05.18.09
Does Microsoft Still Create Twitter Accounts for Guerilla Marketing?
Summary: News about Microsoft marketing, which has become rather shameful
Microsoft maintains prominent presence in Twitter using not only its employees but using agencies that it hires, too [1, 2]. We are fortunate to have a reader whose hobby is exposing those people and now he is having a go at a user called Officethemovie. Surely not the surname of a Microsoft employee, right?
Having looked at the account, IMO theres certainly room for suspicion and the account may be of interest to people who dont like the idea of FUD being spread at the expense of alternative to Microsoft products.
What makes me suspicious is the fact that at the time of writing this they follow no people.
Joe Wilcox (whom Microsoft Watch recently let go, much to Andre Da Costa’s dismay) plays along and defends Microsoft by listing Microsoft bloggers, but who has the last laugh? According to CRN, it is just another Microsoft AstroTurfer in Twitter:
Microsoft is hinting that a new Zune offering could be coming next month.
Through a new Twitter account, @officethemovie, the company said Monday afternoon that “June 2009 will be an important month for Zune users.” Microsoft’s Zune MP3 player is the vendor’s answer to the Apple iPod.
These pseudo-users can come via marketing agencies. This was covered in some Microsoft blogs but hardly by the press. This one particular user account seems related to this report (“Coming soon to a desktop near you: Microsoft’s Office The Movie”).
In other news, Microsoft is again recruiting celebrities to advertise its products.
Microsoft Teams Up With Celebrity Athletes
[...]
Launched in beta late last year, BAT has already assembled a network of about 1,400 pro athletes available to advertisers for far less than typical celebrity endorsers. ”
Remember Seinfeld and Vista? How about Indian equivalents [1, 2]? Microsoft’s marketing strategy has fallen pretty low. █
