My Response: Aiden Raff – Microsoft’s $400 million deal with the NFL may do more harm than good

https://blogs.ubc.ca/araff/2014/10/05/microsofts-400-million-deal-with-the-nfl-may-do-more-harm-than-good/

Aiden Raff’s blog post was about Microsoft signing a $400 million deal with the NFL which created a five year partnership. As Aiden said in his article, this deal creates exclusive content for Xbox One users and it also promotes the Microsoft surface, since each team receives a bright blue one to use during games. However, viewers and commentators have confused the Microsoft products for iPad and other tablets which has created a negative effect for Microsoft.

surface-nfl-1

In Aiden’s post, he talked about how this deal may in turn end up harming Microsoft instead of helping them and in my opinion I agree however, I also believe that not all hope is lost for Microsoft. In terms of marketing, Microsoft could focus on advertisements that could run during games which could promote the surface and show that  the NFL uses their products, which in turn could lead to more sales. By doing this Microsoft could clear up confusion regarding which tablets are being used and in turn it could effectively market their products, which is what they originally intended for.

 

Microsoft customers receive exclusive NFL content

Microsoft customers receive exclusive NFL content

From all of this Apple is receiving free marketing, however with the problems regarding trademark erosion, I think that it would be best for them to define their brand that way viewers and commentators will not get confused with the products. Although they are technically getting marketing from this, it could come back to bite them in the long run.

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