Elements of Microsoft’s Marketing
Strategy
Marketing Spotlight – Microsoft
Microsoft was founded in 1975,
when Bill Gates left Harvard at age 19 to work with high school friend Paul
Allen on a version of the BASIC programming language. After moving the company
from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Seattle in 1979, Gates and Allen began writing
operating system software. What happened to the company since its founding is a
well-known and often-told story. Key strategies that enabled Microsoft to
achieve such remarkable growth in the competition-laden computer industry
include product innovation, brand extension, heavy advertising, competitive
toughness, and product expansion.
In 2005, Microsoft shook up the
marketplace – and the marketing industry – again with its non-traditional
launch for the Xbox 360. Read Microsoft’s Xbox 360 spin
(http://news.com.com/Commentary+Microsofts+Xbox+360+spin/2030-1069_3-5706144.html)
and address the following questions:
1. What
are the key elements of Microsoft’s marketing strategy for the XBox 360?
2. What
are the similarities and differences compared to past product roll outs within
Microsoft and compared to the rest of the industry?
3. Could
Microsoft be considered one of the best and worst examples of marketing success
in America during the 1980s and 1990s? Discuss.
4. Do
any of the Microsoft strategies contradict future issues that Microsoft and
other technology-oriented firms should prepare to deal with in coming years?
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