Interesting news from MediaPost on Microsoft’s pending ad spend transition…
NOT SURPRISINGLY for a tech behemoth, a top Microsoft executive said Thursday that in three years, the bulk of its nearly $1 billion in U.S. ad spending will be in the digital sphere. “We’re actually pretty confident that by 2010, the majority of our media mix will shift to digital,” said Mich Mathews, senior vice president of the company’s central marketing group, at the AAAAs media conference.
A massive collection of dollars could be in the balance. Microsoft spent $945 million in just the U.S. in 2005, according to Advertising Age.
In what Mathews termed the “Era of Customer Participation,” she said the company is simply following its consumers, who are increasingly migrating to the Web and an array of nontraditional outlets for information and entertainment. Plus, Microsoft is attracted to the potentially helpful accountability data that digital marketing can provide.
Despite Mathews’ commitment to a possible shift of more than $500 million in U.S. ad spending to the digital realm, she said TV and print will continue to play tactical roles. [MediaPost]
TV is something that simply cannot be beaten for broad awareness – yet remains a challenge when it comes to understanding performance — especially when it comes to how various media opportunities work. Microsoft is in a very strong position here to really negotiate substantial deals with the amount of money about to funnel into the online channel… interesting times for sure.
My former colleagues at MRM SF, must be pretty psyched as this means a boatload of new work for them…
I guess that's the smartest move they can do right now..