Google advertising is like Microsoft pre-Windows 7
Recently I’ve been bombarded (while watching The Daily Show) with advertising for phones running Google’s Android OS. These phone were on my short list but the advertising turned me off.
I don’t know if Motorola or Google is responsible for the Droid super-geeky branding, but they don’t seem to have learned much from Microsoft’s lame advertising in the past years. Customers are not machines! They are people! You’re effectively telling me these phones are for geeks and robots. And the best feature you have is turn-by-turn directions? Seriously?! My geeky crappily-designed Windows Mobile phone was giving me turn-by-turn directions three years ago. Let’s see what avenues the competitors are exploring…
See? Cool inspiring music! Connecting with people and audience! (plus you too know just as much about your customers 
)
The other ads in this campaign are just as cold and geeky, effectively portraying the phone as an alien device (see them in the Verizon Wireless channel). In a recent interview on Fox News, Eric Schmidt, Google CEO says they’ll try not to make the same mistakes Microsoft made but in fact they are making the same mistakes around bullying other businesses and lame geeky commercials.
Update 1: my suspicions were confirmed by this analysis: Why are So Many Android Owners Male? (post-campaign 73% of Droid users are male compared to 54% for other brands of smartphones)
Update 2: Google is really making the same mistakes as Microsoft by forcing OEMs into buying their products as a bundle: Google Is Now Officially Evil
And yes, I do believe the Windows 7 advertising campaign is a successful one. Leading with the customers and leaving your ego behind is always a good thing.
