Here's The Massive Budget Microsoft Is Gambling On Windows 8 Ads
Microsoft is planning to spend $1 billion or more on advertising for its new Windows 8 operating system, according to Ad Age.
The trade mag didn't give a source for its number. If true, the budget would be twice what it has historically spent on new product launches (the Kinect game device got $500 million, for instance).
Previously, the rumor was that Microsoft would spend $1.8 billion. But that was unsourced speculation, and I made the case earlier that it seemed extremely unlikely.
It's not clear whether the Ad Age report is recycling that rumor or has sources of its own.
Microsoft is taking a big gamble with the new campaign -- from CP+B -- because the ads will NOT give instructions on how to use Windows 8, and instead will focus more on the idea that it's a "cool lifestyle product." Windows 8 is organized completely differently from the old Windows -- on a "tile" system, so the risk is that consumers will be baffled by the experience once they try it in a store.
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