Why did Microsoft advertise in the Daily Sun?

Microsoft is probably not the sort of brand you would expect to find in the Daily Sun. After all, why would the average Daily Sun reader be interested in Microsoft?

The fact is that, over the long term, home computer penetration outside of the core PC market must increase if growth in this category is to continue. The affluent end of the market - LSM 8-10 - is more or less saturated. It is in LSM 5-7, the emerging and mid level middle class, where the most compelling opportunities lie.

But many of the adults making the decisions as to whether to buy a PC are themselves not familiar with why a home computer would be relevant to their lives. When you are shopping at your local furniture retailer and you must decide between a computer and a fridge or a new bedroom suite, what would make you choose the PC? At Wunderman, we were convinced that laying the platform now would pay dividends later.

We also believed that it was important to communicate with the market in a way that helped computers become familiar and less intimidating. Using a comic strip format had worked well for a very successful sms education campaign we had executed for MTN, so we decided to explore the same approach here.

We created a family who would go through the exercise of buying a home PC and then discuss how to use it. Each character would serve a specific function: a school child to explain the education message, a student to talk about using MSN, a mother who would demonstrate how a home PC could be useful to people running a household, and an uncle who would reach the family how to use the PC properly. Over time, we would use the characters to expand on different story lines and explore different uses for a home computer in an entertaining way. It's a much more flexible and adaptable kind of advertising than a traditional print execution with a product shot and a blurb about its functionality.

The comic strips ran in the City Press and Sunday Sun as well as the Daily Sun, while on African Language Stations we ran a series of educational inserts that used the same characters as in the print work. Knowing that it was important for the market to interact with the product, Microsoft also put up stands in key shopping malls. These replicated the Mazibuko homea and the way in which computers could be used in different areas such as the kitchen or the bedroom.

Up2Date with the Mazibukos represents a different approach for Microsoft. So far, it has paid off, and we're looking for ways to extend it into other areas.