Breaking: Microsoft Guts Its Marketing Approach in Major Layoff

AdAge reports that Microsoft is laying off roughly 200 people in marketing, including Chief Creative Officer Gayle Troberman. She had been in the role just under two years — which mirrors the life expectancy as a CMO. (See Fast Company’s biting announcement of her appointment.)

This follows news that’s unfolded over the last few weeks that the software maker will push marketing budget out to product groups. When was the last time a Microsoft corporate ad impressed you? How about “I’m a PC” and “Bing and Decide” were they closer to “clippy” than iconic?

Microsoft currently spends about two billion dollars in direct advertising, with about 14 billion overall on sales and marketing. The product groups will increasingly drive this spend, and some engineering leads are rising to control product groups as more autonomous group.

Tracking Opposite the Rest of the Industry.
Microsoft will start creating less integrated messages just as much of the tech industry is focusing on creating more unified customer experiences.

The Wild Boys at XBOX
Robert Matthews leads global consumer marketing for Microsoft’s interactive-entertainment division, leads the Xbox marketing team.

They’ve been allowed a renegade approach which has yeilded success. According to ABX’s measurement, their TV ads from TwoFifteenMcCann score high in awareness, call to action and understandability. Xbox is an emerging top performer, as  the top-selling game platform last year, according to NPD.

Change is the life blood of this industry – and Microsoft which as skied on the center of its boards for too long, seems to be pushing autonomy out to help it refind its competitive edges.

 

2 Responses to "Breaking: Microsoft Guts Its Marketing Approach in Major Layoff"

  • […] a world where everyone’s a critic, I’ve tried to be nice about this decline. Microsoft was late in responding to the Internet, then to mobile. Its tough to […]

  • testdomain

    March 17, 2013

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