A Microsoft Primer on Creating Buzz?
Ever wish you could follow a "this is not a buzz campaign" buzz campaign instead of reading about it afterwards? The Microsoft Origami Project is a great buzz example happening right now, Monday, 2/27/06. Engadget wrote about it last Friday, linking to Scoble who talked about it as well.
A video has been making the rounds showing a new digital convergence device being used by the digitally hip. (Hat tip to Amy, a woman with whom I work.) But there's no identification on the video, which appears on a small production company's website. The only clue that it's for Microsoft is the file name "mso.swf". Is the posting a mistake, or a buzz campaign?
Blogpulse from Intelliseek charts buzz on a keyword. Here's a chart showing the Buzz for "Microsoft Origami Project." Note recent, sharp increase in buzz.
According to the Origami Project Website, details will be forthcoming on March 2nd. It also has three choices in the interface: "Week 1", "Week 2", and "Week 3", but only "Week 1" is active, meaning the website will be relevant through the second week of March, which brings us too what? The Game Developer's Conference?
I think this campaign will be an instructive one for watching buzz being created. Microsoft has pioneered buzz with their Alternate Reality Games such as The Beast, which promoted Spielberg's movie AI; the ILOVEBEES campaign for the Halo2 launch; and Our Colonyfor the recent XBOX 360 launch.
So, not only is the device interesting because of how the convergence lifestyle is depicted in the recently released movie, the buzz campaign is a nice buzz petri dish to observe and learn from, brought to you by a leader in buzz marketing.