TUTORIAL - CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

Microsoft Corporation is an American technology company with a mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. It develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers and related service.

One of its latest additions to Microsoft Office product line is Office 365. Office 365 is a line of subscription services offered by Microsoft that allow use of the Microsoft Office software suite over the life of the subscription as well as cloud-based software as service products for business environments. Office 365 comes with automatic updates to Microsoft software at no additional charges as opposed to the conventional licenses where new versions require purchase of new licenses.

The Office 365 service consists of a number of products and services. All of the products and services can be managed and configured through an online portal. More advanced setup and features can be added as well.

Apart from being at the forefront of innovative development, Microsoft ingeniously used integrated marketing communication in its Office 365 launch. Although Microsoft is slowly shifting from traditional media to social media and other online platform, it has successfully revitalized the print media through its clever use of both print and digital media for the launch of Office 365. This can be seen from its Wi-Fi enabled promotion with Forbes magazine.

A sleek router with a battery placed within the magazine gave the subscribers free Wi-Fi for 15 days. This gimmick ensured that the readers had to retain the magazine at all times thus prolonging the magazine's life span on one hand and on the other, increasing the advertisement exposure to the reader. After the user has successfully connected to the Wi-Fi, Microsoft Office 365 webpage is the default homepage. The use of integrated marketing communication in the launch of Office 365 is just one of the many projects Microsoft has marketed its products and services using multitude of channels.

QUESTIONS

1. Apply the appropriate customer response model that supports the statement, "it is apparent that Microsoft has clearly understood the importance of offering product trial in order to convince the take up rate of Office 365". (6 marks)

2. Evaluate the appropriateness of using magazine in the launch of Office 365. (12 marks)

3. While many agree that there're no rules in advertising creativity, elaborate on the creativity shown in Microsoft Office 365 Wi-Fi enabled joint promotion with Forbes magazine. (22 marks)