Microsoft makes cardboard replica of Surface Pro 3, sends them to schools in Australia as promotion

Microsoft will be launching the Surface Pro 3 in 25 markets starting tomorrow so, as you would assume, the company isn’t slacking at promoting its product. In what could be considered as a brilliant marketing stunt, Microsoft has created cardboard-made replicas of the Surface Pro 3 tablet, which it is sending out to various schools in Australia.

The cardboard version of the Surface Pro 3 comes with its own display, and is actually functional, as The Verge reports. But from a video we spotted on YouTube, it doesn’t seem like the entire screen is usable, as the demonstrator is apparently clicking buttons on the screen. However, that isn’t really what Microsoft would be trying to do either. The piece looks exactly like a Surface Pro 3, just a bit less sharp. The mini USB port in the side can be used to charge the display, it seems.

This isn’t the first time a company has stepped up its game and did something innovating to promote its product. Last year Motorola launched an offline Moto Maker in Wired magazine, and Entertainment Weekly even sported the phone inside the magazine. Sadly, Microsoft isn’t even the only company which has shown us a cardboard trick either. Earlier this year, at the IO developer event, Google gifted all the attendees a cardboard made VR headset.