Peter Kafka

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Microsoft's Billion Dollar Media Bailout Plan

The advertising recovery is already in the works, but this could help move it along quite nicely: Close to a billion dollars in marketing money, courtesy of Microsoft.

That’s what Steve Ballmer and company will spend to push two big consumer tech rollouts in the coming months: Windows Phone 7, its attempt to claw back share from Apple and Google, and Kinect, its attempt to push its Xbox 360 platform past Sony and Nintendo.

Redmond’s plans for its phone rollout will reportedly involve more than $400 million in marketing efforts. And Kinect, a motion-sensor add-on for the Xbox, will be a half-billion-dollar project, says the New York Post’s Claire Atkinson. Here’s where some of that money will get spent:

  • Burger King promotion
  • Pepsi promotion
  • Kellogg’s cereal promotion
  • YouTube homepage takeover
  • Ad buys on Nickelodeon, Disney sites
  • Ad buys on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” and Fox’s “Glee”
  • Ad buys on Time Inc.’s People and InStyle
  • Times Square event

And here’s some free media–video of Microsoft showing off Kinect at the D8 conference in June, when the company was still calling it “Project Natal”:

[Image credit: popculturegeek]


comments so far. Add yours.

  • http://www.twitter.com/davidafenton DavidAFenton

    I had figured Microsoft would spend up to 500 million to launch WP7. Simply can’t afford to fail here. They will do whatever it takes.

  • http://www.digitalundivide.com donfelipe

    I predict that Phone 7 will take a lot of market share away from Google and Apple. Microsoft Phone 7 will lead.

  • Anonymous

    Windows Phone is nice – definite IPhone/Droid competitor. In a lot of ways, Windows 7 phone is better. The interface is nice (it makes more sense than just a bunch of buttons) and the developer tools are better (meaning more, better, cheaper apps. It will also be easier/cheaper to integrate for business use). Millions of developers already use Microsoft tools, so it’ll be a safe bet for IT departments.

    I’m not sure about Kinect though. Depends on sensitivity and lag and if people aren’t tired of that stuff with the Wii. A few hundred million in ads will help though.

  • Anonymous

    I remember when the Palm Pre came out and everyone was saying how it was the IPhone Killer.
    I remember when the new BlackBerry came out and everyone was saying how it was the IPhone Killer.
    I remember when the new Windows 7 phone came out and everyone said tha………..

  • http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/ Tom Foremski

    It’s interesting that there is no marketing on “tech/geek” sites. After all, what good is it to market to geeks when the bulk of the market is consumer. Who cares about the Android versus iPhone versus… discussions? It’s a very small number of people. MSFT is going for the cake, not the raisins inside it :)

  • Anonymous

    Where are the Multi-Cultural initiatives? Slight oversight by Microsoft wouldn’t you say?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_QIHN5YUVW34W4V254Q4ILYSVCQ brian

    I remember when the Xbox came out and everybody said it would fail.

  • http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/ PKafka

    True! You may still see a Kinect ad on a tech/geek site – I don’t that list was exhaustive. But yes, MSFT is going after a very, very broad audience for this.

  • http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/ PKafka

    Doubt the list the Post has published is a comprehensive tally of every platform where they’re spending money.

  • Anonymous

    Never heard palm was going to kill iPhone. Blackberry has been around long before and will be long after iPhones. I remember when Steve jobs said the iPhone antenna was a great technological achievement. I remember when Steve jobs said that the iPhones glass wouldn’t break A glass phone cmon. There’s a reason why you test things. The iPhone is off the front page and it’s just killing you isn’t it ha ha

  • Anonymous

    Has that made any money yet?

  • http://twitter.com/scarslasher Jason

    Pepsi? Why not Coca Cola? It’s better recognized worldwide.
    If its for Kinect, I can see why, though. Since apparently Sony’s going for an marketing campaign with Coca Cola for their new Playstation “Move”.

  • http://twitter.com/scarslasher Jason

    Because the geeks have likely already made up their mind. Better to sell to people who haven’t the slightest idea what’s inside this stuff… who coincidently make up the majority and are obviously quite gullible.

    Geek view on Kinect: It has three(?) cameras that can depict your movement, but it doesn’t have any “hardcore” games behind it (i.e. Call of Duty games instead of gimmick games).
    Non-geek view: OMG! No controller! I want to try this out!

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