Furthering the barrage of Windows 7 promotions on Australia’s television network Nine, the operating system made a special appearance on the Australian wanna-be-version of “The Apprentice” TV show this evening as part of a competition for the contestants to design a television advertisements.
If you’ve missed the thrilling hour of egos and tension, then be glad Microsoft didn’t go with either of the campaigns pitched which to be fair was conceptualized, directed and edited in just a single day.
On a related note, Nine in collaboration with Microsoft is hosting a competition on the show’s website to give away a Windows 7 Sony Vaio X-series laptop and Sony 10mp digital camera.
Unfortunately to enter you will have to put on a thinking cap and come up with your own idea for a Windows 7 ad. It’s stated in the terms and conditions entries will be judged on creativity, humor and originality, so don’t bother with “Windows 7 was my idea”. Entries close Sunday, 29 November.
A trademark application filed earlier this month has quietly revealed a new logo for Microsoft’s online content brand MSN and, presumably, also its many regional subsidiaries.
Unfortunately with only a black and white preview to work with, it’s not fair to judge the new logo just yet but its obvious it still retains the now iconic butterfly which was actually not that well received when it debuted in early 2000. And like many recent logo redesigns, this too seems to be all about simplifying the elements with the body of the butterfly removed and wings rounded off to roughly stretched ellipses.
Ever since parts of MSN was (painfully) rebranded under Windows Live, the brand has lost some of its meaning and mojo. I can only hope with this new logo will also come a refresh of the entire brand that clears the slate on what they do and where they’re heading.
Update: Thanks to an anonymous Microsofty commentor, a full color version of the logo with a new lowercase font as well has been posted in all of its Web 2.0 glory above.
Update 2: The new logo along with the new website is now for public preview at http://www.msn.com/preview.aspx.
It’s been a while since I watched live TV and historically Microsoft has not had much of a presence on Australian TV which is why it came as bit of a shock to me a few minutes ago to find myself watching a locally produced and tailored Bing ad. As it turns out, there’s even a whole series of them.
The other six Bing ads in the series of seven are 15 second spots entirely dedicated to showing off unique features of the Bing search engine – including hover preview, hot spots, instant answers, infinite scroll, video previews and related searches. These ads are a stark contrast to the US-based Bing ads which I had originally criticized for not showing enough of the product. I like these a lot better.
The entire series is embedded below for your viewing pleasure.
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In the latest episode of the “30 Rock“, the TV show apparently synonymous with product placements and especially Apple products, a black laptop computer with a standout white Windows logo branding makes a brief but comical appearance.
According to Will who sent in the screencaps from the episode, the laptop was used to design a new “super microwave” as a money-making scheme for General Electric, however by the end of the design process the product had evolved into more or less a car with four doors, wheels and a radio. A divergence only possible on a PC I’d imagine.
A brief shot from the front view of the laptop identifies the laptop as a Lenovo ThinkPad W500.
As the official Windows 7 launch is set in motion, a bunch of new content is being released online to support the wider public availability. To kick things off, a handful of new first-party theme pack have been released on Windows.com, but with a twist.
In addition to a number of new international themes released featuring photographs from different regions of the world, 14 sponsored themes are also available for download with wallpapers sourced from various notable brands. They range from movies to sports cars, video games and even refreshment beverages (from both Coke and Pepsi!).
As time goes on, I’d expect more companies to jump on this opportunity as an easy and fun way to promote their products and brand. Music label EMI has already planned a whole site dedicated to branded Windows 7 theme packs.
The wraps have been lifted off the Windows 7 global advertising campaign and apparently Windows 7 was totally my idea. The New York Times has a video clip of one of the ads in the series produced by Crispin Porter + Bogusky and the message is quite simple – Windows 7 is everything customers wanted. And what did we want? Less waiting. Less clutter. Less clicks. Faster. Easier. Leaner. Meaner. Safer. Cleaner. Simplerrrrrr. And Microsoft apso-frickin-lutely agreed.
Also as a fun fact, one of Microsoft employees featured in the video is Chaitanya Sareen, a program manager on the team responsible for developing the new Windows 7 taskbar.
Update: More ads in the series embedded below.
Pretty cool ad campaign I must admit.
