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welshbloke on 01 October 2009

Microsoft kicks off Christmas marketing campaign

Microsoft will launch its Christmas marketing campaign in the UK tomorrow with a firm emphasis on communicating the non-gaming capabilities of the Xbox 360.

The platform holder has already begun its work with third parties, explained senior director for Northern Europe at the company's Entertainment & Devices division Neil Thompson, but there's much more to come.

"We have extensive above-the-line campaigns that have already kicked off, to be honest, with a lot of our third-party publishing partners," he told GamesIndustry.biz. You might have seen a lot of TV work we've already done around some great titles - The Beatles: Rock Band, and so on.

"But from October 2 we're launching our own TV work explaining to consumers the broader entertainment offerings we have on Xbox 360, which is going to centre on our music offerings, movie offerings - and then obviously the unique TV experience we've got in connection with Sky, and the Sky service we're bringing to Live.

"All of that is going to round out for us the broader entertainment platform that the 360 is, and we're working on some fantastic software titles from our end, such as Lips and Forza. Plus we've done a lot of work in the last few weeks, working with Activision on Modern Warfare 2, and other great titles that are coming out for gamers.

"So really it's an extension of what we were doing last year, with perhaps a little bit more emphasis around the broader entertainment offering, as well as all the great games that will be available."

The campaign follows an extensive television advertising spend from Sony in its efforts to put a similar message out to consumers about its new-to-market PlayStation 3 Slim - but Thompson was firm that Microsoft's campaign isn't a copycat ploy.

"In some ways I wish we were that agile," he smiled. "No, we're just focusing on what we think are our core strengths. We think gaming is a core strength of ours, we think the breadth of our entertainment offering is a real core strength. And Live, in many ways, is just our unique value proposition.

"We're very focused on what we think we're offering to consumers, rather than what anybody else thinks they're offering them."

The full interview with Neil Thompson is available now



W.L.B.B. Member, Portsmouth Branch.

(Welsh(Folk) Living Beyond Borders)

Winner of the 2010 VGC Holiday sales prediction thread with an Average 1.6% accuracy rating. I am indeed awesome.

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welshbloke on 01 October 2009

Will this work? Generally I prefer the more focused advertising the Microsoft do in the UK at least. It will be interesting to see how they market the Video, Sky and Social sides of things and whether it makes a marked difference.



W.L.B.B. Member, Portsmouth Branch.

(Welsh(Folk) Living Beyond Borders)

Winner of the 2010 VGC Holiday sales prediction thread with an Average 1.6% accuracy rating. I am indeed awesome.

Kinect as seen by PS3 owners ...if you can pick at it   ...post it ... Did I mention the 360 was black and Shinny? Keeping Sigs obscure since 2007, Passed by the Sig police 5July10.
nofingershaha on 01 October 2009

I remember that there's an article that describes the gaming industry in the U.K. as having surpassed that of Japan. Its interesting since Microsoft has a hold over the UK with its core audience while Sony controls the rest of Europe with its more casual audience.

Then again Wii still currently dominates the competition still.



selnor on 01 October 2009

The Sky part is sure to help console sales. Sky is huge, and instead of paying £250 for an extra HD Sky box here in UK, you can have a 360 which plays Sky, games and everything else with a bigger HDD than a SkyHD box for £229. I have already seen posters up in Curry's, Game and Gamestation advertising Sky on Xbox 360. Big ones to.

Sky has a massive hold on our country and this is a good move for M$ here.



huaxiong90 on 01 October 2009

Interesting. We'll see how this plays out. From what I know, Sky is huge in the UK, so this will be good for Microsoft.



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welshbloke on 01 October 2009

SKY is big and not doubt it will generate some sales not sure how many. I think what will make a big difference is how they market the package. I am particularly keen to see how instant on HD goes down and the Social sides as I think they potentially have a greater sales impact out side of games.



W.L.B.B. Member, Portsmouth Branch.

(Welsh(Folk) Living Beyond Borders)

Winner of the 2010 VGC Holiday sales prediction thread with an Average 1.6% accuracy rating. I am indeed awesome.

Kinect as seen by PS3 owners ...if you can pick at it   ...post it ... Did I mention the 360 was black and Shinny? Keeping Sigs obscure since 2007, Passed by the Sig police 5July10.
Reasonable on 01 October 2009

The problem with the Sky angle, IMHO, is how many people already have Sky and have already invested in it.

It's a shrewd move, but I'm not sure how many people who don't have Sky would go for this. It is a solid move though, exposing Sony being slow in UK as usual to compete with these kinds of services.



Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...

matt247 on 01 October 2009

They did this with netflix in the states. Comedy actor Simon Pegg said that he recorded ads for the 360.



Seece on 01 October 2009

It's encouraged me to take up a SKY offer, so it's already working!



 

welshbloke on 01 October 2009

So 1 confirmed, but that was take of Sky not of a new 360 as well unless you got one for the bedroom.

I am hoping it will generate more sales but from little acorns...



W.L.B.B. Member, Portsmouth Branch.

(Welsh(Folk) Living Beyond Borders)

Winner of the 2010 VGC Holiday sales prediction thread with an Average 1.6% accuracy rating. I am indeed awesome.

Kinect as seen by PS3 owners ...if you can pick at it   ...post it ... Did I mention the 360 was black and Shinny? Keeping Sigs obscure since 2007, Passed by the Sig police 5July10.