One of my favorite topics was and is how Microsoft is standing behind its own smartphone operating system and there's no doubt - Microsoft is still believing in Windows Mobile what is known since yesterday as Windows phone. And when Microsoft unveiled Windows phone back in February, the company opened the event with a "Start your Windows Phone" video which had the potential to become a TV spot. However, unlike Apple, Nokia, Sony Ericsson or Samsung, Microsoft isn't manufacturing and selling its own phone but it's just selling the operating system and services around to carriers and handset manufactures.

Therefore Microsoft was always partnering with carriers and manufactures and relied on the partners marketing spending. Nevertheless, if you partner with a carrier or manufacture, you never get the attention for your product since these partners have plenty of products. Therefore, Microsoft never caught the attention for Windows Mobile which it might deserved in the past already.
Anyway, with yesterday's official launch of Windows phone, Microsoft also decided to re-work its Marketing strategy and launched - first time in its history - its own Windows phone ATL campaign with TV spots:

While there might be an app for every situation on other smartphones, in its TV campaign, Microsoft is focusing on the well known and widely used PC apps and and services (like Outlook, Office, Windows Live and Twitter) a Windows phone user doesn't have to leave home (or in the office) if he leaves. It might not be the most emotional sport (I still think an only internally used spot like this explains the connected Microsoft way better), but at least it's a start into the right direction and better than co-branded ads on airports, as we have seen them in the past.

According to Microsoft, the new TV sports on air since yesterday in North America and Europe and will always show a Windows phone and carrier at the end of the spot.

Cheers ~ Arne