In Their NFL Partnership, Microsoft Has a Branding Problem

It is not totally uncommon for one brand to be designated as the signifier of an entire product group. All tissues are known as Kleenex, all large trash containers as Dumpsters, all photocopies are Xeroxs. There is a whole Wikipedia article devoted to this, in fact. And while other lip balm makers probably aren’t thrilled that their product is usually called ChapStick, the effect is lessened by the fact that their product is on the same shelf as ChapStick. Consumers get to see the products side by side and compare packing and promises and pricing. Their sales aren’t ruined simply because Pfizer has a trademark on a catchier name.

This isn’t necessarily the case in the consumer electronics field. In this cutthroat world where competition is fierce, prices are high, and margins are low, brand recognition can be everything. We don’t ask friends and family what brand of cotton swab they use, but we’ll surely probe for opinions on tablets or laptops, making mental notes of the brands mentioned. When walking into a Best Buy or Fry’s, people are overwhelmed with choices. Having a trusted, recommended brand can be the difference between winning and losing a sale.

Getting their hooks into customers is everything for electronics makers. If someone is buying their first tablet, Google or Apple or Microsoft doesn’t just want the revenue from the device. They want to get consumers to be reliant on a specific ecosystem. Apps purchased in their app stores ensure revenue for these companies. This is basically Amazon’s entire model when it comes to their Fire tablets. Even free apps that consumers decide they can’t live without become sticking points when it’s time to upgrade devices. It’s not a hardware-based arms race. It’s a fight for brand loyalty.

And, at least right now, it’s a fight that Microsoft is losing badly. Apple and Google have their tentacles wrapped around the mobile market and up until now, Microsoft has had a hard time breaking in. This is part of the reason Microsoft entered an agreement with the NFL worth a reported $400 million to allow their Surface line of tablets on the sidelines of football games. These kinds of product placements aren’t all that new. Samsung has been doing it everywhere from the Oscars to the White House. Microsoft wants more people to know about their Surface. A lot of people watch NFL games. It all seems pretty straight forward. Except for one problem — TV announcers keep calling them iPads.

NFL announcers aren’t paid to be tech know-it-alls. They are hired for their expertise in announcing or their knowledge of the game (some jokes could be made here, but I’m leaving it alone for the time being). It’s a pretty safe bet to say that they are making these mistakes due to a lack of education, rather than malicious intent toward Microsoft. But that is part of the problem. If Microsoft is willing to drop that much cash on implementing Surfaces on the sidelines, wouldn’t they want to make sure the announcers know that? Yes, the announcers are technically employed by the TV network, but those are networks that have a tight and lucrative affiliation with the league. Certainly someone could have passed a few memos around. Forgetting the name is one thing, using the name of a direct competitor — a competitor that is kicking the butt of the product in question — is another.

There’s a bigger problem here, as well. The Surface is more than a tablet. Save for the ill-thought RT version from a few years ago, the Surface strives to out-feature the iPad. The Surface 3 is the most laptop-like tablet Microsoft has released. It even markets itself as a laptop replacement. However, the integration with the NFL doesn’t highlight those features — the features that set it apart from others in the space. The implementation simply calls for the Surfaces to show photos of previous plays (replacing those binders of black and white snapshots) with the ability to draw on said photos. That’s it. Microsoft is trying to raise eyebrows by showing off features a $200 Android tablet could do.

This is not entirely Microsoft’s fault. Security and fair-play considerations had to go into the integration. Therefore, no Internet connections are allowed (they are connected to a locked-down wireless network). The Surface allows (and promotes) pen input, but I have yet to see a player or coach using one. The case that adorns every Surface on the sideline covers up the kickstand — another selling point of the device. Nothing the NFL does with a Surface sets it apart from the crowd, especially from the iPads that NFL teams are already using.

In fairness, a lot of this couldn’t be helped. There isn’t a whole lot of use for tablets on the sideline to begin with. As far as application goes, Microsoft and the NFL have pretty much exhausted their options. Which makes the $400 million so curious in the first place. Could that money be better spent on more advertising? Perhaps product placement in movies or TV that can show off more of its features? This space is a tough one to break into, I get it. But as it stands, Microsoft’s partnership with the NFL isn’t enough to get the Surface recognized. Especially if announcers can’t even get the name right.

(Header photo via Kārlis Dambrāns)