Microsoft isn’t exactly known for “good” branding, at least generally.
To put it mildly, Microsoft’s knack for naming things has been a mix of successes and missteps. For instance, Xbox has a strong appeal, but the progression from Xbox to Xbox One, Series X|S, and finally back to Xbox 360 has left many users perplexed. The same can be said for Microsoft’s Surface lineup. While the Surface is a popular product, Microsoft abandoned the numbering system, leading us to the Surface Pro “11th Edition,” which most people would simply call the Surface Pro 11. I must admit that I appreciate the Microsoft Edge branding as well. Lastly, Windows, with its extensive history and recognition, remains one of the most iconic brands in the tech world.
For a long time, the term “Microsoft Office” was synonymous with Windows software for productivity tasks, recognized by almost everyone around the world. However, in an unexpected move, Microsoft renamed it to “Microsoft 365” a few years back, losing decades of brand familiarity and failing to reflect the product’s purpose in its name. This decision seems rather foolish, as even Microsoft admits the confusion caused by their misnamed rebranding effort. They now list “Microsoft 365 (Office)” on app stores because they understand the mess they’ve made with their ill-conceived name change.
But wait, it gets worse. Say hi to “Microsoft 365 Copilot.” Yep.
If you thought the first Office rebrand was dumb, Microsoft has decided to take it to the next level with Microsoft 365 Copilot
Sigh. Where to start with this one.
As a researcher, I find myself observing the recent integration of Microsoft’s ChatGPT container, dubbed “Microsoft Copilot,” into some of their flagship consumer products like Word and Excel. While I appreciate the effort to enhance productivity, the current implementation leaves room for improvement. For instance, in Excel, the interaction between Copilot and my documents seems somewhat restricted. When I requested it to eliminate erroneous date ranges from a spreadsheet, I was provided with instructions on how to manually delete data instead of an automated solution.
The situation with Word is not dissimilar. The ability to highlight text and have Copilot rewrite it for me is there, but I’m yet to find a scenario where this functionality proves particularly useful.
Certainly, Copilot has its purposes, much like ChatGPT, but I must say, Microsoft’s current versions of Copilot don’t seem to live up to expectations. We’re not evaluating Copilot at the moment, though. Instead, our discussion revolves around the wisdom of tying a brand that consumers haven’t expressed much enthusiasm for, to a product intended for highly specialized tasks. If you remember, back in the day when Clippy was introduced and implemented in Office, naming it “Microsoft Office Clippy” would have been an odd choice.
The concept of Microsoft 365 seems illogical, replacing decades of established habits for what appears to be more of an ideological push rather than a sensible decision. Calling it Microsoft 365 Copilot before the actual Copilot has even been fully realized feels very strange and reminiscent of the same excessive corporate thinking behind the “Copilot+ PC” label, which consumers have generally dismissed. This is similar to the futile exercise of renaming the globally recognized news platform “MSN” to “Microsoft Start,” only to revert back after a few months.
Who, or what is driving these crazy branding choices?
I’m not sure who makes these decisions at Microsoft, but they are all crazy
In my opinion, Copilot isn’t quite up to the mark yet. It functions as a simple web interface for ChatGPT, lacking substantial system-level integration, features, and capabilities. By hastily introducing Copilot now and drawing attention to it, Microsoft could risk Copilot being associated with ineffectiveness, similar to Bing, while causing harm to other genuinely valuable products and services they offer.
It seems plausible that Microsoft Copilot could become a popular tool in the future, but at present, it doesn’t offer anything significantly different from ChatGPT. This is due to a lack of innovative steps taken by Microsoft thus far. As things stand now, there’s little incentive for users to opt for Microsoft Copilot over ChatGPT. The integration of Copilot into Word and Excel has fallen short of expectations, and features like Windows Recall had to be withdrawn due to challenges in keeping up with the pace of competitor platforms.
The initial rebrand of Microsoft Office was questionable, disregarding a heritage that spans over several decades. The subsequent rebrand, branding it as “Copilot,” seems even more puzzling, as it appears to prioritize the Copilot concept ahead of its execution. At this point, Copilot doesn’t possess the merit to be highlighted alongside iconic technological landmarks like Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word. Right now, it performs functions comparable to ChatGPT, with slightly stricter censorship being its only notable difference.
One possible rebrand of Copilot that could make sense is transferring it to Bing. Given the current perception of Bing as low quality, renaming the search engine “Copilot.com” would better reflect Microsoft’s approach towards search and potentially improve its reputation. Phrases like “Ask Copilot” have a more appealing ring than “Bing it.” Bing doesn’t have much consumer trust to lose, but associating Copilot with well-established, globally admired brands seems like an unnecessary gamble.
Microsoft’s tendency to hastily introduce branding changes without careful consideration could potentially lead to negative perceptions and the impression that they are unsure about their actions. At present, “Office 365” is twice as popular in search queries compared to “Microsoft 365.” The new offering, “Microsoft 365 Copilot,” has minimal search traffic.
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2025-01-16 23:39