Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Talk about Interruption Marketing

Here's a "marketing don't" - waking up a whole neighborhood to tell them about your product.

Well, that doesn't really seem to be Microsoft's plan when they parked an SUV with a tricked-out audio system and a Zune in a residential area of Manhattan and proceeded to blast Justin Timberlake at 3 AM - they were trying to reach the drunked club-goers stumbling around the area.

But they did manage to motivate the people who live there to set up a web page demanding financial compensation for their stunt (which is probably also a violation of New York's noise ordinances).

It's on ongoing issue for people who live in urban neighborhoods - you realize, when you move there, that you will have to coexist with those who use your neighborhood as an entertainment destination. That's part of the give and take of city life.

It doesn't make Microsoft's stunt any less stupid, however. Welcome to the social!

2 comments:

Maureen Rogers said...

Blaring Justin Timberlake at 3 a.m? Talk about mental anguish.As a follow on to the Boston Aqua Teen bomb scare and Dr. Pepper grave digging marketing fiascos, this one is relatively mild. But don't these trendoid marketing types ever THINK about the implications of what they're doing? Or, worse, do they think it all through and conclude that it doesn't matter how many people they annoy, how much property damage they do, it's all worth it if they create enough buzz. If it's the latter, it's really bad news.

Anonymous said...

I agree Maureen, I have a few friends who were "victims" of this ploy, and they were not happy about it. They aren't demanding financial compensation although it did renew their love of their iPods, which I'm sure is not what Microsoft was going for here.
I enjoy outside of the box marketing campaigns, but there are some limits...right?