Australia adapts XP tagline for launch

SYDNEY: Microsoft has kicked off its largest-ever Windows campaign in Australia to promote its latest operating system, Windows XP. The rollout of the global campaign has not been without its difficulties. The original tagline "Prepare to Fly" was pulled out of respect for the victims of the attacks on the US. Microsoft quickly changed the tagline to "Yes You Can", posing difficulties for Australia since the new tagline was too similar to that of telecommunications firm Optus, which uses "Yes". Instead, Australia will be using "Surprise Yourself". Microsoft group manager of marketing communications, Inese Kingsmill, said the XP campaign was worth more than US$250 million globally. Australian marketing spend is said to be in the millions. "Globally, the campaign will be equivalent to the first nine months of spending behind the Volkswagen Beetle relaunch and the first two years of ad support behind Apple's iMac computer." The campaign was co-ordinated by Microsoft's global agency, McCann-Erickson. Five senior creative teams from the UK, US, Brazil, Canada and Sweden took charge of the campaign, but each regional office was also involved. The first phase targeting consumers commenced at the end of October and runs until the end of November. The second push, to begin early 2002, will target IT professionals. Kingsmill said Microsoft would be using the "usual media suspects" for the consumer marketing campaign - free to air and pay TV, in-flight television, print, outdoor, radio, online and events.

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