This is the first installment of Print Advertising Wars. In this series, I'll discuss the underlying meanings behind some of the pictures within printed advertising. While I'm not an expert, I have been studying and reading about printed advertising for quite some time. The subject can be fascinating.

The first subject will be MSFT and the original .NET print advertising. Note that MSFT has recently changed the tenor and tone of their printed advertising -- I'll cover that in a later installment. This installment covers some of the ads in the original advertising blitz.

It's no secret that .NET is strategic to MSFT and MSFT was preparing a blizzard of printed materials and advertising around .NET, especially after the product was released in February of this year. The rumored marketing budget this year for .NET alone is 200 million dollars. This figure was reported by multiple press outlets. Regardless, it's no surprise that the .NET marketing budget was and is huge.

For a product of such importance and a practically unlimited budget, you can be sure that MSFT and their ad company spent many hours crafting their message. VS.NET was relased later than planned but that allowed even more time to craft a message. That message came directly from MSFT, the ad company just implemented the vision.

By the sheer number of print advertisements, MSFT has pretty much guaranteed that their message was heard, loud and clear. You couldn't avoid .NET advertising if you read the computer weeklies, even if you wanted to.

What is being said by their images?

The main printed message is "One degree of separation (between you and your business)." Apparently this is a takeoff of the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game. I guess that message is okay for what it's worth...

In general, the original .NET advertisements are not very "human" -- almost all of them stress (IT) systems over people. The people in the original .NET print ads are ad eye level or below and frequently in some sort of subservient position. Also, all of the humans are what I call "attractively bland" -- no real distinguishing features. At best, people are "cogs in the wheel". Many of the .NET advertisements have no human face in them at all.

Let's go over a few of these print ads.

The Bicycle Shop Ad -- I thought this was the most effective .NET print ad. I wrote about this in another message so I won't go into too much detail here. I'll search for this message number at some later date. The subliminal messages were flying all across the two pages. The two people were at eye level and both were working ("cogs in the wheel"), and the thanks goes to .NET.

The Airport Ad -- You've seen this ad many, many times. If you get any IT developer publication, then you've seen this ad, usually on pages 2 - 3 of the magazine.

There's one guy in the two page ad at the far left of the page. He is looking up. His line of sight and the two escalators and the fact that he's way left of center pulls your eye to the upper right -- where .NET makes the world a better place. The guy is clearly subservient, looking up at the mention of .NET. What's the subliminal message? You, the developer, are supposed to identify with this person. And yes, you are supposed to look up to and be awed by .NET. No joke.

The Windows/Unix Ad -- This ad is geared toward people managing the enterprise. In this two page ad, there's six people on the left page and five on the right page. The left page represents "Windows Server diehards" and the right side "UNIX zealots". All the people are "attractively bland". What's the subliminal message? All 11 people are looking up to you. You are looking down at everyone on the IT staff. Let .NET solve this for you.

The 1 Degree Ads -- MSFT blitzed many publications in June with two one page advertisements. The two pages had no scenery or people. There is a white 1 and a degree sign in the middle of the page in a green background. Up the spine of the 1 there is a message in green. The first ad says -- "One degree of separation between making a plan and making it work." The second ad (on the next page) says "One degree of separation between your business hat and your IT hat."

Another group (same format), first page says "One degree of separation between their Q's and your A's." Second page -- "One degree of separation between tomorrow's vision and today's budget."

Another one page ad says "One degree of separation betwen this page and your future."

There's no real subliminal messages here, just the direct message that .NET can do everything.

The Building Ad -- This is another ad geared toward the enterprise crowd. No people in this two page advertisement. On the left side, your line of sight is looking straight up. You're in a "glass house" of some sort and in your line of sight are four servers. On the right side, your line of sight is again looking straight up. You're outside, looking at the sky and in your line of sight are four buildings. In essence, .NET helps you reach for the sky. The subliminal message? You don't need an IT staff to do it!

There were other print ads as well but you get the idea...

I'll talk about the consequences of this advertising in my next message before going on to IBM's advertising blitz.

Bill Anderson