NEW YORK, Aug. 9, 2001 — In his Jupiter Online Advertising Forum keynote, MSN Vice President Richard Bray today announced an MSN investment in a formalized worldwide program for its digital marketing offerings focused on delivering comprehensive products, technology and services that provide better results for brand and direct response marketers. Within the overarching MSN® Advantage Marketing program, Bray also announced the creation of two new strategic partnership opportunities, the MSN Premier 6 Partners and Agency Alliance programs, offering select companies and advertising agencies the opportunity to take advantage of MSN Next Generation Ad Products (NGAP) and Microsoft’s flagship .NET services. Bray also announced that Digitas Inc. has become the first marketing agency to join the MSN Advantage Marketing program as an Agency Alliance Partner and Premier 6 Partners Program enabler.
“MSN Advantage Marketing represents our most significant effort to make digital marketing a ‘must-buy’ for companies in search of comprehensive and measurable direct response or branding campaigns,”
said Bray.
“As a company we have a rich heritage in technology that will allow us to innovate on behalf of our customers to help them meet their business objectives.”
MSN has expanded its technology and service offerings to deliver even greater impact and insight to campaign performance. Next Generation Ad Products, which will be rolled out throughout the year, will expand the creative space to deliver better branding opportunities and enable marketers to meet their direct response goals by enhancing interactivity within the ad space.
Over the last three years, MSN has conducted brand effectiveness research studies that deliver key branding metrics such as Ad Effectiveness, Brand Effectiveness and Brand Perception. MSN will now expand these offerings to include custom surveys and vertical industry research to deliver better consumer intelligence and help customers achieve their digital marketing goals.
“By combining our expertise with Microsoft’s in the realm of digital marketing, we at Digitas believe we can help achieve unparalleled results for our clients and their customers,”
said David Kenny, chairman and CEO of Digitas.
“As the leader in contextual marketing, we believe the MSN Advantage Marketing program holds tremendous promise, particularly for companies that want to get the right marketing message to the right customer through the right channel at the right time.”
MSN Advantage Marketing also contains two key programs, one for a select group of Fortune 500 companies and the other for advertising agencies worldwide. The MSN Premier 6 Partners Program complements the trend of digital marketing decisions and IT decisions moving closer together. The MSN Agency Alliance Program delivers on the unique opportunities offered to advertising agencies worldwide.
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The MSN Premier
6
Partners Program targets Fortune 500 companies investing more than $20 million a year in a combination of MSN marketing solutions, Microsoft® .NET services and Microsoft Consulting Services. The key focus for the MSN Premier 6 Partners Program is on the areas of Performance, Portfolio, Platform, Profile, Products and Presence. Because of the focus on these key areas, customers will receive an end-to-end solution that reaches across the Microsoft portfolio of products and services. The MSN Premier 6 Partners Program will help marketers connect with customers through MSN, improve sales success and Web site services through .NET and MSN technology, and increase infrastructure efficiencies through the Microsoft family of software products. -
The MSN Agency Alliance Program aims to equip the top brand and online advertising agencies with the training to deploy MSN marketing solutions to their clients. MSN will brief members quarterly on upcoming content integration and sponsorship opportunities; host daylong, on-site sessions highlighting successful online advertising strategies; and offer advanced access to proprietary industry research.
MSN Advantage Marketing is a global program that will be available to MSN customers worldwide. U.S. customers can take advantage of the program in the coming weeks, and international markets will follow this fall.
About MSN
MSN is the world’s most popular destination on the Web, attracting more than 250 million visitors per month. Available in 33 markets and 17 languages, MSN provides consumers with their home on the Web — where they can get everything they need from the Web and make the most of their time online. MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and digital marketing solutions to businesses worldwide. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
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