Going for Wow

In what will be the company's "most aggressive launch ever," Microsoft is threatening to spend $500 million to highlight the "wow" factor of its Vista operating system, which launched today after repeated delays and lukewarm initial reviews.

The expected 6.6 billion impressions around the globe seem silly, since every PC will soon come preloaded with Vista, according to AdAge, but "awareness is not enough," it quotes John B. Williams, general manager-Windows global communications, as saying. "The goal for this campaign [is to] get at the heart of excitement."

McCann Worldgroup's campaign focuses on life-changing events - a child's experiencing snow for the first time, the fall of the Berlin Wall, being at Woodstock, even LeBron James's being bested in basketball by a kid - to convince consumers that Vista, too, is life-changing.

The campaign's massive marketing push also includes an online consumer-participation contest promo themed "Show us your wow," a living billboard in Manhattan, sponsored webisodes at Clearification.com, an alternate-reality game called "Vanishing Point," school PC-lab makeovers, rebates, and invite-only events.