As Microsoft sees it, we’re all wandering around in a daze, heads tilted downward and eyes on our smart phone screens. We bump into strangers and ignore our loved ones. And the solution? Another smart phone, of course.
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Really?
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That’s the premise of Microsoft Corp.’s first batch of commercials promoting its newly launched Windows Phone 7 software. The company and phone handset makers unveiled some devices Monday; the first one will go on sale Nov. 8.
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In one ad, people jog, ride bicycles, sit on the beach, stand stock-still in a dance club and take showers while staring at their phones. A masseuse kneads a client with her elbows while pecking out a message; when the client notices, she spits out a sarcastic, Really?
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The word becomes an exasperated refrain throughout the rest of the spot, which was created by Crispin Porter and Bogusky, the agency responsible for Microsoft’s broader Windows marketing campaign.
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‘Really’ is the word that we used to sort of poke fun, put a name to the moment we all know so well … when you do get lost in your phone and you miss something — tripping because you’re looking down, or walking into someone, said Gayle Troberman, chief creative officer at Microsoft.
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This isn’t the first time Microsoft has used advertising to offer a diagnosis and a cure for our technological ailments. Ads for Bing, from the agency JWT, informed us we were suffering from something called search overload.
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As with Bing, Microsoft’s new phones are facing off with established competition — namely Apple Inc.’s iPhone and devices using Google Inc.’s Android system. Troberman said the company needs to explain to people why the solution they have isn’t meeting all their needs.
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Troberman said Microsoft’s smart phones give people more information at a glance than competing gadgets do. When smart phones are idle,…