Office 2008: Follow the Leader
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Microsoft should make a New Years resolution to follow its marketing leaders. Two marketing leaders stand out. The first: Macintosh Business Unit, with the Office 2008 launch. |
At a time when Windows Vista seems all wrong, Office 2008 is example of most everything done right.
Office 2008 is the big tech news of the week, and that is one example how well MacBU has executed on product marketing—all without any big, splashy advertising campaign. The first week of any new year tends to be fairly quiet on the tech news front, because of the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (next week) and Macworld Expo (the week after). Microsoft lifted the NDA for Office 2008 on Jan. 2, ensuring a bunch of news stories and blogs about the software, which doesn't launch for about another two weeks.
MacBU Office 2008 marketing is quite remarkable. Here's how:
- Art of Office. In August, MacBU opened up a community Web site, where Mac Office users could showcase artwork created using the productivity suite. Suddenly, PowerPoint was an art form.
- Sneak peeks. Soon after launching Art of Office, MacBU started releasing a series of "sneak peeks" at the Office 2008 Web site. Each new installment generated additional news stories and blogs, particularly among Mac sites.
- The $6.95 offer. There are deals, and then there are steals. Mac users buying any Office 2004 version, including $150 Student and Teacher Edition, can receive a free copy of Office 2007 Special Media Edition for the cost of shipping (from Nov. 1 to Jan. 14). Considering the Media Edition lists for $500, that's a pretty good deal for $157.
According to NPD, Mac Office accounts for about 20 percent of U.S. retail Microsoft Office sales—a remarkable statistic given that version 2004 is end-of-sales life.
- Crazy Eddie deal. For Black Friday (aka, day after U.S. Thanksgiving), MacBU offered a ridiculous one-day deal: Buy Office 2004 and get a $100 rebate, in addition to the $6.95 offer. So, someone could get Office 2004 Student and Teacher Edition and Office 2008 Special Media Edition for about $57. According to NPD, U.S. retail Mac Office unit sales jumped more than 215 percent year over year on Black Friday.
- Office 2008 NDA lift. As previously mentioned, MacBU lifted the reviews NDA during a typically slow news week, ensuring profile press conference.
Some lessons other Microsoft groups should learn from MacBU's Office 2008 launch:
- Community is essential to successful marketing, particularly given social networking's popularity. MacBU fostered community through Art of Office Website, sneak peeks and ongoing blog posts.
- Big marketing doesn't require a big budget. If anything, MacBU had to do a lot with a little, which maybe helped keep the campaign lean but focused. By doling out information in snippets over many months, MacBU generated some excitement among Mac users for the software. More importantly, the effort ensured ongoing news stories and blogs leading up to Office 2008's launch, essentially free advertising for Microsoft.
- Deals generate customer interest, product sales and good feelings about the company or brand. MacBU's $6.95 deal and one-day rebate offer were brilliantly executed. Office 2004 and Windows Vista came out about four and five years, respectively, after their respective predecessor products. That's too long a time. Microsoft poorly conceived its technology guarantee program for Windows Vista. The program promised Windows XP PC buyers a chance to get a comparable version of Windows Vista for a nominal fee (usually determined by the OEM).
MacBU did much better, by giving people a reason to buy Office 2004—redemption for the top-end version of Office 2008. Microsoft's Client group should have taken a similar approach, by making Vista Ultimate available at low cost to XP PC buyers during holiday 2006.
For this post, I won't do a blow-by-blow review of Office 2008. But MacBU's approach to user interface design is worth noting. With Office 2007, Microsoft introduced a radically new UI design, but with no way back. There is no classic mode. MacBU took a different approach, incorporating some concepts from the Office 2007 UI into Mac Office, while retaining elements from the old file menu structure.
Office 2008 achieves a much better balance between old and new—and bridges an important gap. Right now, Microsoft UI design is out of control. For example, Office 2007, Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Vista all dispatch the traditional file menu system, but replace it with different motifs. The three UIs are very different, which must jar many end users accustomed to more consistency across Microsoft products. Office 2008's mixed approached makes room for old and new UI concepts, which is better for productivity. End users can advance to a new way of working without disrupting established habits. It's the better way.
Related Posts:
- The Year of Office 2007, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 18, 2007
- R.I.P.: The Web 2.0 Office Suite, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 18, 2007
- MacBU's Crazy Eddie Deal, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 21, 2007
- Microsoft's Marketing Makeover, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 9, 2007
- Microsoft's Big Mac Sales, Microsoft Watch, Oct. 8, 2007
- Office 2008 More or Less, Microsoft Watch, Sept. 25, 2007
- Office 2007 Competitors Stack Up, Microsoft Watch, Sept. 18, 2007
- Art of Office, Microsoft Watch, Aug. 28, 2007
- Playing Apple's 'Numbers' Game, Microsoft Watch, Aug. 7, 2007
- Mac Office Loses Its Mojo, Microsoft Watch, Aug. 2, 2007
- Microsoft's Mixed Motifs, Microsoft Watch, July 18, 2007
Comments (9)
"Microsoft Seeks To Patent System To Spy On Workers"
Posted by n0neXn0ne | January 3, 2008 4:21 PM
N0nexn0ne, you do realize that there is no expectation of privacy at one's workplace, right? I know this is part of your crusade to show that Microsoft is the font of all evil, but your beef here is with the courts.
You know, it'd be nice if for once these comments could be in response to something Joe has written rather than solely for the purpose of continuing some anti-Microsoft crusade.
Posted by Wes | January 3, 2008 5:14 PM
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!$
if the SEC knew somebody was trying to take VCSY down and the only way to catch them red-handed and along with new people piling on was to let Wade set the agreements for developing the technology up as evaluations only. That way nobody gets hurt and nobody can accuse Wade of trying to make money unfairly.
If you haven't been watching VCSY as long as the true VCSY Longs. We can show you all kinds of information put out by people NOW Solutions was working with that NOW Solutions and VCSY never said a word about. It just goes to show people how little your suppose to know.
What if the SEC agreed with VCSY that the last announcement of the evaluation period VCSY was working through with people like IBM and Adobe would be the REAL material event? That works.
Posted by I-Man | January 3, 2008 5:27 PM
Wes Said :
"your crusade to show that Microsoft is the font of all evil, ..."
@Wes :
The site is called Microsoft-Watch.
@_ :
I'm NOT part of a Cabal.
Posted by n0neXn0ne | January 3, 2008 5:37 PM
correction :
This site is call Microsoft-Watch.
Patent pending from Microsoft IS news.
You are welcome.
Posted by n0neXn0ne | January 3, 2008 5:40 PM
@Wes
n0neXn0ne's first post was of a link and not of a comment.
@n0neXn0ne:
That linked-to article was interesting. Pretty much, it seemed to imply that if a high-performer is using Linux, AIX, Solaris, Mac, or other non-Microsoft program, he or she will be under the radar and can merrily continue with their jobs without being interrupted!
And if a manager needs a keystroke logger and dancing paper clip to determine who is performing and who is slacking off, then that manager should consider surgery to remove his or her head out from up his or her rear end.
Jeepers! How did Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, Napoleon, Patton, Rommel, and other great leaders ever figure out who could do their jobs without Microsoft's keystroke logging and animated paper clip?
Posted by Brian | January 3, 2008 7:16 PM
You realize that Microsoft has to make quite a few significant changes to OOXML in order to satisfy the objections raised when it was rejected at the first vote for ISO standardization? So what will that mean for OOXML documents being created now, by users of Office 2007 for Dimdows, and this upcoming Office 2008 for Mac?
Microsoft will have to not only update the apps to read/write the new format, it will also have to provide some translation of existing documents. More complications for users--it's bad enough with all the hassles of Office 2007/2008 users trying to exchange documents with those using older versions, what about between updated and non-updated versions of Office 2007/2008?
Posted by Lawrence D'Oliveiro | January 3, 2008 10:59 PM
Quotes from Joe;
"
At a time when Windows Vista seems all wrong, Office 2008 is example of most everything done right.
Office 2008 is the big tech news of the week, and that is one example how well MacBU has executed on product marketing—all without any big, splashy advertising campaign."
---------------------------------------------------- While I don't disagree with a lot of what you said, I don't think that the main reasons you stated are the main reasons that MacBU is doing so well. In fact, I would say, that the failure of Vi$ta, is the main reason that MacBU is doing so well.
The train wreck that is Vi$ta has driven many of those who purchase higher end computers into the arms of Apple. Just look at the spike in Mac sales during the Xmas seasons alone. OEM's who are mostly also M$ Partners, must be losing a good percentage of the sales in the high end range of laptop computers now to the Mac. And when you lose the high end computers, these are the users that have more money to spend, and also buy Office products.
So what I would say, is your reasons, for this happening, were not the main and most important reason, only minor ones.
Now with Mac taking more away from the high end, OEM's will be forced more to look at the bottom end sub $500 laptop market, and Linux.
The other thing to watch with Mac is, OSX can basically run on most regular PC's, with a trusted chip, which most do not have. At some point expect Apple and a M$ partner OEM's to look at licensing OSX with a chip on some of their systems. If Mac wants to expand more, its possible they could do this in a limited way to not hurt their sales. Dell has been wanting this to beef up lagging sales due to the train wreck that is Vi$ta.
Posted by chips | January 4, 2008 12:47 AM
A disappointing upgrade
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2242898,00.asp
A disappointing upgrade, with almost no must-have improvements. Stick with Office 2004 unless you absolutely need some feature of the new version.
Office 2008 will be released for sale on January 15, and I'm sorry to report that in my first few days of testing the final code, I found a mixed bag of improvements, incompatibilities, and bugs. If you've been impatient to upgrade, I think you'd be wise to wait...
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Ms got it wrong ....once more
Posted by Marco | January 4, 2008 11:30 AM