“Wow” or “Waaku”?

Wow.” That’s the message, and Microsoft’s ads, crafted by McCann Worldgroup, for its new Windows Vista operating system put that word at the center of most of its promotions. The company’s most aggressive launch ever, which began at the end of January, aims to generate 6.6 billion impressions in the first few months through events and multiple media platforms across 20 of its 50 market countries at a cost of $500 million. Given the speed at which things spread today, Microsoft is taking no chances; the campaign is hitting all 20 countries simultaneously. But how does “Wow” really translate? The company’s marketing execs claim the campaign is culture-neutral. Maybe the real “Wow” is how they pulled the whole thing off at once.

Apple, meanwhile, is taking a very culture-centric approach to its PC nerd guy vs. Mac hip guy ads, originally crafted for the U.S. market by Omnicom Group’s TBWA/Chiat/Day, into the U.K. and Japan. The agency merely dubbed in the local languages for spots in Germany, France, Italy and Spain, but ads were recreated for the two new markets, although the basic premise remains the same. For the U.K. ads, Apple chose two actors who play a similar stuffed-shirt-vs.-casual-cool pair in the popular British sitcom “Peep Show.” Clothing differences send a message, as in the U.S., and the slang was carefully anglicized. In Japan, the comparison between the two actors from the Rahmens comedy troupe is made visually through body language and also through the names they are given. “Makku” is cool, and his suggested nickname for the PC guy — “Waaku” which means “work” — is thought by the PC guy to also be cool because it rhymes, but isn’t because it actually points out their differences. Maybe “Waaku” isn’t “Wow” after all. And that’s Apple’s point.

Info: www.microsoft.com/vista or www.apple.com

Al Gore: Concert Promotor

“I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony” began the lyrics to a legendary 1971 TV commercial for Coca-Cola. Now Al Gore wants to seize the spirit of that song to advance world awareness of global warming. Gore, former U.S. vice president, Nobel Prize nominee and Academy Award winner for An Inconvenient Truth, is taking his message to the entire planet with a one-day music marathon called “Live Earth.” The concert, which has signed more than 100 top acts, will take place on July 7 with performances on all seven continents. The performance sites, in addition to Antarctica, include Shanghai, Johannesburg, Sydney, London and cities to be named in Brazil, Japan and the U.S. The concerts will be streamed live on MSN, and Gore hopes to attract an audience of two billion through TV, radio and the Internet. The concert is part of a campaign called “Save Our Selves,” founded by Kevin Wall, who also produced the “Live 8” concerts in 2005 to raise money for famine in Africa. Sponsors seeking a global audience already have their checkbooks out.

Info: www.liveearth.org

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