Microsoft Plans to fix Its Online Branding
As Microsoft’s plan to acquire Yahoo has gone kaput, it is planning for other alternate solutions for fixing the online branding problem. Moreover Microsoft has also ran in trouble due to its Live brand which is very similar to that of MSN. Microsoft also has Hotmail and messenger which are present in the latter too, creating confusion in the market.
Mr. Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s platform and services division announced that- as the acquisition plans for yahoo has been cancelled; Microsoft would be concentrating on finding solutions for its branding problem. This speech was delivered at Search Marketing Expo conference in Seattle. He even said that during the procedure for making bids for Yahoo, the marketing team has to concentrate on other issues as well. But now they are working towards solving the brand problem altogether. According to him- Microsoft believes completely in their marketing executive and have given freedom to decide what steps should be taken to eradicate this problem. Even if launching a new sub-brand is necessary, Microsoft is ready to finance it and support the plan financially.
Johnson reported that although acquisition plans of Yahoo has been cancelled, but some other limited deals are being talked between the two companies. However he did not disclosed much details of it. He even targeted Microsoft’s main competitor Google and stated that Microsoft is ready to use unconventional ways to deal with market competition in the form of business model, user experience and the method through which a customer connects to the service.
Long back Microsoft has started working on this project, the latest example is that of Cashback service where online shoppers get money if they buy products from the listed advertisers in Live Search. This effort may alter the business model and user experience.
Microsoft has announced about a deal with Hewlett-Packard, where there will be Live search toolbar on HP PCs that would be sold in North America from next year.
