We’ve all heard the statistic: Microsoft’s allegedly spending a whole truckload of money to market Windows 8. And we’ve all heard about what that’s going to mean: Essentially, Windows 8 on every corner; advertisements in every place you read; mentions in everywhere you frequent.
According to a new report by The Sun, British actor James Corden — of the Broadway play One Man, Two Guvnors — is joining Jay-Z and Gwen Stefani to help Microsoft hawk Windows Phone 8 to the masses. And they’re hardly the end-all, be-all list of Microsoft celebrity endorsers: Jessica Alba helped Microsoft show off Windows Phone 8 at the company’s official launch event for the platform, and the company’s already been pushing out TV ads featuring Will Arnett and Holly Willoughby, to name a few.
The ads themselves – well, minus Arnett’s – are clearly attempting to combine celebrity appeal with simplicity. In Willoughby’s, for example, she’s shown briefly interacting with the common features and apps found on her Nokia Lumia 920 and describing how they allegedly help out her life as a parent. It’s an easy, conventional advertisement that looks to show viewers that celebrities – and people of all ages – can tap into (and benefit from) all the conventions that Windows Phone 8 has to offer.
Microsoft’s ad campaign is all about relationships: The notion that Windows Phone 8 can better the lives of people from a variety of backgrounds and professions, and with an equally diverse group of interests. As The Next Web’s Emil Protalinski wrote in a late October article:
“If Microsoft can get a few movie actors, pop stars, professional athletes, and famous celebrities in general to use Windows Phone 8 devices, customize them, and narrate an ad like the one above, the company could have a great campaign on its hands. It could feature a few famous people, and mix in ‘normal individuals’ such as food lovers, movie lovers, roadtrippers, music mentors, gamers, fashion hunters, page turners, single dads, socializers, working moms, play makers, deal seekers, twin brothers, and the up-all-nighters.”
Still, we’re most curious to see who else Microsoft has tapped to endorse its new Windows world. Here’s hoping Nick Offerman shows off a mustached Windows Phone 8 at some point in the future.
Copyright © 2010 Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc