8 Ways Microsoft Saved The Xbox One With Savvy Marketing

8. Ditching Don Mattrick

Marketing objective: Creating a brand ambassador.

Don Mattrick was the poster-boy for everything wrong with the games industry. A smug, stuck-up suit with shark eyes only on the bottom line.

This was a guy who had never picked up a controller in his life, much less played games on a regular basis – and Microsoft expected gamers to warm to him.

Want a console that isn’t always online? Want to play pre-owned games on your console? Mattrick had the perfect response: "We have a product for people who aren't able to get some form of connectivity, it's called Xbox 360."

Which, as you’d expect, seriously endeared him to the gaming community…

He even attempted what we humans call empathy, saying, "Hey, I can empathize, if I was on a nuclear sub, I'd be disappointed."

Mattrick had to go. This was Microsoft’s first marketing coup: Installing a genuine brand ambassador; a figurehead who could actually relate to gamers.

Enter Phil Spencer. #InPhilWeTrust, etc. Because at least Spencer knew what a video game was, and who played them.