Dear Microsoft: Stop Trying So Hard
By Ed Oswald | Monday, November 16, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Maybe it’s just me, but these days Microsoft seems to be trying as hard as possible to be cool. Obviously shaken up by the less-than-flattering image Apple’s Get a Mac ads have given it, everything it does these days seems just contrived to draw attention to itself so it can say, “Hey look! We can be cool too!”
Look at the company’s recent moves: everything it has done lately has been in response to Apple. Windows 7? Inspired by Mac OS X — even something some within Microsoft are prepared to admit. Microsoft Stores? Strangely Apple-like, their Geniuses are called “Answer desk experts.” Even their commercials these days are direct responses to Apple branding.
But one thing you won’t see Apple doing (or needing to do for that matter) is drawing attention to themselves, like the folks in Mission Viejo, Calif. seem intent on doing. I’m sorry, this is just bizarre. See for yourself.
This is why Apple succeeds where Microsoft fails: it doesn’t need gimmicky schticks to sell its wares.
Personally I would have walked out when this started. I’m there to buy a computer, not see some sideshow.
Either you like it or you don’t is Apple’s way. It also inspires an aura of confidence in itself, that its products sell themselves without any need for pomp and circumstance. Its no coincidence that the most successful products are a little cocky in their advertising: the confidence is transferable to the consumer.
Microsoft seems not to have figured this all out yet. When it does, somebody please let me know.
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Yes Microsofties, Apple In-Store Sales Were Down, But… | Technologizer Says:
November 30th, 2009 at 10:50 am[…] Viejo Apple store practically barren while the Microsoft Store in that mall (yes, the one with the dancing employees) is buzzing with […]
November 17th, 2009 at 3:57 am
How are you supposed to buy anything or ask questions when the employees are busy dancing? I mean, this video is _long_, WTF Microsoft? I thought Best Buy employees were annoying, but this is far worse.
November 17th, 2009 at 5:31 am
I was just in an Apple Store this weekend, and the place was so packed and busy that there wouldn’t be any room to do this routine, nor would you have been able to hear any music.
If this is as busy as the Microsoft store is just a few weeks after opening, they’ve got a problem on their hands.
Also, did anyone notice a single purchase during these 5 minutes of retailing?
Ouch!
November 17th, 2009 at 5:33 am
This video completely wiped away the little trust MS gained with me with Windows 7.
Ever since Vista, MS seemed out of touch: they clearly have NO CLUE what consumers want, and seem to mimic random bits of the competition… widnows 7 was different: it answered to the calls of consumers for a smoother, lighter, more stable modern OS, so I figured MS at long last got what it is expected to do.
This is NOT what I expect them to do.As Harry said: when I’m there to buy a PC, the last thing I want is everybody able to help me to be dancing around. I don’t want a fluffy warm dancing crowd welcoming me with big fake smiles, I want normal, friendly, competent people helping me choose the right product.
November 17th, 2009 at 5:36 am
This is the same reason that I cringe every time someone puts a dollar in the tip jar at Cold Stone Creamery, too, and they all start singing. I want ice cream, not a stage show!
November 17th, 2009 at 7:19 am
I’d love to see one of those Microsoft stores, hey, making apple step up their game!
November 17th, 2009 at 7:40 am
WTF? They can’t be serious.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:02 am
There’s another difference: Microsoft Store employees look fat.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:15 am
I have to agree with the author on this one; go to the MS Store if you want to see a show, go to the Apple Store if you want to buy a computer. Frankly, I’d be embarrassed to be an employee at that store. My guess is that after the holidays, if not sooner, half of those dancing people will be looking for other work.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:35 am
Ed wrote: “Either you like it or you don’t is Apple’s way. It also inspires an aura of confidence in itself, that its products sell themselves without any need for pomp and circumstance. Its no coincidence that the most successful products are a little cocky in their advertising: the confidence is transferable to the consumer.”
That’s a brilliant observation and well-written. I’m totally making a note of that one.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Where did that get this crew? As outcasts from the Filipino Penitentiary that dances on youtube? At least the prisoners perform better probably because they have a dance coach.
November 17th, 2009 at 9:30 am
It reeks of desperation. Microsoft is a has-been company, struggling to remain relevant as other companies (Apple & Google) make them more and more irrelevant. Once the Tablet and other similar devices become ubiquitous, Microsoft’s monopoly will cease to exist. The PC as you know and love today is about to be made obsolete, but Microsoft is too ignorant and lacks any form of vision to even see it coming.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:03 am
I enjoyed this sort of thing at the old Farrell’s Ice Cream stores (for birthdays). It fit there. It doesn’t fit a Microsoft store. (For that matter, I don’t much like it at Red Robin (again for birthdays).
Next thing you know, there will be an iPhone on screen in a demo at Microsoft’s PDC. (Wait…that happened this morning.)
November 17th, 2009 at 10:31 am
The Mall Worker Life Cycle – http://twitter.com/macartisan/status/5802457195
Mallrat -> Microsoft Store employee
November 17th, 2009 at 11:00 am
I don’t have anything to say about the MS video. But this sentence in the post doesn’t make sense to me, “This is why Apple succeeds where Microsoft fails: it doesn’t need gimmicky schticks to sell its wares.” Huh? What do you call the holier-than-thou Mac ads? How is that not gimmicky schtick? Apple’s gimmicky schtick is the holier-than-thou attitude.
Apple makes good products, I’m writing this from my MBP after all, but Apple’s gimmicks appeal to certain demographics better than MS.
November 17th, 2009 at 11:02 am
maybe it would’ve been vaguely, remotely, just a little ‘cool’ if it lasted 10 seconds, but this is real horrorshow.
November 17th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Once I saw one of the comments comparing this to Cold Stone Creamery, I couldn’t bring myself to watch the video. I like Cold Stone’s product, but I make it a point to NOT tip their workers because of those asinine songs the corporation makes them sing.
November 17th, 2009 at 11:41 am
If anyone needs proof that the economy is getting worse; not better, they need only look to this group of people subjecting themselves to such painful embarrassment for what is probably an unsatisfactory wage. I feel sorry for them.
November 17th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Man, I really thought mac geeks were Kreepy with a capitol ‘K’, now I have a new bar to measure by, MSStore employees.
November 17th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
As you point, it is extremely interesting that while Apple is accused of overhype, the actual fact is that Apple is very straightforward and offers very little hype in its advertising or presentation. iphone ads? here’s the phone, here’s what it does – it is not dropped by like bombs so the average person has to ask – what was that ad for (including the actors on the screen)? The phone is not held by robotic arms to imply it’s “modern.” A hand holding a phone – here it is – here’s what it does. Same with their computer ads. Two guys in a white room – with some props but no promises that you will be supercool or say WOW or your kid will be as savvy and smart as that 4-year old.
November 17th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Wow. Dumbfounded. Sad. Sick to my … Shut the place down. Just shut it down! And lock everyone inside. That should be punishment enough for being there in the first place.
November 17th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
I hate to disagree, but I gotta go with Microsoft on this one. What’s the point of having a genius BAR if you aren’t going to have a HAPPY HOUR? Once they start advertising the two-for-one specials, the stores will be overflowing with gamers.
Apple hired consultants from the Gap to help them make their stores the coolest. Clearly, Microsoft went to Joe’s Crab Shack to discover what really appeals to their target demographic.
November 17th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Should I question Microsoft on who’s idea this was? 🙂
December 17th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Wow, I just saw this. I never wanted to go with a Mac in the past because of the annoying hipster-Mac-fan-boy thing (calling their employees “geniuses” is just one example), and familiarity with Windows. I know, not a real good reason on the fan-boy part, but I decided a few weeks ago to make the switch for real world reasons after having constantly poorer and poorer performance on a very powerful desktop PC (but, I refuse to buy into the Mac culture thing).
Having seen this video, I wish I would have made that decision a long time ago. If I was a customer who had just made a purchase there, I would immediately return it just because they did this dance. It’s sad that in such rough economical times that people are forced to take jobs where they have to demean themselves in such a fashion for a whole 4 minutes and 44 seconds.
March 17th, 2011 at 12:59 am
I'd love to see one of those Microsoft stores, hey, making apple step up their game!