Windows Vista: The “Mojave Experiment” Campaign

Microsoft’s Windows Vista has been generally panned by the tech community, and the perception is likely hurting sales (though Microsoft says sales are fine). Nonetheless, Microsoft recently launched this Net-based ad campaign. Here’s a snapshot from the teaser site:

There are several different reasons for why this is a bad marketing campaign. For example, fooling your customers and making them appear stupid (”You idiot, this is Vista!”) is not a good way to sell a product. Another reason includes the fact that Vista is already set up on this computer with reasonable specs, so any system incompatibilities or installation difficulties have been ironed out. Finally, customers get a 10 minute “demo” of Vista - that’s hardly enough time to make a judgment about an operating system. Wil Shipley put it best in his blog,

Vista is known for people initially liking it, then after a while discovering it’s not working for them, and “downgrading” to XP. This study has told us exactly what we already knew: that, initially, people like Vista.

There is one major psychological error in this ad that I have not seen discussed, though. People are being told that they are seeing a next-generation operating system, and their expectations are instantly set to be more prone to liking the product. This is similar to the New Yorkers going to a fancy restaurant and raving over the Pizza Hut pasta dishes. These people are being set up to like something because it’s fancy or next-generation. Therefore, they are more likely to be impressed.

I’ve actually blogged about research that has shown this effect in people by having them drink the same wines but telling them one is priced higher than another. Not only do people rate the pricier wine as better tasting, but the emotional and pleasure center of their brains are more active when they drink the pricier wine! It’s a deep-rooted effect, and Microsoft is taking full advantage of that here.