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Microsoft's DroidRage Twitter campaign goes painfully wrong

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Re: Microsoft's DroidRage Twitter campaign goes painfully wrong

#51
post #42

Look, this is a class example of media-generated hype. Yesterday, some other tech news site declared something like Microsoft's "DroidRage" campaign EXPLODES in their face. In their article, they quote over a half dozen tweets. So I go onto Twitter and do a search for DroidRage and this "explosion" is actually more like a dozen or two people having fun with Microsoft. Anyway, after the publishing of yesterday's artic…

> This is not newsworthy.

Of course it is. Don't be ridiculous.

Re: Microsoft's DroidRage Twitter campaign goes painfully wrong

#52
post #31
post #14

I think somebody should study how MS marketing works, make it a case-study. Every time they try to be "hip", they end up looking like fools. Remember that weird Seinfeld ad? The spooky over-polished family for Windows 7? The competition on "speed-of-opening-apps" on WP7 where nobody was allowed to win? When they stick to the basics, they usually manage to be half-decent, like for the Windows 8 campaign: safe, complet…

You've forgotten the crown jewel: the video for Vista SP1, "Rockin' Our Sales."[1] I realize it was meant for internal use only, but good lord, somebody put a lot of work into this thing. It makes me so uncomfortable to watch, and to imagine the culture that might well have embraced this. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPv8PPl7ANU

I'm pretty sure it's no coincidence that "The Satanic Verses Affair" comes top of the list of video suggestions on that page ;)

Re: Microsoft's DroidRage Twitter campaign goes painfully wrong

#53

I'm afraid I don't keep myself well-informed on the mobile space, and I've heard reference to malware in Android several times recently. Could someone fill me in? Is there fear of malicious software at the system level? Or is this just FUD about spammy apps? edit: Also - it's unfortunate that only yesterday was I reading about the Scroogle campaign. Not to single out Microsoft as the only company that advertises like…

It's just spammy apps. There are very few apps that actively exploit open bugs to elevate their rights, and then mostly to facilitate jailbreaking :) The problem of course is the screwed up rights system. Instead of presenting a big list of permissions for every app on install, how about you just ask me directly if the app is about to send a text to some number not in my contact list?

Between exploits and spam, there is also the possibility of phishing. I have heard of fake Yahoo Mail apps making the rounds but couldn't find them - maybe that was outside of the Play Market (it was in Asia, where Yahoo is big).

Re: Microsoft's DroidRage Twitter campaign goes painfully wrong

#55
post #4

The funny thing is, there are plenty of things I don't like about Android. Areas where Windows might provide a better user experience. But malware fearmongering is a bizarre tactic. For the vast vast vast majority of users, it's a hypothetical rather than an actual experience.

It's not bizarre if WP doesn't actually improve on any of those areas.

Re: Microsoft's DroidRage Twitter campaign goes painfully wrong

#56
post #12

It's a shame when companies cannot let their products speak for themselves, and rather than showing off the positive aspects of their product they have to resort to (trying to) belittle the competition. Are Microsoft now using the same PR firms that they use for the Presidential elections who specialize in this kind of mud-slinging? It was obvious this was going to happen, what really did they expect? Even if they ha…

>Are Microsoft now using the same PR firms that they use for the Presidential elections who specialize in this kind of mud-slinging

You might find this relevant: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4887574

I'd read the same thing elsewhere yesterday, when I looked for it, all I could find was dan's comment.

Re: Microsoft's DroidRage Twitter campaign goes painfully wrong

#57

So a handful of contrary tweets now count as backlash? Oh please. This is the problem when any journalist tries to use twitter to provide an angle to a story: you can always cherry pick enough tweets to justify whatever narrative you wish to push. Without hard numbers this article is completely meaningless.

May be do a search for DroidRage on twitter? Its full of MSFT backlash.

Re: Microsoft's DroidRage Twitter campaign goes painfully wrong

#58
post #42

Look, this is a class example of media-generated hype. Yesterday, some other tech news site declared something like Microsoft's "DroidRage" campaign EXPLODES in their face. In their article, they quote over a half dozen tweets. So I go onto Twitter and do a search for DroidRage and this "explosion" is actually more like a dozen or two people having fun with Microsoft. Anyway, after the publishing of yesterday's artic…

I thought its media Generated hype too till I actually did twitter search on DroidRage and found its real.

It helps everyone of us to actually check it before posting an ignorant comment.

Re: Microsoft's DroidRage Twitter campaign goes painfully wrong

#59
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A day in the life of an ad agency: - Get hired by huge company - Have dozens of creative ideas, present them each to the client - Get rejected on all fronts - Have dozens of watered-down ideas, present them each to the client - They approve one of the ideas, but request X, Y and Z all be changed (most likely watered down) - Create the idea, send over for approval - Hear nothing back - Email contact dozens of times ho…

wow, sounds like "a day in the life of a designer/developer". Give dozens of really useful, creative ideas - only to see them shot down, or worse watered down

The Oatmeal does a good job breaking this whole thing down -- http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

Re: Microsoft's DroidRage Twitter campaign goes painfully wrong

#60
post #34
post #14

I think somebody should study how MS marketing works, make it a case-study. Every time they try to be "hip", they end up looking like fools. Remember that weird Seinfeld ad? The spooky over-polished family for Windows 7? The competition on "speed-of-opening-apps" on WP7 where nobody was allowed to win? When they stick to the basics, they usually manage to be half-decent, like for the Windows 8 campaign: safe, complet…

The Seinfeld ad is easy to explain: never hire Crispin, Porter and Bogusky to do your ads. I wish I could find the article right now to substantiate this, but IIRC they have been known make it contractual that you will accept their creative without any input. What could possibly go wrong? Ask Groupon. Whatever the contractual situation, CPB is a train wreck for companies looking to be hip, and they've profited substa…

Hey, don't go knocking CP+B. Their work for Domino's is top-notch, and their Volkswagen campaign remains some of my favorite advertising period. Meanwhile, while they've had the few early misfires for Microsoft, their work promoting Windows 7 was damn good, and they've done a lot for the Surface considering they don't have a whole lot to work with.

And the Groupon ads were hilarious. Terrible ads, and they should have expected the horrible PR they received, but they were among my favorite Superbowl advertisements to actually watch. More advertisers should be willing to risk PR flack in the service of making something memorable – CP+B's ratio of wins to losses is enormous, which is why they keep landing huge clients.

As for the "accept their creative without input", yeah, advertisers love to find clients willing to give them free range, because clients are often very good at fucking up smart ideas. They don't insist on that contract, though: Groupon's blog mentions that they "gave them a shot at pitching us concepts, and they came up with an idea we couldn’t resist blowing millions of dollars on." [https://blog.groupon.com/cities/groupon-super-bowl-ads/]

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