Over at SeekingAlpha, Robert Ehrenberg recently wrote about Microsoft Vista's marketing/pr strategy, and the future of the Apple / MS rivalry.
At one point, he highlights this Q&A with Bill Gates:
NEWSWEEK: If one of our readers confronted you in a CompUSA and said, “Bill, why upgrade to Vista?” what would be your elevator pitch?
Bill Gates: The most effective thing would be if I could sit down with them and just take them through the new look for a couple of minutes, show them the Sidebar, show them the way the search lets you go through lots of things, including lots of photos. Set up a parental control. And then I might edit a high-definition movie and make a little DVD that's got photos. As I went through, they'd think, “Wow, is that something I could use, would that make a difference for me?”
Robert's response struck a nerve with me:
Are you kidding me? Bill sounds a little like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, and that he is getting ready to boil Steve Jobs' bunny. First off, Bill, after having spent an amount exceeding the GDP of several sovereign nations - $500 million - to launch Vista, don't you think you could have spent even a little of that on media training? THAT is your elevator pitch? Sorry, Bill, but you're not getting the VC funding you desire. You're not even getting out of the elevator...
But moving away from Microsoft for the moment, let's talk about your company. What's your elevator pitch? Is it good? Does it make potential customers sit up and go wow? If not, might right now be a good time to work on it?
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