How the Rolling Stones and Microsoft Found Each Other
It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly seventeen years since Microsoft rolled out Windows 95. For those of you who don’t recall the DOS-based Windows 3.1, it was a revolutionary change that actually, believe it or not, made Microsoft cool for a while. With Apple’s influence on the PC market virtually non-existent in the mid-1990s, Windows 95 was the new industry standard for operating systems. Even the START button was an innovation.
It’s also where technology and marketing come together. Famously, Microsoft used the Rolling Stones’ 1981 song “Start Me Up” as the anthem to introduce Windows 95 to the world in the summer of 1995. It was the cornerstone of a $300 million ad blitz.
How did this “collaboration” come about? This in-depth post at The Post History Dig explores the subject in depth. A teaser:
Nearly 15 year after the song’s initial popularity, Bill Gates hit upon the idea of using “Start Me Up” for the Windows 95 launch. Gates happened to meet Mick Jagger at some point and asked him how much it would cost to use the song in advertising. Reportedly, Jagger replied with some amount in the millions — $10 million by one account — a sum, in any case, that Jagger thought would be outrageously high. Microsoft’s “Start Me Up” campaign was aimed at key groups of Rolling Stones followers — from baby boomers to twenty- somethings… But Gates, undeterred, didn’t flinch and agreed to the amount.
It’s a great read, especially when one considers how much this influenced Apple’s product rollouts in the last decade. Gates influencing Jobs. Who’d have thought that?
The iconic 30-second advertisement for Windows 95:
Burger King Breakfast Menu Flash Advertising
It’s been hard to escape Burger King’s recent advertising push to promote their new breakfast menu. This kind of saturation may become more commonplace with a likely increase in Burger King’s ad spending under their new ownership. The fast food chain’s grip on the No. 2 spot in the U.S. (behind McDonald’s, ahead of Wendy’s) has been slipping the last two years.
The image to the right is a screen cap (actual size) of a block Flash ad (300 x 250 pixels) 
spotted recently on ESPN.com. Its differentiating characteristic is its most prominent: the countdown clock. The ad calculates the countdown to 10:30 am (when Burger King stops serving breakfast) based upon data from the user’s system clock, presumably. It also could be done with an IP trace to determine a user’s time zone, though that seems needlessly complicated to accomplish the same result.
The concept behind the ad is well-worn: false scarcity. Not the scarcity of the product in this case; the scarcity of available time to consume the product today. Do you really want to wait 24 hours for another crack at that delicious, nutritionally-void breakfast sandwich?
Given the ESPN.com placement, the target audience for this ad seems to be office-dwelling men who didn’t have the time or desire for a traditional at-home or even in-the-car breakfast. These are men who watch sports games governed by ticking clocks. Men who understand that a countdown demands decisive action and execution to succeed or, in this case, to solve a problem: the distraction of hunger. And perhaps to fulfill a want, as well, like the cheap and easy indulgence of fast food.
For the record, we didn’t run out to beat the clock and grab a Croissan’wich, but it certainly raised our awareness of breakfast at Burger King. And that’s more than the half the battle in any form of advertising.
Conan O’Brien Gets Dirty to Get His Desk Clean
Given his imminent and welcome return to late night TV nine months after the Tonight Show debacle, Conan O’Brien needed to clean his desk. Whether he needed to do it in a style similar to an infamous Paris Hilton commercial is up to you.
Three Cosmonaut Stock Photos Used in Political Campaign Commercial
The marketing team/agency for Amanda Fritz, candidate for Portland City Council, selected three of our stock photos to use in their latest TV commercial. Our images appear at :06 (Portland City Hall), :11 (Portland MAX train) and :19 (the OHSU overhead tram).
UPDATE, 11/4/2008: Amanda Fritz won a seat on the Portland City Council.
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