By Dhaval Valia
Following the launch of its much-awaited Windows 7 operating systems, Microsoft plans to unveil an aggressive channel marketing campaign to spur sales. On the anvil is a channel promotion scheme called 7/7, aimed at providing attractive incentives to Microsoft OEM partners.
“We have envisaged 7/7 campaign to catalyze the ramp up of channel sales. Under the scheme, we want our OEM channel to sell 77,777 copies of Windows 7 licenses in 7 days. The top 100 partners participating in the scheme will be flown to Italy with their spouses or partners to visit one of the World’s seven wonders, the Colosseum in Rome,” explained Anil Sethi, Group Director, OEM Business, Microsoft India.
During this 7-day campaign, Microsoft will also run a competition for the fastest assembled Windows 7 PC. To be held in six major cities, the competition will invite systems builders to assemble an optimally configured PC for Windows 7 in front of an audience.
According to Sethi, Microsoft has so far enabled 3,200 of its OEM partners on Windows 7 through a 16-city road show prior to the launch. “Out of these, 750 are already using Windows 7 within their organization. Compared to the previous launches, our channel readiness initiatives for Windows 7 have been vigorous. Now our aim is to create as many opportunities and incentives for our partners to jumpstart Windows 7 sales,” stated Sethi.
The company also plans to roll out a major branding initiative creating point-of-sale presence (POP) at 1,000 stores across the country. “We have designed a campaign even for resellers selling branded PCs. Any retailer can earn a last mile incentive of Rs 50 on selling branded PCs that are preloaded with Windows 7,” informed Sethi.
Microsoft plans to have a phased roll out of the various channel promotions. “The 7/7 scheme has been schedule for the third week of November. We are in the process of finalizing the terms and conditions of the scheme. We are confident of creating maximum impact for our partners through these marketing promotions,” opined Sethi.
Sethi further informed that Microsoft’s OEM division is in the process of expanding its distribution network and will soon sign up with more distributors that have strong presence in smaller cities.
Asked if the company was looking to partner with the new distributors—Rashi Peripherals, Compuage and Neoteric—that have recently been signed up by their SMB division, Sethi said that the due diligence process is on and the names of the new distributors will be announced soon.
“Our aim is to sign up with distributors that can provide us a wider and stronger partner touch. They should provide us partner connect in every city and town where the PC is sold,” he averred. |