I normally would not use this space to hype yet another YouTube video ( unless it was mine ). But this parody of Microsoft branding is instructive for marketing folks.

The video basically relates how Microsoft might brand and package an iPod, if it were there invention. Throughout you see text which are typically questions marketing mavens and brand managers ask during development of packaging. And it shows how to drain the emotive element of a brand.

The lesson herein ( and it is a big one ), is that the expected outcome of a purchase is the first and primary motivation of the buyer, and that which the marketing person must tap. iPod’s are all about music and fun, not technical specs ( which can go on a web site ), legal disclaimers ( which can go on the box bottom ) and third party endorsements.