And lookin forward to them...

Also first

Ad campaign would help, but how about more accessories and sinage at retail stores like Best Buy?  You go in there and can't even find a sports band to make your zune wearable.

For the love of God dont make them look like the last wave of ads! Just be straight forward and hit the main points. You can be creative, just don't go all art school student on us.

And as long as they're doing more colors, add a (RED) one or some sort of option that goes to support a charity.  People LOVE that stuff.

I saw in the article "other vibrant colors" I'm thinking this means orange and if so that means I'm going to have to buy a second Zune. >.<

Great!  Cannot wait.  If you can let us see them before they air all the better. ;)

Cesar: I am not sure if you ever got my email so I wil say it here.  My gamertag is finally linked to my Zune tag! Thanks to you and the Zune team. :)

That big screen is not going to be a selling point once the iPhone comes out. Unless of course you couple that with another anouncement ;)

Yeah! Go Cesar!! Go Zune team!! Turn it up!

So you held back on the features in this firmware update :) Didn't you?

OMG, I'm so excited! Finally, what we've been repeating millions of times is finally being answered. We'll see what my friends think of them now. Thanks for giving something new to wait for :)

Wow, I just finished reading the article. So exciting. It's reassuring to know that all of the stuff is actually being talked about and discussed to find ways to expand the Zune brand. The flash player concept is byfar one of the best things that the Zune team can do. The demographics of people that fit that concept are just unbelieavable. In fact, all of the people whom I know that I've recommended a Zune claim that they want to buy one because of the subscription plan, look, feel features of the Zune, but will wait until a smaller model comes out. If it comes out by Christmas, it will be a huge seller.

I'm amazed that you are talking about adverts and not the EMI news. Just so everyone knows - EMI says that any online store can sell DRM tracks... Now we will really see where MS stands. If they don't for it and stick with the ridiculous restrictions than good riddance to the Zune.

Danny:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/zune-the-next-to-drop-drm

Oh, and Cesar, David Caulton (Zunester) just made logging in a requirement for commenting, something Bill Witt (Zuneguy) has been doing for a while. You should consider doing something similar. This system really isn't working right now. It doesn't facilitate discussion, and encourages fanboyism. Just a thought

Adam, interesting call. David just announced a similar policy that I have - deleting comments which are abusive. I delete comments which are either trolling/foul-mouthed or insulting to zune users.

CG rocks the house. Maybe a slogan like "Turn the music up" with "Pon de Replay" as the main ad sound. Have a 3d simple "scope" moving in the background showing off the features, almost like the 2005 XP ads.

Good luck with the ads.

Some celebrity endorsers and TV advertising would help.

I don't think that the iPhone will have much impact on the zune. I don't know tons of people who want to buy a special planned iPhone for as much as a console or something similar.

At any rate, I'm really glad you're coming out with more advertising. I rarely see any Zune ads on network tv.

Regarding Microsoft's reply to Apple/EMI announcement: Typical follow the leader from MS. Microsoft are reactionary not visionary.

Cesar, you don't have to lock down the site as hard as requiring a login, but some form of authentication (to prevent spoofing, flames, etc.) would probably be a good idea.

My point is that this commenting system is very poor at facilitating meaningful, insightful discussion. Without having it become a forum, you might consider pursuing other comment options (aren't the Live Writer guys working on something?). A Karma/ranking system of some sort would also be incredibly useful.

Any comment on audible?

TV, video, and podcast support are cool, but...

I REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY need audible support.

Yah OK I am selfish

oh, and on the TV thing, DVR-MS is a must, and better have a good conversion system, 2 gigs for an hourshow is not going to fly  

GL Guys

A rating system would be excellent.

It gets really tiring reading some anti-Zune trolls every day. Give them a low enough ranking, maybe they will find somewhere else to dump on.

seriously, why would you go to a site dedicated to the Zune just to dump on it?

"It is not as much as the launch spend, but it is still a good sum"

I barely saw any adverts as it is...if you are spending less, then I sure hope it is targeted properly...and I don't mean towards those trying to sleep at 3 am in NYC

Everyone is debating whether MS will drop DRM or not.  I think the more pertinant question is...how long will it take them to release the firmware update that would facilitate that?  I certainly hope that they have a head start on this, otherwise the Zune social may just be dead

ya i agree with mr. new adverts up there i only ever saw one commercial for zune and that was the end bit, but i belive the opening wasnt focused on commercials as much so YAY. good luck.

The ads are a blessing. I show off my zune and everyone thinks it's an ipod(icrap), until i show them the features,(insert smiling and interested face here).  Not many know and understand what MS has to offer. Thank you!!!

Zune owners seem to be very passionate about their toys. How about an ad campaign about just finding real people on the street and have them talk about it? Not some paid fake actors trying obviously to appeal to some trendy demographic. Those sorts of things totally shut me off. How about the parents who bought them for their kids? The soldier overseas? The technophile? I dunno.

Hi C.

Just a bit of info: Nothing has been catchier or cuter than that Endless Cookie ad. Sure, it didn't show off the features of the product, so I dont expect you all to go that route, but I don't think I'll ever forget my friend (and iPod oowner) calling me up and saying "I just saw the coolest commercial ever!"

I'm not sure where she saw the video, but it just proves that such creativity really pays off. That ad was soooo different than anything else around at the time and it made people stop and pay attention (whether they liked it or not).

Since I work in video and understand those timelines, I'd imagine the ads are pretty much near finished now - if they are debuting in a few weeks. That means you all have probably been working on them for quite a while. Good luck!

Oh, and one question: What does your job entail on the Zune Team? Do you put together events? Work on ads? Drop some knowledge, bro. Just a random question.

The Main thing MS products lack is that, they don't get AGGRESSIVE advertising.

I keep my self up-to-date with the products/features/releases. But I always find some interesting feature that I didn't know in the first place, but found it after a few weeks or even later.

Many people, i know, haven't really used the Zune, but pass-on false comments on it. Zune had a good start with AD's/campaigns, but need a more aggressive campaign ( with some new features, to make fire-up even more).

I'm a bit letdown by that article. Everything she mentioned has been available on the iPod for quite some time.

Female-friendly colors? The iPod Nano and Shuffle have had them for a while.

Flash-based players? Again, the Nano and the Shuffle have been available for a long time.

"Music, video, and games"? Yep, the hard-drive based iPods have had video since October 2005, and extra games followed last year.

"TV, video, and podcasting support?" iTunes was updated with integrated podcast support back in the middle of 2005, and video and TV were added later that year.

Yes, there could be some difference in the implementation. If the Zune natively supports DVR-recorded TV shows from Microsoft's Media Center, that's a *big* plus. But I don't think the TV networks would like that very much, and so far, Microsoft's choices have all been skewed toward pleasing the media corporations, not the consumer.

I'm also curiuos how "Zune-like" a flash player would be. One of the big selling points for a flash player is its small size (and its low cost). Would a flash-based Zune include wireless? How big would the screen be? And how would those two factors affect the price?

I know this is a negative post, but I really hope the Zune team is holding something back to surprise people. Some expect an iPhone-style iPod to be released around the holidays (or in early 2008), and that would kill a lot of the Zune's current advantages (larger screen and wifi).

I'm sure you already know this, but the iPod is a moving target. Don't aim where they *are* -- aim where they are going to be.

In your adds you could do something like showing two dudes with Zunes....they are talking and first dude says" man i just heard this new song but i dont know who sang it...it goes "first dude croaking". the second dude chuckles at his lame attempt then says ..."oh,do yo mean this one?"...he then goes on "zune" it to first dudes Zune. the first dude then goes on to rock with the song playing ...then says"yeah this the one thanx!"

btw, 50 cents album is coming soon..maybe Zune could jump on that bandwagon...and he could market it. but thenagain i dont know what image Zune wants to potray

Oh....and btw, Zune i have this idea that could make Zune more popular. What we must have all noticed by now is that you have to make product a FASHION STATEMENT, not just a good player....and a key to that(for mp3 players) is the earphones. Zune needs to come up with good earphone designs that are noticeable the way iPod did with the white earbuds.

some ideas are

-putting some kind of light on the earbuds...maybe a lighted zune logo. (i dont know how much battery life that would suck up tho)

-glow in the dark earphones(you know the wiresand all) :)..OR earphones with the zune colors like blending from the brown to orange.

If the Zune marketplace were to go DRM free I would instantly cancel my subscription and purchase my music at .99 cents a song.  Knowing I would have it forever would be a nice feeling.

YEAH for advertising. Let's hope we can get a clear message out this time and people figure out what a Zune really is. I do believe it would sell better if people know the features. Next you need to consider dropping the price at least $25 in order to be a real deal over the competition. At $199 the Zune would explode and gain some real market share fast.

"We are developing Zune as an 'entertainment' brand, which means it will include music, video and games," Reindorp says.

finally.  i've been suggesting this for a while, and i've even mentioned it here, that you guys ned to stop pushing the zune as a "music project."  to do so completely negates some of your more attractive features like a bigger screen.  now, if you would just change the description of the zune on the top of this blog...

I've only had my Zune for a few weeks but I've come to love it. I'm happy to see there's a push for more visibility for the product and increasing the base features.

Now to get kiosks with the wireless enabled and periodic updates (wallpapers, sample tracks, videos, etc..) that folks can come in and download. THAT would rock.

I'm glad to hear something positive happening here after all the reports about Zune's market share sliding. But I'm sure MS knows it's a major uphill fight to even up the playing field - but I see progress... :)

http://zunearmy.com

I don't think the problem is advertising. The problem is that Zune doesn't have any MAJOR advantage over the iPod, and it lacks quite a few features that currently exist in the iPod/iTunes ecosystem.

Until things like podcast support, more robust video offerings in Zune Marketplace, fill in your favorite missing feature here, are supported on Zune, it's marketshare will continue to remain in the 2-3% range of al mp3 players sold.

Apple is creating a lot of buzz and it will just get louder with the release of OS X Leopard, the iPhone, new iPod models in the fall, etc.

Microsoft is losing this on big time right now.

Two good reads on the challenges Microsoft faces in the digital music space.

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/games_consumer/what_apple_drm_free_means_to_microsoft.html

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/newsanalysis/techstockupdate/10348107_2.html

I hope this reaches us here in the philippines so people here start noticing ipods hot competition...

ok dan I'll take the bait. the zune has a few features over iPod: built in fm tuner, a bigger screen, you can change your background image. and for me, music subscription is a big advantage. plus, it's good for apple to have competition in the device space - keep in mind that when zune was announced, the price of iPods dropped about 50 bucks each a few months later.

Hey, everybody. Lots of comments in this thread, so I might not get to all of them.

Dead Jim - thanks for your perspective :)

BJ - good to have you commenting in here again. And no worries about appearing negative. also, you know I can't talk about future stuff :)

All - don't feed the trolls. I'll delete the particularly nasty comments and I'm actually looking at a way to do comments differently in this site.

As for what I do - I'm in marketing, I work on a bunch of future-looking stuff I can't talk about, and of course there's this blog which I love doing :) a lot of feedback from this blog gets fed to the dev team, so that we're connected to what's happening w/ users.

"As for what I do...I work on a bunch of future-looking stuff I can't talk about"

Wow! That's very CIA-like!

;)

I'd tell you, but I'd. . . ;)

Cesar,

Can you tell us if the ad campaign coming next month has anything to do directly with the "future looking stuff" you can't talk about?

Feed the Geek in me!

they are unrelated :)

Rick - My point is simply that the list of things the Zune lacks is greater than the list of advantages it has over the iPod. And until Zune is perceived by the general population as having parity with the iPod, plus some compelling differentiating feature(s), it will not have any major impact in the market.

Wow it seems like some Navy SEALs type agency or something you guys have down at the Zune campus...

Anyway, I'm finally liking the advertising as finally the Zune has a chance to take down the iPod because Microsoft has lots of money. They really need to add new features and to promote it more because when people see these commercials, they'll want to research the features that the Zune currently has in comparison to the iPod. If they find nothing special about the Zune, they'll just go ahead and by the iPod.

I guess this is proper marketing?

I suggest you dont sell orange Zunes.  I want mine to stay rare.  If you do a lime green I would line up for it.  Camp out overnite.

Lol, i agree with Damien, your job sounds like some exciting undercover agency! Off topic but cesar where is the current background from?-I like  it.

Also I really think tying the zune in with the xbox 360 would be an excellent marketing move!

This article (probably totally untrue) is interesting:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/01/1659206&from=rss

The advantages the Zune may have over the iPod is not that different from advantages other DAPs had over the iPod for years (FM, Record, Customization, battery etc.). At the end of the day, consumers chose the iPod because it was advertised like crazy, was user-friendly for the masses, reliable (for the most part), and it became a must has cool gadget much like other must have cool products before it.

The Zune in its current form is not a must have cool product yet (maybe Gen2) but a me-too late to the game DAP. Advertising alone or adding pretty colors won't sway the masses, there need to be a WOW or innovative factor.

Innovation:

instead of reinventing the wheel, imagine if all of MS different divisions united to create one killer product, (XBox, Zune+Wifi, MSN, Windows Mobile, Windows Media Center etc.)

Sounds cool.  Get the message out.

@ DaveWorld

I totally agree with you man!

We need compelling features.

glad to hear it cesar. and that new color better be blue!

Many thanks for the valuable information.

Thanks again for your time!

Hot MP4 Converter

http://www.mp4-converter.net

I also think for the ads you need to do something funny (not necessarily weird) but creative that will have people talking. like the Geico ads....something that will get the word "Zune" in the vocabulary.

This part of TheStreet.com article caught my interest:

"Flash memory-based players account for about 65% of the market, and Microsoft needs to have a product there soon to make a dent, analysts say."

It's new products/features that matters the most, not new colors and new ads.

more important than device ads, I would like to see the zune marketplace become a compelling place to shop like the iTunes store is becoming.  

as a music producer the last thing I would want to see is Zune defeating iPod and becoming the defacto player, with the "sharing" aspect being misinterpreted by the masses to mean "piracy is now ok".  Microsoft would make a killing on Zunes and artists would never be paid again.

sharing promo needs to stop asap.  it is bad.  young minds will misinterpret it.

Question:

Now that Apple and EMI agreed to sell DRM-Free music, where does that leave the Zune, with it's current 3/3 rule? Will EMI license its DRM-Free music to MS knowing that users will be able to 'squirt' without restrictions?

With the deal to pay Universal for every Zune sold and the heavy reliability on DRM with the way the wifi is used in the Zune (3/3 squirt - unlike a Music Gremlin), you may be hindering the progress of a DRM-Free world. The record companies can look at the Zune and say, no way am I going to allow DRM-Free music across the board, especially with the Zune wifi sharing feature. Hope I am wrong!

DaveWorld - You hit on the question that came to my mind as well.

Cesar - Obviously the record labels are not going to allow people to freely share drm-free tracks. Zune would still need to enforce 3-days/3-plays. But how would that work in a drm-free world?

It seems the only way you could allow sharing to work is within the drm of the subscription model. But it doesn't seem viable for permanent downloads.

As far as wifi goes, it would not surprise me if the next ipod (if not the one following that one) had wifi, Apple MUST have sharing, but like Zune, it may get Wrapped in DRM before Transport. With the Popularity and number of Ipods floating around, it would not be finacialy feasable for any Music Sites (i.e. Apple, ZMP, etc) or the record labels. Of course that is assuming that what the record companies believe about there customers, that everyone is a pirate...Arrrrrrrrg

Just a side note.

I have downloaded "Free" music/video's off the web before, However, it was either, a different version (i.e. 30 seconds to mars "The Kill" Live Acoustic) of what i own, not available for purchase. Or something that i am going to buy anyways, i.e. Band of Brothers. I do not go to blockbust and rent a movie, and simply rip it to my computer. If it is good enought to listen/watch. It is good enough to buy. I cna just sometimes be impatient:)

I disagree that Apple must have "sharing".  on the contrary they MUST NOT.   Sharing downloads will create a situation that appears to invite young music fans to pirate.  What a strange mixed message we are creating here.  

Instead playlists should be shareable among subscribers...(like imixes )zune needs imixes.

The thing is that I don't know what Microsoft is trying to make the Zune a "music" project. The iPod already did that and revolutionized music. The Zune will not win if they focus on music. They need to enter the market and revolutinize videos and the way we handle it. Apple already did it, it's Microsoft's turn to do videos. Video sharing is one example and video marketplace. There is no reason why videos shouldn't be the main project since the Zune has 3 inch screen, has Wi-Fi and a mega processor to handle videos better than an iPod. I just don't get it.

@cautious

When I was a kid, the way i got into new music was by friends telling me about a CD or Tape  and then they let me burrow it or we listened to it. Someone didn't just tell me about an album, and then I ran out and bought it. And NO a 30 sec intro to the song does not work. People dont just buy music because other people like it. They need to hear it and like themselves. The one thing i dont like about the 3x3 is the 3 days, lose the time limit and just let me listen to the song 3 times. I dont always have the time or the desire to listen to new music.

Like Scoble said, sharing music is not "cool", sharing videos is. We are now in a new era where YouTube is our main source of video sharing. To have a "pocket YouTube" in your pocket would be the most revolutionary thing in the world. No one has or is yet planning to do videos sharing. Why in the world will Microsoft not step up?

It's kinda like the girl being in the street, you see her but you don't want to talk to her. That's kinda like what I'm trying to interpret here.

@ cautious

The problem is the way the Zune does 'sharing' is not necessary the most effective way to use the wifi. It causes the record companies to cringe about piracy and as a result will tighten the grip on their music even more. The 3/3 rule is bad enough! The better way would be not to necessarily share, but to allow anyone in close range to tune into and listen to a fellow Zune owner’s music over wifi. It's still the same tease as the 3/3 because you don't keep the song, but at least there wont be such restrictions.

@ nighthawkz6

How cool would that be; but I presume a smaller company will step to the plate with that idea first. It's not like MS don't have the ingredients in place. Imagine a SoapBox integrated into MarketPlace, with Wifi sharing to other Zune owners. That would be a WOW feature.

Hey admin,

I'm currently working on the next iPod campaign - BUT I WOULD MUCH RATHER be working on the new Zune campaign! I just dropped you an email about this. I'm a photographer / re-toucher / digital-tech / designer / do-everything kind of person who currently works in the advertising industry. I really dislike Apple products and I'm a very happy Zune user (my 80gb Zune is so awesome!). Please get in touch with me!

Those wanting to look at Apple / EMI's move to non-DRM with suspicion may enjoy:

http://joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/944.html

@ timedrifter

the challenge with sharing in the digital age is that you are not really lending.  When kids lent cd's back in the day there was incentive to get it back so they could hear the songs again.  In the mp3 era there is no such loss...so sharing is not lending, it's giving away.  

Sharing permanent downloads as a business model will not work, sharing subscription tracks, yeah that could work but not for another 3 or 4 years.

@theorie

I hope you are joking.  Not sure a Zune product manager would trust that kind of pitch.

comment removed (trolling)

also based on my experience (read indie revenue) over the past year, 30 second previews are definitely effective in getting fans to purchase.

This is great news.  The pink and [watermelon?] zunes, along with some fresh, straight-forward ads are really going to help broaden the appeal.

I was riding the train with an ipod-using coworker earlier this week, and the first thing she had to say about the seeing the zune was about the larger screen and its vibrant color.  It was her first time seeing one, and I think she was genuinely surprised that it looked so good.  It's the practical stuff that wows people, not the clever slogans.

I think that MS should develop an ZuneTV that will allow me to wirelessly stream my music/video to it. Something useful for the wireless feature!

Woman noticed my Zune in the elevator the other day and said "Is that a Zune?"

I said yes...

she replied "Like the iPod but a little thicker and does more".

I said yes...

First time someone actually knew what it was - yo guys are making progress!

I had a really good read on this, very detail, and very useful information.

Thanks.

http://www.avi-converter.net

WIFI ACESS THATS ALL WE FREAKING NEED i mean come on if we get wifi access then WOOSH zune will be a hit until then ITS GIMPED