Not content to just be on most of the world's desktops, Microsoft is going after kitchen counters and tables too, hitching a ride with the Rice Krispies guys. The on-package promotion deal it announced with Kelloggs this week is sending Microsoft down the same cornflake marketing route that increasingly mass-market technology companies like America Online and Sony have discovered in their own quest to reach kids where it counts.
Microsoft's holiday season promotion will place rebates - as well as "proof of purchase" sendaways - on 80 million boxes of 16 different Kelloggs brand cereals across America. The campaign, which will be pushed heavily on TV and Microsoft Web sites, is intended to "create consumer awareness for its hot holiday products."
But the big daddy of software-makers is certainly not the first technology company to flaunt itself with sugar-frosted appeal. Hordes of users who stormed AOL this year came via Wheat Chex as millions of kids who went cereal-diving for decoder rings this summer turned up CD-ROMs that didn't quite fit on their fingers but were loaded with 50 free AOL hours and a "Chex Quest" game. Sony, too, is appropriating the backside of 33 million Post cereal boxes this holiday season, offering software rebates on Crash Bandicoot video games in Cocoa Pebbles.
"It's a perfect crossover for the products," said Sony spokeswoman Molly Smith. "With over 5.2 million PlayStations in homes, we're certainly getting to the point of reaching the mass market - in order to move the product forward we're looking at other mass-market opportunities."
AOL spokeswoman Ann Brachbill said the Chex promo "was incredibly successful - we're still seeing registrations come in from it. It was in our top 10 promotions of all time."
But those hoping to obtain a bargain copy of Microsoft Office will be disappointed: rebates are offered strictly for entertainment titles and accessories, such as Monster Truck Madness, Sidewinder joysticks, Trip Planner, and Expedia. But for three proofs-of-purchase and US$4.99, milk-mustachioed children can get their very own copy of Reader's Digest Do-It-Yourself Home Repair. Not to mention a sugar-high.
