I think. Possibly not. I might have got the wrong end of the stick here.
Microsoft have launched their new advertising campaign for the 360, with the theme “Live your Moment” to coincide with the recent price cut, holiday games library, and what is being described as the “new Xbox Experience”. According to MS a new menu equates to a whole new experience it seems, but moving things around the dashboard and adding Miis isn’t going stop Too Human from being a letdown.
The TV adverts, launching tonight, start with an over the top and slightly scary smiling face, as the camera rotates around them to show that their head has been cut off and inside it is either a rock band playing a gig, a cinema, or a father and child on a sofa.
This new campaign is obviously aimed at the casual and social segments, but too be honest I don’t think it’ll work: with the Wii, you can associate with the perfect 2.4 children family all smiling in their living room, but Microsoft took the .4 bit literally, cut off the back of random people’s heads, let The Borrowers roam free, and that’s not something I’m quite familiar with. Ah well, it’s eye catching, so it could turn out to be a success.
There is a slight tinge of irony in what they’re promoting: Lego Batman, sure, but the other two are downloading movies and Rock Band 2, both of these requiring additional expensive purchases: the extortionate hard drive, and the price of the system again for Rock Band… yeah, way to mess up two thirds of your “it’s nice and cheap!” message. Understandably, the extra hardware you need isn’t mentioned in the adverts… what is however, is a small tagline saying that Rock Band 2 is available in November! Fantastic news, but slightly confusing as the press release from Microsoft says that the strategy will also be “supported by PR outreach, social networking and direct customer communication efforts”. Great PR work there, with the announcement they sent out about the Rock Band 2 launch… oh, wait a second…
Speaking of waiting a second, PR outreach? Well, it would be nice, so I’ll just sit here, you know our email address…