Microsoft Has a New Tagline: "Be What's Next"

By Marcus Yam
published

Do you want to be next?

Some companies use slogans or taglines as a way for the consumer to quickly get a message about what the company does, or what its attitude is. For a while, Apple's was "Think Different."

What about Microsoft? It's been revealed today that Microsoft will be adopting the tagline: "Be What's Next."

To us, it's a rather ambiguous tagline (but not so much as the Xbox 360's "Jump In"), though it does conjure some kind of forward-thinking attitude. Those of us who already know what a company such as Microsoft is all about likely won't be swayed one way or another through a tagline.

What do you make of it? Do you think this is a better one than the former "Life Without Walls" tagline?

Maybe someone in marketing realized that you can't have Windows without walls. (And Jane just quipped, "You can't easily plug in your computer without a wall either.")

(Source: Engadget.)

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
40 Comments Comment from the forums
  • cheepstuff
    so generic...
    if I spent my time evaluating every company logo I came across I think I'd go insane.
    Reply
  • megajynx
    Be whats next? Microsoft has done everything recently BUT that.
    Reply
  • adikos
    with microsoft its better to "Wait to be whats next" cause we know its gonna be buggy out the gate :)

    not that other companies are much better.
    Reply
  • SchizoFrog
    With the advent and developement of 3DTV as well as the developement of LCD TVs and Touch Screen Surfaces, Microsoft had to move away from 'Life Without Walls' as walls (or at least what hangs on them) are likely to be the next interface.

    'Be What's Next' does conjure images of continued developement but that is not always a good thing. Back around 2000 'Be What's Next' with thoughts of Windows ME? No thanks... I'll stick with 'Be What I Already Have'.

    Overall though, when it comes to marketing. It is not so much the slogan or tagline that hooks people, but the prescence of adverts themselves and a new slogan or tagline gives a company a reason to saturate the market with new ads without the public feeling that the company is repeating themselves.
    Reply
  • tipoo
    Next to what? Next to Kin?
    Reply
  • thrust2night
    Or they could have taken a page off of Gandhiji and had a slogan "Be the change"
    Reply
  • megahustler
    It should be "Microsoft: The next one will be better - we promise!*"
    (* This does not constitute an actual, legally binding, promise.)
    Reply
  • r0x0r
    If company slogans were honest, the slogan would be "Be a Test...er".

    Same goes for iPhone4 :p
    Reply
  • _Cubase_
    Well, anything to blow jobs out of the water... wait, read that again?
    Reply
  • mman74
    How about ... be realistic?
    I mean it's OS is losing market share to Mac and Linux and
    Windows 7 mobile will get no traction in the face of iOS and Android, and as for Bing...
    Reply