Microsoft ads claim it starts with Windows 7 PCs

Microsoft late Sunday kicked off a new TV ad campaign that for the first time portrayed its lineup as a cohesive family. The lead ad (below), "Epic Share," shows a daughter using a Windows Phone to capture her father playing Dance Central 2 on an Xbox 360 with a Kinect, share it with a Windows 7 PC, and edit with her brother in Windows Movie Maker before it goes live on the web. A second focuses just on the PC but shows a son successfully using a PowerPoint presentation to convince his parents to get a dog.

"It's a great time to be a family," the ads always show towards the end with a Windows 8-style tile layout, before a narrator says "it all starts with a Windows 7 PC."

The ads, produced by Microsoft's favorite ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky, hope to show a cohesion that the company has been working towards for the past few years but which it rarely advertises. Microsoft has made a point of linking its music, video, and web services across the three platforms but pitches them separately; it's commonly established that many Xbox users aren't necessarily aware Microsoft creates it or that they can use Zune music or video on both platforms.

CP&B's new spots are less confrontational than earlier Microsoft ads, which attacked Apple or played off of its image in trying to create the perception that Windows PCs were better value and more diverse. Whether or not they're successful isn't as clear, since the same agency tried its hand at Windows Phone ads that tried to encourage users to reduce their phone use and did nothing to stop the move towards Android and iPhone.

Apple only seldomly advertises its whole ecosystem in mainstream media but regularly attaches iOS, Macs, and iTunes to each other. [via WinRumors]

By Electronista Staff