Let’s all take a moment to reflect on the fact that a master has rejoined the game. That’s right, Microsoft is back, and back with a bang.
I have been so impressed with its recent media campaigns that I have dedicated this whole column to it rejoining the big leagues.
Since Lord Bill left, Microsoft has been a bit in the doldrums. Yes it had Ballmer, and yes he had passion (watch the video below), but it was a shadow of its former self.
2014 though, 2014 seems to be the ripsnorter of a year where Microsoft came back with a winning media strategy. In late January it announced a set of results that wowed analysts and Microsoft trolls alike. Surprisingly high sales of its Surface tablet, a big big Christmas for its Xbox console and its cloud division delivering a 107 per cent increase in sales compared to the previous year meant that people sat up and took notice. Oh yeah, and even its dull software-to-businesses sales were up, bucking the industry trend and making the likes of IBM look like Sally slow coaches. The only criticism it got from the analysts was that it had yet to announce its new CEO. Microsoft had that covered though and was pulling a bit of a PR masterstroke.