Windows XP Marketing: Yes You Can

On Monday, Microsoft will begin its worldwide marketing campaign for Windows XP, the NT/2000-based OS that finally consolidates the company's consumer and business Windows products. Based on the theme, "Yes you can," the campaign reflects the experiences Windows XP enables people to have with their PCs, including communications and mobility for work, and digital photos and music for home. Microsoft says that, with Windows XP, people can do all the things they want to do the way they want to do them.

A Microsoft representative told me that the theme song for the campaign will be Madonna's "Ray of Light," which conveys a sense of optimism for what people and businesses can do with a Windows XP PC. "[The song is] powerful, it's upbeat, it's positive, it fits with the theme," says Microsoft PC Experience marketing director Stephanie Ferguson. The first 15-second prime time television "teaser" will debut during Monday Night Football this Monday night. Then, longer TV ads will begin appearing, alongside print ads in newspapers and magazines, and billboards in major cities.

Microsoft's original XP ad campaign, "Prepare to fly," was scrapped after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the company says. However, the TV spots will still reflect the old ad campaign, with scenes of people flying through the air.