Is Microsoft retiring its negative ad campaign?

Published January 21, 2015 at 8:02 am

While addressing your brand’s competition directly in your marketing can be effective, your business needs to ask itself how sustainable this strategy really is. Since 2012, Microsoft has gained attention for slamming Google in a series of infamous ads in which it warned users about being “Scroogled” by the tech giant. It was a catchy idea but drew criticism, and seems to have been officially retired.

WinBeta announced that the official website for the campaign has been replaced with a more generic “Why Microsoft?” page that promotes the company’s products rather than slamming its rival. Launched by Microsoft’s Mark Penn, who was recently promoted to CSO, “Scroogled” relied heavily on video ads which satirized Google’s habit of reading user email, tracking search terms and other unsavory practices.

Although there is not an official statement from Microsoft on this change, it’s notable as a possible shift in the tone of the company’s general marketing strategy. Perhaps the company has decided that this kind of campaign simply isn’t worth pursuing. Some have tied the new tactic to the rise of new CEO Satya Nadella, since the Scroogled TV ads began disappearing around the same time he took the helm last year.

Last month, Microsoft suffered a minor gaffe when a blog post trashing Google appeared. Since it was first commented on, this post has been deleted, and the company apologized for it, saying that it was “not properly vetted” and didn’t represent the business, according to Business Insider.

If negative ads are giving your audience the wrong impression of you, consider adjusting your strategy and using marketing automation to get a new, more positive message out there. Over time, this could be more effective than simply disparaging the opposition repeatedly, and more inviting for your customer base.