Marketers at Microsoft I love

by on April 24, 2006

On the top of my list are the folks who put together the world's biggest water balloon fight on behalf of the Xbox team!

Anyone who gets 2,950 people out to throw 50,000 balloons 50,000 people at a Microsoft marketing event is freaking awesome in my book!

  • Talking with the team...we have the coolest one! The marketing team is extremely cool (met some in New York City), and...my MVP lead is on the team!

    I will say that, we have amazing Xbox fans out in Australia and New Zealand. They know their good products!
  • Adam
    According to the article, it's 50,000 water balloons and "over 2,900 gamers". Still, quite impressive and it looks like it'd be tons of fun.
  • Australia rocks!

    you should have been there dude. water everywhere. it was awesome

    read our intern's adventure

    http://thespoke.net/blogs/bernard/archive/2006/...
  • Mr. Scoble, I wonder whether you are moderating comments, because it seems to me that maybe 1/2 of the above comments don't need to be posted. Not because they are offensive or anything, but because they don't add to the discussion. Just like this one doesn't. Point is, I don't think anyone benefits from reading 5+ comments that a posting needs to be corrected.
  • Aaron, you're right. I just deleted them. I'm still trying to figure out when to delete comments and when not to. Thanks for helping me set my bar a little higher.
  • This is a great reminder that branding and marketing is more than just selling a product.

    It's about putting forward a company identity. And for better or worse, this marketing identity extends to the employees themselves.

    I've spoken to a lot of people on the Xbox team over the past year, at all levels. And they're not just passionate about their "job" - they're excited about the brand. They're excited about the products and services they're delivering to the consumer. Actually, I'd be willing to bet that Xbox has the highest moral of any division at Microsoft. Why? They've got the coolest brand. And the Spaces team probably runs a close 2nd. Enthusiasm shows, and it also directly impacts customer experience.

    Why doesn't the rest of Microsoft follow suit? Because the marketing makeover of Xbox is only perceived to be essential to the success of their product. Either reshape your image or die. ...Or forego the console game home entertainment market altogether.

    That kind of "life or death" decision isn't facing the other businesses, so the extreme makeover option likely isn't being seriously considered. I, too, honestly thought "Origami" was going to be a turning point.

    But more voices (like yours) are asking "why can't we be more like Xbox"?

    I think marketing is a good place to start.
  • I agree with Mthd (another Xbox MVP I may add). The team truly is pationate. Being able to interact with them on a frequent basis, you definetly can see it.

    But to add to Mthd...I think the problem other parts of the company have is the type of group they are marketing too. You will not see Microsoft Office, or Visual studio having TV commercials, or massive world record setting waterballoon fights. It is definetly a kid thing, or a "game industry" thing, where the whole concept of the industry (in the consumers perspective) is to have fun. I love the marketing idea, but it may not be the conventional or "professional" outside of the game industry.
  • I'm a die hard blogger. I'm not here to explain what I feel. I believe in my own ideologies. Ok I don;t want to tell my story. Ok I know you must have been interested my stories also.Have a good writing.

    http://harvey01.blog.com/

    Author- Jason Harvey
    gold@wow-gold-price-list.com
    http://www.wow-gold-price-list.com
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