Partners Warming To Microsoft's Ease-Of-Use Ads

In Microsoft's latest television ads, young children are shown using Windows Live Photo Gallery tools to edit and print their digital photos. The message from the two spots that have aired so far -- one featuring a 4-year-old named Kylie, the other a 7-year-old named Alexa -- is that Microsoft software and services are so simple and intuitive, even kids can use them.

Microsoft's new 'The Rookies' campaign departs from earlier messages of the $300 million advertising campaign unveiled last year by highlighting Microsoft's user-friendliness. Channel partners believe the ads will help repair the damage to Microsoft's image that has resulted from Apple's 'I'm a Mac, I'm a PC' ads.

"If Microsoft has decided they're going after the consumer market, then this is exactly the message they need to be sending," said Mark Crall, president of Charlotte Tech Care Team, a Microsoft partner in Charlotte, N.C. "They need to be loud and clear about saying that they're not just for businesses anymore."

Michael Sullivan, president of Dallas-based Quest Business Solutions, said Microsoft's moves to highlight ease-of-use could help the company build brand loyalty with younger PC users. Positive brand recognition in the consumer market would, in turn, ultimately help strengthen Microsoft's business image, he added.

"Consumers ultimately become business users. If these kids use a Microsoft-based PC for the next 20 years and then start their own business, or become an IT decision maker, where do you think they will look first?" Sullivan said.

Some solution providers say that by putting children in its ads, Microsoft is essentially taking a page from the Apple playbook. Apple has always excelled at getting its technology in kids' hands at an early age, and has used this approach to carve out a leading position in the educational market.

However, Sandy Bateh, vice president of the Microsoft national alliance at Idea Integration, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based solution provider, doesn't think Microsoft should be fighting the ease-of-use battle, mainly because Apple has yet to come close to challenging Microsoft's business dominance.

"Showing ease of use of their software, and trying to say, 'We are like Apple', I don't think that's a smart approach. Apple is not in the back end, running enterprise accounting and CRM systems," Bateh said.

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