Xbox's evolving brand strategy: changing the rules of the game: Xbox built instant trust with gamers. More offerings added users. What's next? Tapping into the 'digital entertainment lifestyle.'.

Microsoft's Xbox brand strategy is moving faster than pro skateboarder Tony Hawk in a high-skills videogame. But the marketer of videogame hardware and software knows where it's heading: at the nexus of home entertainment.

"We're evolving from our initial focus on graphics, power and

"Xbox will increasingly feed into the emerging 'digital entertainment lifestyle' that consumers, especially teenagers and young adults, are participating in," Hall says. "Games are at the heart of Xbox. But music, movies and communication are all part of the fabric of consumers' lives. Xbox can and will play a growing role in bringing these forms of entertainment together for consumers."

Halls says Xbox Music Mixer is a great example of how Xbox is innovating in this broader interactive entertainment space, with Karaoke, music mixing and 2-D and 3-D visualizations. The product, which connects to the Xbox game console, will launch this fall. It will also allow consumers to download photos, movies and music from their PC to the Xbox.

Videogames appeal mostly to male teenagers and "twentysomethings." With its Karaoke and visual capabilities, Music Mixer should skew younger and bring more females into the Xbox fold.

"By expanding our brand focus and our product offerings, we hope to appeal not only, to hardcore gamers but to the more casual gamers and fun-seekers," Hall says.

Landor Associates, San Francisco, is helping Xbox to map the evolution of the brand's "look, feel and voice," Hall says.

Building a 'buzz'

When Xbox launched its videogame system in November 2001, it had one major goal: gain instant credibility with hardcore gamers. These 16- to 26-year-old males drive the industry.

And they know when they're being marketed to. So, Xbox created brand awareness and a "buzz" well ahead of the product launch through special promotions and public relations.

Part of the awareness was in-store merchandising. Xbox placed point-of-purchase displays in stores about a year before the launch.

That's where Microsoft really helped, says Bill Brownell, Xbox's Director of Channel Marketing. "Retailers knew we had the marketing dollars, resources and commitment from Microsoft. We weren't going to go away."