Microsoft is trying to kill the phrase “What’s a Kinect?” Microsoft’s dead serious about making Kinect a success and wants to make sure that every kid and mum knows what it is. That’s some $500 million worth of seriousness.

That’s the latest report, courtesy of the New York Post, on the change Steve Ballmer and co intend to drop to make sure that every living and breathing creature in the world knows about the controller-free controller this holiday season. That mirrors earlier analyst estimates placing the Windows Phone 7 marketing budget at a similar figure, which in total would amount to a cool billion dollars in advertising expenditure.

Kinect is getting the extra special carpet bombing treatment with Burger King, Pepsi, YouTube, Nickelodeon, Disney, Glee, Dancing with the Stars, People and InStyle magazines, and even Times Square all having a role to play in spreading the word. Yup, it’s gonna be pretty hard to miss it. Looks like Microsoft doesn’t want to lose out to Apple’s marketing team.

SOURCE via New York Post