60-second spots during prime time, late night and early morning on NBC, CBS and Fox, as well as cable networks A&E, CNN, Discovery and MTV.
Eight-page inserts will run in National Geographic, Newsweek, People, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated and Time. Ads also will run in Business Week, Forbes, Entertainment Weekly, Family PC, Life, Parenting and Vanity Fair.
In Europe and Australia, movie-goers will see ads in cinemas.
The ad campaign will capitalize on the booming home-computer market and the fast-growing popularity of CD-ROMs, which store large programs that contain sound and video.
Analysts project the home computer market will grow 17 percent a year for the next five years and the corporate market will grow only 8 percent a year. Industry statistics show personal computer sales jumped by 40 percent between 1993 and 1994; they are expected to double over the next four years.