Microsoft is buying AT&T’s ad-tech business, Xandr, subject to regulators, to boost its connected TV offer. Xandr, named after AT&T founder Alexander Graham Bell, includes both demand and sell-side platforms and an ad server. Microsoft’s Mikhail Parakhin says: “With Xandr’s ...
Read More »Apple sticks to its product ad guns with a gaggle of Elvises
Here’s another ambitious Apple product ad, shot by John Lewis director of choice Dougal Wilson, this time for its new Group FaceTime via which lots of you can be Elvis impersonators and other useful things. As ever with Apple these ...
Read More »Microsoft sticks with Dentsu’s Carat for $1.5bn global media
Dentsu Aegis Network and flagship agency Carat has beaten off WPP’s Wavemaker, Publicis Groupe’s Starcom and Interpublic’s UM Media to retain Microsoft’s $1.5bn global media account. DAN has handled Microsoft since 2014. Omnicom didn’t pitch as it handles Apple. Microsoft ...
Read More »Microsoft tries to STEM flow of jobs for the boys
Here come the girls, again – this time the new iteration of Microsoft’s MakeWhatsNext campaign from McCann’s m:united, timed for International Women’s Day. This time what’s on Microsoft’s mind is the small number of women graduating with what it calls ...
Read More »Microsoft Surface Studio tries to out-Apple Apple
There’s rarely been a better time to bash Apple as the giant struggles to persuade the world it needs a new iPhone and its once-bulging new product drawer looks decidedly empty. Microsoft, by comparison, seems to be thriving in its ...
Read More »McCann London helps Microsoft to top Clio Award
The big winners at the Clio Awards in New York (they’re all here) were: *Branded Content: FRED & FARID, Remy Cointreau/Louis XIII, “#Notcomingsoon” (France) *Branded Entertainment: Leo Burnett Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, “Van Gogh BnB” (U.S.) *Digital/Mobile: McCann New ...
Read More »Microsoft tries to wrap up B2B marketing software with $26bn LinkedIn buy
Microsoft has bought LinkedIn, the business social network, for a whopping $26.2bn, about half as much again as any one else thought it was worth. LinkedIn is a jolly useful product in terms of information about individuals – although, in ...
Read More »Microsoft launches ‘Woman Made’ global campaign for International Women’s Day
It’s International Women’s Day so Microsoft and agency m:united (part of McCann) are kicking off a global campaign to try to reverse the trend of technology-based industries being perceived as male fiefdoms. Only 11 per cent of people working for ...
Read More »US PC giants unveil $70m joint marketing drive
Dell, Lenovo, HP, chip supplier Intel and Microsoft are combining for a new $70m campaign ‘PC does whaat?’ aiming to show that these largely unloved devices are actually pretty good. There’s a new generation of Intel chips coming out alongside ...
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