The Oprah Kinect Effect Plays to Microsoft’s Marketing Push
After Oprah’s giveaway of Microsoft’s new Xbox 360 Kinect kit, a video game platform, to each member of her audience at the beginning of October, Amazon reported a 42% increase in pre-orders for this product. This again demonstrated the impact media has on people and the brand image of Oprah that can manipulate large numbers of viewers, convincing them into buying products that don’t meet their needs or interests.
Microsoft Kinect, as well as it’s doing on its own, won’t hurt from a tiny Oprah mention. But the recent buzz that’s been going on around the system may be for not, should Microsoft not have planned well for the upcoming holiday shopping season. Hopefully that’s not the case, as Microsoft’s been gearing up for a massive marketing push around Kinect, which clearly includes the great endorser herself.
In all, Microsoft’s not doing so badly for itself. The company has reported high earnings for Q3, with a 25% increase in sales from the same period last year. There’s a number of areas in which Microsoft is looking to gain or regain footing, with its Windows Phone 7 mobile initiative being of particular importance for the software giant.
A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:
Support our mission to keep content open and free by engaging with theCUBE community. Join theCUBE’s Alumni Trust Network, where technology leaders connect, share intelligence and create opportunities.
- 15M+ viewers of theCUBE videos, powering conversations across AI, cloud, cybersecurity and more
- 11.4k+ theCUBE alumni — Connect with more than 11,400 tech and business leaders shaping the future through a unique trusted-based network.
About SiliconANGLE Media
SiliconANGLE Media is a recognized leader in digital media innovation, uniting breakthrough technology, strategic insights and real-time audience engagement. As the parent company of SiliconANGLE, theCUBE Network, theCUBE Research, CUBE365, theCUBE AI and theCUBE SuperStudios — with flagship locations in Silicon Valley and the New York Stock Exchange — SiliconANGLE Media operates at the intersection of media, technology and AI.
Founded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, SiliconANGLE Media has built a dynamic ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands that reach 15+ million elite tech professionals. Our new proprietary theCUBE AI Video Cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.
