Microsoft Debuts New Tablet PC Effort

Starting today, Microsoft's Tablet PC will be promoted by a new wave of print and online advertising. Created by McCann-Erickson San Francisco, this represents the first integrated effort for Tablet PC since the product made its debut last fall.

Though the company has not disclosed spending details, the effort is significant. The print component includes spread and gatefold ads in titles such as Time, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, Forbes and GQ. The online media buy includes prominent sites such as MSN, weather.com, NY Times, and CBS MarketWatch.

For example, on CBS MarketWatch a full-page interstitial appears before the homepage loads. It's followed by animation demonstrating the digital inking functionality of the Tablet PC. This then resolves into a prominent homepage banner position.

One sample online creative execution shows a virtual pen writing "The Future Is Here" on top of a homepage, followed by a quickly drawn smiley face and an arrow moving across the screen to a banner ad stating "It's the PC, evolved." Another has the pen writing "Write on it," an arrow moving to one banner with "It's a simple pad & pen" and a second arrow to a second banner with "It's a Tablet PC."

Print ads demonstrate the theme of being able to capture one's ideas anywhere. On the left-hand side of a spread, they show the old way -- such as writing on a napkin, writing on your hand, or even sketching an idea out in the dirt -- and the right-hand side shows the Tablet PC.

"This is a great example of a deeply integrated campaign with online and offline components," says Michael McLaren, evp and director of client services at McCannSF. It "truly romances the unique benefits of this innovation."

The campaign's strategy, offline media and print creative were developed by McCannSF; online media by Universal McCann Interactive (UMi), and online creative by MRM Gould.