Oprah and Ellen onboard to help Microsoft flog Kinect
by Steven Mostyn - Oct 19 2010, 09:21
Oprah and Ellen to drumroll Microsoft's next big thing. Image: Microsoft.
In a move that almost guarantees mass market exposure across North America as the holiday season looms, software giant Microsoft is to use both The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Ellen DeGeneres Show to help market its upcoming Kinect motion-control videogame peripheral.
News of Microsoft's decision to use popular daytime talk shows to channel the potential retail interest of parents comes only a matter of weeks after handset maker Motorola used Oprah's syndicated platform to showcase the appeal of its newly released Defy smartphone.
Not limited to restricting its Kinect marketing drive to just Oprah and Ellen, Microsoft has also revealed that its promotional campaign for Kinect includes partnerships with Burger King, Kellogg's and Pepsi – the latter deals consisting of 400 million cans of Pepsi Cola and Diet Pepsi and 60 million Kellogg's cereal boxes.
Other avenues of exposure embraced by Microsoft for the Kinect launch also include major TV ads during 'Dancing with the Stars' and 'Glee', print ads in magazines such as 'People' and 'InStyle', and online coverage via YouTube, Nickelodeon and Disney.
Microsoft's Kinect platform (which was previously known as Project Natal) uses dual camera technology to scan and track real-world game players, transferring their virtual interactions directly into videogame worlds without the need for a conventional button-heavy gamepad controller.
The standalone Kinect sensor officially launches in the United States on November 4 and will cost $150 USD. A special Xbox 360 console bundle including Kinect and 4GBs of Flash storage will also be available for $300 USD.
Kinect will appear on Oprah today (Tuesday, October 19) and will appear on Ellen later in the month.
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