You Had One Job! Just One....And You Couldn't Even Get That Right

Did you ever think you would see Microsoft dishing out $400 million dollars to advertise iPads? Me either, but that is EXACTLY what happened here -

It seems that Microsoft invested $400 MILLION.... yes, million... Dollars to have the NFL endorse their Surface tablet. So what did they do?

They FUMBLED. Big time and I couldn't help but laugh about it. They weren't selling the surface... They were selling the iPad!





They just keep doing it!! They are going out of their way to sell that iPad.... er.... Surface.

And while Microsoft isn't "losing", sometimes you think you really can't win for losing!

That thingamajiggy that Eli Manning is scratching his family’s legendary forehead over is the Microsoft Surface, the tablet of the future for NFL teams. Last year, Microsoft reportedly paid $400 million to become “The Official Sideline Technology Sponsor of the NFL,” while the Surface and Windows became “The Official Tablet and PC Operating System of the NFL,” respectively. What that meant was that teams and star players would be using the Surface on the sidelines during games to review plays and analyze mistakes that were being made within seconds of them happening, all while fans were being clobbered over the head with reminders that Microsoft is everywhere.

Hell, the Microsoft Xbox even showed up as the sponsor of last Thursday’s NFL Kickoff Concert in Seattle, as Pharrell and Chris Cornell put on shows for the fans, who were undoubtedly hypnotized by the endless barrage of product placements. So you’d think that with all of that money spent on getting the Surface in front of our faces that the NFL would have sent out at least one memo to the networks to make sure that this specific sponsor was mentioned by name. If anything, someone might have written “Please don’t call it an iPad!” and emailed it to the announce teams.

If that did happen, Fox’s John Lynch didn’t get the memo, because he went ahead and called the Surface tablets “iPad-like tools” during yesterday’s Saints-Falcons game. Whoops.

I wonder if they are wanting their money back after all of this lol.

You can read more here: uproxx.com...

I just thought it was funny that even those higher up, can get shafted and screw up just the same as the rest of us. It's a giggle for your Thursday morning if nothing else.

I love everything I can do with my surface pro 3. it is a much more powerful creative tool than an iPad. With an ipad, you are meant to consume content not create it. on my surface pro 3 I can have a full version of FL Studio, an indispensable tool in music creation, and FL Studio 11 is optimized for touch. Not to mention full feature web browsers, instead of limited features that other tablets offer. Also, it plays nicely with my windows 7 pc, something iPad never really nailed. Alas the app market for windows is terrible, but like most apps you can access them fully through a web browser(like Tune In Radio, or Spotify, or run legacy windows 7 spotify software. or run a version of android to have those apps as well, including the apps you may have already purchased on android.

I think the NFL should issue an apology for marketing the competitors tablet, when they already have an agreement - it just seems like this was botched, almost on purpose.

a reply to: nrd101

I've never tried it yet. I just recently purchased a new (but older model) iPad and I am in love with it so far. It's nice to not have to be attached at a desk all of the time. I don't have anything to compare it with though. I have always hade Microsoft computers and have been sorely disappointed with the OS this last go round, but that's another thread I guess.

I just can't imagine the embarrassment these guys felt after they figured out what they did. They had to have done one of the biggest facepalms in the history of facepalms...