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Home > Blogs > The Cycle
The Cycle

Microsoft calls social media review ‘an exercise’

Posted February 27, 2009

PRWeek UK has reported that Microsoft is rethinking its global media strategy, as a way to improve its consumer communications. According to the piece, the tech giant has called in its three global agencies – Weber Shandwick, Edelman, and Waggener Edstrom – to present their social media credentials.

In a statement provided to me, Microsoft called this “an exercise to better understand the digital and social marketing capabilities of a number of our marketing and communications agencies.” The company asserts,“This is something we regularly do and this exercise is not specific to PR. We don’t envisage significant change in either our strategy or our agencies of record”.

Stay tuned for more.

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Filed under: Agency-client relationship, Social Media, Technology

Tags:Edelman, Microsoft, Waggener Edstrom, Weber Shandwick

Charter Communications to file for Chapter 11 by April 1

Posted February 13, 2009

Charter Communications announced February 12 that it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by April 1 to reduce the company’s debt by $8 billion.

Controlled by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, the cable provider hired Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher late last year amid financial negotiations with company bondholders.

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Filed under: Arts & Entertainment, Consumer, Crisis Communications, Financial/IR, Industry/Energy, Journalism 2.0, Media, Technology

Tags:Chapter 11, Charter Communications, Joele Frank, Microsoft, Paul Allen, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher

New Microsoft blog

Posted January 13, 2009

Microsoft has launched “Microsoft on the Issues” a blog about public policy and legal issues. Brad Smith, general counsel for the company, describes the new venture:

Today we are launching “Microsoft on the Issues” to open another, more direct line of communication that will enable us to quickly and succinctly provide our perspective on the pressing technology matters of the day.  We do not want this to be a one-way conversation. We want to create a transparent dialogue with readers and stakeholders. We want to enhance our participation in discussions that propel policy-making at local, national and international levels.

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Filed under: Blogs, Public Affairs, Technology, Web sites

Tags:Microsoft

Green claims need support, study shows

Posted December 5, 2008

A study released last week found that people want more evidence about consumer electronics’ green claims. At the same time, many are misinformed about which companies have adopted green practices. The survey, which was conducted by Strategic Oxygen and Cohn & Wolfe earlier this fall, finds there’s a large “perception vs. reality” gap in the green space. For instance, the brands most associated with green practices — like Dell, HP, Apple, and Microsoft — actually don’t meet the green practice standards defined by GreenPeace, according to the survey. But brands like Samsung and Nokia aren’t given enough credit for their green contributions, it adds.

Read more »

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Filed under: Green, Technology

Tags:Apple, Cohn & Wolfe, Dell, GreenPeace, HP, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, Strategic Oxygen

Financial news spikes 472% according to latest Cision index

Posted October 31, 2008

Unsurprisingly, the tumult in the financial markets caused a dramatic spike - 472% year-over-year - in financial industry news, according to Cision’s Q3 Corporate Media Reputation Index. The Index does a quarterly assessment of how news coverage reflects the corporate reputation of the 100 largest US companies. The release for the Q3 index says “financial company news comprised 46% of the Index, up 32 percentage points from the same quarter last year. No industry has ever dominated the Cision Index to this extent.”

Nevertheless, tech took the top spots, with Microsoft and Apple coming in at numbers one and two respectively. The top five are: Microsoft, Apple, Intel, Bank of America, and Walmart. BofA climbed a whopping 72 spots to take number four. Other financial companies making a leap include Goldman Sachs (up 30 spots to 17) and Wells Fargo (climbing 51 spots to number 26).

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Filed under: Consumer, Corporate Reputation, Financial/IR, Measurement/Monitoring, Media

Tags:Apple, Bank of America, Cision, Cision Index, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, Walmart, Wells Fargo

Microsoft new ad strategy to cut Seinfeld

Posted September 22, 2008

Valleywag broke news that Microsoft is entering “phase two” of its ad campaign withhout Jerry Seinfeld. Even though Microsoft reportedly still has an unaired Seinfeld ad, it is shifting its strategy to directly take on Apple’s Apple vs. PC ads (see new ads here).  But tech columnist  Don Reisinger is among those who think the move is a PR disaster. Reisinger writes:

I don’t blame Microsoft for trying to battle Apple ads and I even commend it for doing just that. But now is not the right time to do it: Microsoft didn’t improve its image yet. And if it hasn’t been able to do that, how can it possibly expect to compete with the single company in this industry that has the best image of all?

According to Valleywag, Frank Shaw (WagEd’s lead on the Microsoft account) said “there is the ‘potential to do other things’ with Seinfeld…He adds: ‘People would have been happier if everyone loved the ads, but this was not unexpected.’”

Readers, do you think it was a good PR move for Microsoft to switch its ad strategy?

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Filed under: Advertising, Branding, Corporate Reputation, Media, Technology

Tags:Apple, Microsoft, PC, Seinfeld

E3 kicks off

Posted July 15, 2008

E3 Media & Business Summit, the annual video game conference, kicked off today in Los Angeles and the industry is trying to promote itself, even as some companies are distancing themselves from the event and the Entertainment Software Association. News from video game giants including Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony is expected to come out this week.

“It’s more important than ever for the industry to be able to speak with a clear voice on those issues,” said Graham Hopper, chairman of the Entertainment Software Assn., which puts on the E3 Media & Business Summit, and the SVP of Disney Interactive Studios, in an article from the . “The game industry is emerging as an important cultural voice in the entertainment world.”

But, at the same time, CNET asks “Is E3 game gathering still influential?”

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Filed under: Arts & Entertainment, Blogs, Media, Technology

Tags:E3, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, video games

Microsoft campaign not just about being cool

Posted May 29, 2008

In his column last week, Keith O’Brien questioned the strategy behind Microsoft’s $300 million campaign with Crispin Porter & Bogusky to make the company cool like Apple. This week I talked to a source close to Microsoft who says the campaign is not about making Microsoft cool, but is about finding new ways to engage with consumers. That’s definitely marketing speak some kind of rebranding, but my source declined to say more. But we can expect a significant PR component in this campaign and Waggener Edstrom will be involved in that effort, the source added.


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Filed under: Branding, Marketing, Technology

Tags:Apple, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Microsoft, Waggener Edstrom

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For both journalists and communicators, the news cycle never ends. At The Cycle, PRWeek’s editorial team offers commentary and viewpoints on how the latest marketing, business, political, and cultural news impact the PR industry.

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