If you want to be the best, whether that is the best musician, band, singer, or business, it is not enough to merely be good at what you do; you also need to have a strong brand so that people can recognise you as the best. The Rolling Stones understand this notion; their flamboyant stage show, Mick Jagger’s dance moves, and the iconic tongue logo mean as a band, they are instantly recognisable before any music even starts playing. Microsoft also understands the same concept and puts just as much time and thought into its branding as its technology.
The two did not both get their recognition at the same time, though, as The Rolling Stones were hugely popular long before Microsoft were, and the tech company even turned to the band in an attempt to help with their public appearance. It was in the run-up to the launch of Microsoft 95, and Bill Gates thought The Rolling Stones would be the perfect band to help with the business’s advertising.
The entire campaign revolved around the word ‘start’. Now a standard feature that most people know, Microsoft was launching the ‘start button’, which users of their software would use to navigate their computer. The whole advertising campaign played into the word start, as text such as ‘start creating’ and ‘start computing’ was superimposed over images of the computers being made and used. As the idea for the ad campaign was coming together, Microsoft figured, what better song to accompany the brand than The Rolling Stones ‘Start Me Up’?
There are a lot of rumours surrounding how negotiations played out. Allegedly, Jagger wasn’t too keen on working with a tech company as it went against their rock n roll image; as such, he threw out an astronomical fee, hoping it would dissuade any further communication. This was in the early days of the internet and computing before people fully understood how much money companies like Microsoft had, so the figure Jagger threw out wasn’t too far from what Microsoft was willing to pay.
Now retired, Bob Herbal, the former COO of Microsoft, revealed that the figure agreed to use the song was $3million, likely more than The Rolling Stones had ever been paid for the rights to one song in a brand deal. As such, the group agreed, and the song was used in the advertising campaign for Windows 95.
Of course, Windows 95 was incredibly successful. The advertising caught many people’s eye, and it was used frequently by offices and individuals worldwide. Now that we fully understand the power of computing, the reason the likes of Microsoft have remained popular is clear. Still, at the time, it was important they could advertise themselves in a way that would get people interested.
Having a song like ‘Start Me Up’ playing offered people an element of familiarity when considering technology that was as yet unfamiliar. It also made computers, which were inherently uncool, seem cool. In that sense, the marketing of Windows 95 was a complete success, and the future of Microsoft might have been very different if it had not been for the ingenious idea to collaborate with The Rolling Stones.
