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MSN Brand Audit
Running Head: MSN Brand Audit
MSN Brand Audit
.
George Ray
Redmond Review
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MSN Brand Audit
1. Executive Summary
Microsoft Network (MSN), also known as LIVE is a distant 3rd place in Web site
traffic, behind Yahoo and Google. In most portal categories MSN aka LIVE is
competitive; it is the search service where it lags far behind the leaders. My survey
reveals that neither MSN nor LIVE have much brand awareness as search services.
There is great opportunity for MSN to increase revenues, though, because Google
is not a commanding presence in portal services other than search. Likewise, Yahoo is
struggling to maintain operations and is unable to keep current with advancing
technology. Neither Google nor Yahoo have Social Capital with the most lucrative
audience for Web advertising, “Strategic Buyers.” Microsoft does and this is also an
important audience to Microsoft because of its vulnerability to Open Source, Software as
a Service and other future directions.
My recommendation to Microsoft for its Internet operations is first to GO LIVE,
and commit to the LIVE brand name for its portal services. This must be done in
conjunction with an advertising campaign to increase awareness of Microsoft portal
operations in general and promote the new brand name. It should coincide with
marketing communications about the Azure initiative to emphasize the strength of
Microsoft to not only keep up with advancing technology but to define it. Finally, I
recommend a brand extension to reach “strategic buyers” with an Internet service that
Microsoft is well positioned to offer and that neither Yahoo nor Google can attempt at
this time. The extension is for a service that creates customized and searchable
collections on corporate governance, something attractive to “strategic buyers.”Page 2 of 41
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2. MSN Brand Inventory
According to Keller (2008, p 129), an inventory is a “supply-side” view of the
brand, or as Ward (2008a, p 1) puts it “how the company organizes and attempts to
position the brand ….” Both also note that an inventory profiles competitors to
understand points of parity and points of difference.
2.1 Products and Services Offered
From 1995 through 2005, MSN was the umbrella brand for all online services
offered from Microsoft (see Rosoff, 2006, p 1). Beginning in 2006, the Windows LIVE
brand was introduced and applied to certain online properties with a goal of
reinvigorating them to compete more effectively through association with the Windows
brand name. For example, MSN Hotmail became Windows LIVE Mail, MSN Messenger
became Windows LIVE Messenger, and MSN Search became LIVE Search. However,
Rosoff (p1) goes on to note that several of the MSN brand names are category traffic
leaders so that Microsoft decided to also keep the MSN brand for many online services.
Tancer (2008, pp 1-2) works at Experian, and uses the Experian categories for
segmenting online services. MSN has a point of parity in each Experian category, with
the exception of Sports, Employment, and Personality. In terms of total share of Internet
visits, MSN captures 2.4% compared with Google at 7.7% and Yahoo at 13.2%. Both
MSN and Yahoo have portal services that Google does not. SiteSeeker (2008, p 1)
characterizes search as the dominant service in the competition between the three giants.
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Rosoff and Tancer have a more balanced perspective that includes a complete set of
online services that draws traffic to the site.
In its SEC 10-K filing (see SEC, June 30, 2008), Microsoft characterizes its
Online Services Business as an online advertising platform. This platform offers
personal communication services such as email and messaging, the MSN portal, LIVE
Search, MSN Hotmail, MSN Mobile Services, MSN Premium Web Services, MapPoint
and MSN Internet Access. Here is a list of MSN properties with sufficient traffic to rank
in the top four sites by category.
Category Brand
Portal Pages MSN
Email Service MSN Hotmail
Search Engine MSN Search
News/Media MSNBC
Business Information MSN Money
Maps Local LIVE
Rewards/Directories MSN Shopping
Music MSN Music
Movies MSN Entertainment
Dating MSN Match.com
Games MSN Games
Now I will review the MSN services that attract advertisers to the site. There is a
parallel set of products and services to support marketing efforts to advertisers, the
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paying customers for the MSN brands. Sterling (2005, p 1) reports that the MSN
AdCenter product is well liked by advertisers. It has advanced demographic and
psychograhic mapping capabilities that allow them to better target communications.
Marketing Vox (2006, p 1) commended MSN on the high quality of its AdCenter
platform.
To help advertisers optimize their return on investment with MSN, Microsoft now
offers a training program and a certification credential. The training program instructs
advertiser staff on different strategies and tactics to use for different marketing
communications to different publics. Zol reports (2007, p 1) that this is important and
needed for point of parity in the category. Keller (p 110) notes that MSN’s service is not
required to be equal to Google to establish a point of parity but rather just “good
enough.”
Finally, Microsoft offers a community forum to assist advertisers with their Web
marketing through commentary by Web analytics experts, software development experts
who talk about the ability to customize AdCenter services through application
programming interfaces, and a variety of other topics. A typical example is Brian
Eisenberg discussing the Seven Biggest Mistakes of Web Analytics (see
http://adcentercommunity.com/blogs/analytics/archive/2008/11/27/7-biggest-mistakes-of-
web-analytics.aspx).
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2.2 Evaluating MSN against Keller’s Six Criteria
Keller (2008, p 140) uses six evaluation factors to study and define a brand image.
The criteria are: 1.) Memorability; 2.) Meaningfulness; 3.) Likeability; 4.)
Transferability; 5.) Adaptability; and 6.) Protectability.
2.2.1 Memorability
Keller (p 147) discusses brand name aspects that can increase memorability and
awareness. Two important aspects are “simple to say” and “easy to spell.” That is the
case with MSN and LIVE. A brand name should likewise be familiar and meaningful.
MSN does have familiarity in that it is a contraction of MS Network or Microsoft
Network. Windows LIVE also has associations with Microsoft. Both can thus draw on
associations with Microsoft. Furthermore, Keller holds that the name should be
distinctive. The word Network distinguishes MSN from Microsoft and the three-letter
acronym nature of the brand name is an orthographic device to distinguish the name with
linguistic characteristics (see Keller, 2008, p 152).
2.2.2-3 Meaningfulness and Likability
The MSN logo has rich meaning. The logo is a butterfly, which has meaning on
several levels. Russell (2003, p 1) notes that it has long been a symbol of transformation.
In the case of both Microsoft and its customers, the transition is to the new world founded
by the Internet. Russell also holds that our fascination with the butterfly is because if it
“mesmerizing beauty.”
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For each market segment there are two types of MSN customer. The first is the
site visitor who wants to use the services offered by MSN. The second are advertisers
who want to communicate with the site visitors. MSN has a mantra for the advertisers:
“Easy to sell, easy to buy.” Experienced advertising professionals at MSN make the
mantra true in actual practice according to Cuneo (2003, p 1) in Advertising Age.
2.2.4-5 Transferability and Adaptability
Keller defines two aspects of transferability (pp 142-3). The first is the ability of
a brand to transfer across categories. For example, how well do the Microsoft Network
brand elements transfer to a news channel? Shepard (1997, pp 35-8) discusses the
marriage of MSN and NBC into MSNBC one of the sub-brands in the MSN portfolio.
She found Microsoft bringing Internet and technology credibility to the joint venture and
NBC the news credentials and trust. This is still one of the most successful Internet news
programs. The second aspect of transferability is to add brand equity across geographical
boundaries. Again, Microsoft Network has done this. Koranteng (2004, p 1) observes
“that Microsoft Network [has] presence in 40 countries.”
Keller defines Adaptability (p 143) as the brand elements capacity to address
change over time in competitors, or in consumer tastes. Both have happened to Microsoft
Network during its history. Its first competitor was AOL, America On-Line in the mid-
1990s. As late as 2001, MSN had still not dispatched AOL as a portal competitor and the
Seattle Times (2002, p 1) reports that Microsoft spent $300M in the launch of the
Butterfly Logo as a campaign against a still powerful AOL. Since that time, AOL has
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faded as a portal site and now Microsoft faces two new powerful competitors in Google
and Yahoo.
Their surprising success resulted in MSN losing its footing. However, it is now
reorganizing and as Kafka (2008, p 1) reports is actually gaining market share on both
Google and Yahoo in the early part of this year.
2.2.6 Protectibility
Keller categorizes two types of protection for brand elements: 1.) Legal; and 2.)
Competitive. A logo such as the MSN Butterfly and the Microsoft Network brand name
can be legally protected especially when unauthorized use is a bad faith attempt to
mislead the public and misdirect trade and economic livelihood from a corporate body
that has invested in that name for commercial purpose (see Wikipedia, 2008a, p 1).
Trademarks and registered names also receive international recognition and protection.
2.3 Marketing Support Programs
Keller (p 131) observes that to achieve the ideal positioning of a brand and obtain
congruence between what customers currently believe about the brand and what they will
value in the brand, a strong supporting marketing program must be in place. Microsoft
Network does have a strong marketing support program and it has evolved throughout its
history. The products are listed above in section 2.1 and will be listed again in section 2.4
below on competitor analysis. The place is the Internet, now including mobile.
MSN has used a variety of promotional strategies over the past 14 years.
Brandweek (2000, p 1) reported on a common marketing tactic for MSN, which is to
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sponsor events that can be reported and tracked on the Internet. Sponsorship is one
aspect to MSN marketing support, and these events helped MSN prove the value of
online tracking.
Carter (2005, p 1) describes how MSN incorporates TV and online advertising
with events to promote the Microsoft Network brand. This work is coordinated by
McCann-Erickson and is coordinated across countries. In the case of the launch of
LIVE’s new search engine, the campaigns in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada,
Australia and Brazil were all synchronized.
Haar reports (1998, p 1) that in its early years, Microsoft had an annual $100M
marketing budget for MSN. MSN does not advertise solely to generate site traffic. They
also market to advertisers and Microsoft believes that its technical skill will give it a
competitive edge. Finally, the MSN advertising engine can be customized for each
advertiser, and so personalization is another marketing support program tactic.
2.4 Competitive Environment
2.4.1 Market Share
According to Tancer (2008, p 1), the market share for Internet visits are:
VendorMarket Share of Total
VisitsMSN 2.40%Google 7.70%Yahoo 13.20%
Tancer goes on to breakdown the total visits into the Experian Web site segments as
follows.
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Category Property Rank Share
Portal PagesYahoo 1 71.40%MSN 2 15.43%
Email Service
Yahoo!Mail 1 54.63%MSN Hotmail 2 25.54%Google Gmail 3 5.51%Yahoo!Address Book 5 3.87%
Search Engine
Google 1 54.90%Yahoo 2 17.28%Google Image 3 5.34%MSN 4 5.20%
News/MediaYahoo!News 1 7.38%MSNBC 4 3.84%Yahoo!Weather 5 2.08%
Business
InformationYahoo!Finance 1 29.15%MSN Money 3 10.14%
MapsGoogle Maps 2 22.64%Yahoo!Maps 3 12.84%MSN Maps 4 3.75%
Rewards/DirectoriesYahoo!Shopping 1 8.68%MSN Shopping 16 1.15%
MusicYahoo!Music 1 6.52%MSN Music 14 1.22%
MoviesYahoo!Movies 3 8.33%MSN Entertainment 4 7.11%
DatingYahoo!Personals 5 5.22%MSN Match.com 14 1.13%
GamesYahoo!Games 4 5.50%MSN Games 5 2.15%
SportsYahoo!Sports 2 5.10%Yahoo!Sports NBA 3 2.18%
Personalities Yahoo!OMG 3 11.65%
Photography Flickr (Yahoo) 2 12.01%
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2.4.3 Market Segments and MSN Points of Parity
Chickowski (2008, p 2) notes that Yahoo, Google and MSN all offer similar
services, although Google has been far more effective in establishing points of difference
in services that attract high page hits. A chart of favorable brand salience with each group
is based on the studies of Rosoff (2006), Tancer (2006), and Chickakowski (2008).
Microsoft can use this chart to map its competitive brand strategy for MSN/LIVE.
As we will see in the next section, MSN has strong presence in the Editor Collated
Content arena. I propose this area can be exploited to establish rich communications with
strategic buyers by placing noteworthy Editor’s in a Corporate Governance line extension
of MSN/LIVE. In addition, MSN has a valid point of presence in each category.
Like Yahoo, MSN has the same set of tools and applications as those provided by
Google, according to Chickakowski (2008, p 2). Keller (p 110) notes that MSN’s service
is not required to be equal to Google to establish a point of parity but rather just “good
enough.” Finally, the Tancer (2006, p 1) study found that while Yahoo was considered as
a destination site and Google as a search site, MSN/LIVE was both.
Customer Segments/ Yahoo Google MSNInformation seekers
Editor collated content POP PODUser aggregated content POP POD POP
Geographical location seekers
POP POP POP
Multimedia content viewers POP POD POP
Portal Users
Portal Destination users POD POPPlatform Tool Users POP POP POP
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2.4.4 MSN Points of Difference
According to Rosoff (2006, p 2), MSN makes content available that is collated by
editors who work for either MSN or an MSN content partner. As noted in sections one
and four, my proposal is to create customized and searchable corporate governance
collections for customers who are strategic buyers. They will be attracted to Editor
Collated Content that has been customized for them and that regards corporate
governance. This will not only create a rich communication with these wealthy buyers on
MSN/LIVE and thereby enhance the MSN operations, but will also enhance the
communications between Microsoft and these corporate clients, which are increasingly
lured by Open Source and “Software as a Service” alternatives to Windows.
Another point of difference would be that Microsoft has major resources world-
wide that it can utilize to provide customer assistance to strategic buyers. It has a skillful
sales force that is accustomed to fulfilling demanding assignments. It has a well-
organized support structure to disseminate information and software updates as well as a
competent consulting arm (MCS) with a field-tested project methodology that has a
proven record of success. Finally, Microsoft has stable relations with the corporate
world, which makes negotiating and executing contracts straightforward. This is known
as social capital that I will use in section 2.6 of this report.
2.5 Brand Hierarchy
Microsoft Network, MSN is a brand family that encompasses Microsoft’s
network or online services. The Windows LIVE brand was introduced for certain online
properties in 2006 and as a result some of the online services have two names, such as
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Hotmail and Windows LIVE Mail, MSN Search and LIVE Search, and MSN Maps and
Local LIVE. For the MSN brand, modifiers are used to distinguish a particular service.
Keller (2008, p 451) notes that modifiers distinguish “different types of items or models.”
MSN Entertainment is an example of the modifier in use. The following chart is a visual
representation of the brand hierarchy.
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3. MSN Brand Exploratory
In a brand exploratory, Keller (2008, p 129) advises us to seek out prior research
studies. EBSCOHOST has proved a valuable tool in this regards and analysis by Tancer,
Rosoff and Chickakowski, among others provided real insight into the external, customer
perceptions of the brand. In addition, Keller (p 129) recommends that interviews with
internal personnel have a high payoff. While not able to do this, I did survey WVU
students.
3.1 Products and Services
MSN/LIVE has two audience categories, the site visitors and advertisers. It has
services for both. With MSN/LIVE, the most important audience is site visitors because
without them, the advertisers will have no interest. The finding I have made in this brand
exploratory is that site visitors like Google and Yahoo while advertisers like MSN. This
will be explained in detail in the rest of section three.
3.2 External Perception of the Brand
According to Rosoff (2006, p 2), the MSN reputation suffers with site visitors.
MSN has ranked last in a 2001 Consumer Reports customer satisfaction survey. Rosoff
holds that MSN deploys technology for its own sake, which can decrease customer
satisfaction with the site. He also finds that MSN editorial content needs improvement.
The MSN/LIVE search service is held to be full featured but the general public
does perceive some deficiencies. It is interesting to note that both MSN and Yahoo used
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the same search engine, Inktomi, until 2004 when Yahoo bought Inktomi. Microsoft then
developed its own search engine for MSN. Wall (2006, p 2) finds that MSN search does
a poor job at link analysis and therefore its results have less relevancy than Yahoo or
Google, as well as a bias to rank commercial sites too high.
Likewise, there are some areas of concern with Hotmail, be it called MSN or
Windows LIVE Hotmail. Arrington (2007, p 1) finds that while it has an intuitive
interface it has slow responsiveness. What is worse, MSN deletes all mail information
every 30 days if the consumer does not login. Rafferty (2006, p 1) expressed concern
with this policy when he lost important documentation as a result.
On the other hand, the general public holds MSNBC in high regards. IQ69
reports (2008, p 1) that MSNBC took the top spot in the University of Michigan
American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) survey. However, the ACSI survey did
note that there does not appear to be a clear differentiator between news services and the
leading brands are bunched together.
One specific public of interest is “strategic buyers.” Large corporations have
made significant investments in the Microsoft franchise. They have end-users trained on
mission critical systems that use Microsoft technology. They have trained their help-desk
staff on Microsoft technology. They probably have significant Microsoft investment in
the server room and with their application development staff as well.
Most importantly, Microsoft has the social capital of existing, defined
relationships that make transactions easy to accomplish. Microsoft sales teams visit
“strategic buyers” periodically and promptly answer phone calls. Microsoft is very good
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at relationship marketing. Every sales team has an architectural engineer assigned to it
with the mission of understanding the information technology plan of assigned
corporations, their enterprise architecture and how to advantageously apply Microsoft
technology to affect solutions. 75% of respondents believe that an edited collection of
information related to this type of understanding would be a valuable service at work.
3.3 Marketing Support Programs
Keller (2008, p 131) emphasizes the importance of marketing support programs,
especially for establishing the points of parity and points of difference. This is essential
to moving to desired brand equity.
3.3.1 Place
Microsoft has a small problem with place for some of its MSN sub-brands. The
introduction of the Windows LIVE brand for some of the MSN branded properties means
there are two places to go for MSN services. As an example, consider MSN Search and
Windows LIVE Search. You can go to http://www.msn.com to begin a search using
Microsoft search technology, or to http://www.live.com/default.aspx?form=MSNH11 .
Both sites use the same search engines. Both parent brands are applied to the
sub-brands. In most cases analysts such as Rosoff and Tancer refer to Microsoft Online
Services using the MSN brand rather than Windows LIVE. 75% of respondents prefer
the Windows LIVE brand to the MSN brand and the remaining 25% are indifferent to
Microsoft in general. Only 12.5% were aware of MSN as a brand.
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3.3.2 Price
The pricing of site visitor services is free while the price advertisers pay is based
on the type of ad and a bid process that incorporates click through rates in the costing
algorithm. MSN is perceived to be fair in its pricing of advertising. Advertisers are in
fact concerned about potential pricing abuse by Google and Yahoo.
According to Harrison (2008, p 1) 400 advertisers have filed a complaint against
Google and Yahoo with the U.S. Justice Department. The Association of National
Advertisers (ANA) comments that Yahoo and Google erode competition with the
potential for higher advertising prices. In the final analysis however, Agarwal (2006, p 1)
summarizes that while advertisers like MSN technology and price, they don’t plan to
spend more with the search portal because it does not draw as much traffic as Google.
3.3.3 Promotion
Brandweek (2000, p 1) awarded MSN a Silver Award for its marketing tactic to
sponsor the NYC Road Runners Club and the NYC marathon. As mentioned in section
two, sponsorship is an important aspect of MSN marketing support. In addition, Carter
(2005, p 1) commends MSN’s masterful incorporation of TV and online advertising with
events to promote the MSN brand. MSN promotion is given high marks by external
analysts.
3.3.4 Personalization
Elkins (2001, p 1) quotes ad execs, “MSN’s strategy of customizing ad programs
to marketers’ specific needs is what company officials hope will give it an edge.” Thus
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personalization is another marketing support program tactic used by MSN. Furthermore,
MSN personalization is held in high regard by advertisers.
3.4 External Opinion about Competitive Environment
3.4.1 Ethical Concerns about MSN Paid Placement Tactics vice Google
McLaughlin criticized Microsoft MSN for its Paid Placement tactics while giving
Google accolades (2002, p 116) for their class and morality. For Microsoft, she only says
“others, like MSN, do a poor job.” MSN was charged with two counts: 1.) Mixing real
content with paid placement to misinform users of its search engine with annoying search
results; and 2.) Rigging search results (p 121-2) by low-ranking competitors, for example
travel sites, while high ranking their own, like Expedia. Google gets high marks (p 117)
in its handling of paid placement.
Paid Inclusion, different from paid placement, is a shakedown racket. Yahoo for
example, charges $299 so its spider does not “miss” a company’s Website. Google
firmly opposes Paid Inclusion (McLaughlin, 2002, p 123).
3.4.2 Google Offers Software as a Service and it has a Service Level Agreement
Kirk (2008, p 1) reports that Google is offering a service level guarantee for users
of its Google Apps suite. This suite is a direct attack on Microsoft’s revenue stream and
it is offered free, supported by advertising revenue. This Service Level Agreement is a
move to attract corporate customers and Microsoft must address it with its own Software
as a Service through MSN. Google does not have extensive social capital with corporate
customers and this is an advantage Microsoft can leverage, at least for now.
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3.4.3 Yahoo Struggling
Hardy (2006, p 1) notes that Yahoo is struggling to keep up with MSN and
Google. The cost of keeping current with the relentless advance of technology is proving
too much. The Associated Press (2008, p 1) goes on to say that Yahoo has deep concerns
over its viability now that Google has withdrawn its offer to support Yahoo with
advanced technology. Google made that offer during the recent Microsoft-Yahoo merger
negotiations.
3.4.3 Content editors: MSN versus LIVE and Google
Rosoff (p 2) notes that MSN is a destination site that supports edited content.
MSN has skilled editors collate collections of information. Other MSN brands also use
content editors to manage information collections germane to the brand. On the other
hand, Google is merely a platform for visitors who want to set up their own links to
information. This information can be aggregated from other web sites or from RSS
feeds.
The advantage of content editors is that they can represent a community of
interest (COI) and create and provide access to information specific to that COI. The
COI then has a place to go for the information they need that has been vetted for
relevance and credibility. It reduces the noise in their searches for information and
increases the trustworthiness of what they do find.
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3.4.4 Analysis of Search Service Offerings at Google, Yahoo and MSN
Google and Yahoo are the search portal market leaders today for an Internet
characterized as an Aristocratic network. This is to say that a small number of nodes (like
Google and Yahoo) are “super-connected” so that most people visit these sites. However,
physicist Mark Buchanan’s report (2002, p 124-7) on mathematical studies of networks
that show the phase of “super-connected” hubs (such as Google and Yahoo today)
eventually gives way to more egalitarian networks from the simple processes of history
and growth. Many nodes connect to Yahoo or Google as a start to searching out
information. However, Buchanan’s conclusion on networks is that “Whenever limitations
or costs eventually come into play to impede the richest getting still richer, then a small-
world network becomes more egalitarian, as seems to be the case with airports and a
number of other real-world networks.”
Niche search sites have established themselves as a brand. Today’s two largest
super-connected nodes on the Internet, Google and Yahoo get the majority of advertising
revenue. However, the trends in marketing may also be working against the continuation
of the current aristocratic nature of the Internet.
Marketing is moving away from the mass advertising of the same message to a
large audience. According to Duncan (2005, pp 211-212) the value of the Internet is the
ability to send custom messages to highly targeted customer segments. The reach of a
specific message to a small but coherent group is higher than a general and therefore
mostly irrelevant message to a large group. As the ability to identify and verify audience
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characteristics for smaller, specialty sites improves, advertising revenue may shift from
Google and Yahoo to this new direction.
The message to Google and Yahoo is that super-connected nodes don’t last. Just
as the few air network super hubs gave way to geographically dispersed regional hubs, so
will the Internet. In short, Google and Yahoo are vulnerable as Amazon is already
exploiting. MSN, like Amazon, has the opportunity to move profitably into the future of
software services, if it acts appropriately.
Finally, Yahoo is already fading fast. They foolishly rejected Microsoft’s overly
generous offer earlier this year, and now on their own again they seem to have lost
control. Their stock price has fallen from $30 per share six months ago to $8 per share
today (see Yahoo, 2008b, p 1). Significant employees have left the company.
3.4.5 Mail comparison: Google the best
Agarwal (2007, p 1) compares MSN Mail, Yahoo Mail and Google Mail
according to five characteristics: 1.) User Interface; 2.) Spam Controls; 3.) Storage Space;
4.) Speed; and 5.) Advertisements. His findings are that Google Gmail is the winner in
four categories: 1.) Spam Controls; 2.) Storage Space; 4.) Speed; and 4.) Advertisements.
Yahoo!Mail has the best User Interface. He also notes that the Windows LIVE Mail or
MSN Hotmail has bugs in it, has poor performance and makes egregious use of
advertising.
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3.4.6 Site visitors prefer Google and Yahoo while advertisers prefer MSN
The Experian/Hitwise survey (see Tancer, 2008, p 1) clearly shows that site
visitors prefer Yahoo and Google ahead of MSN for the search and portal services being
offered. Advertisers, to the contrary, prefer MSN. Blank (2006, p 1) cites numerous
media firms and marketing research companies that express a decided preference for
Microsoft. However, as Agarwal (2006, p 1) notes, advertisers pay more for Google and
Yahoo because of the higher traffic count.
3.5 Perceptual Map
3.5.1 Perceptual Map based on Professional Market Surveys
A Perceptual Map is a marketing tool to graphically compare consumer
attitudes towards competitor companies. Most commonly, two salient characteristics
of the market niche occupied by the companies are used to form a two dimensional
map that shows how each company fares with the customers of that market segment.
Online services is becoming an important business segment for Microsoft. Marketing
Vox (2007, p1) reports that Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, sees advertising revenue
earned by Online Services as contributing 25% of Microsoft’s business in future.
Such advertising revenues will help support the Microsoft Cloud Computing initiative
code-named Azure (see Mackey, 2008, p 1) and Software as a Service (SaaS)
offerings.
Already its competitors are starting cloud computing and SaaS service that
Gartner believes will soon be “good enough” (see Smith and Austin, 2007, p 1). The
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top two competitors to Microsoft MSN in Online Services are Yahoo and Google.
There are two dimensions I propose to use in assessing corporate customer
perceptions of these three largest Internet sites. The first is the market perception of
the corporate services that are offered by each vendor.
The other dimension is social capital. As I have discussed in the section two,
“strategic buyers” are an important customer segment for Microsoft generally and the
most profitable customer in terms of sales revenues. These customers are corporate
and governmental organizations that would have a major impact on Microsoft if they
shift away from Microsoft to its Open Source or Web Portal competitors because
“strategic buyers” are big buyers. A move like that would reduce Microsoft revenue
while significantly enhancing that of its competitors. In addition, by being big buyers,
they also attract advertisers so that they have significant meaning for MSN
operations. Therefore, the second dimension in this perceptual map is the social
capital each competitor has with corporate customers.
Buchanan (2002, 201-204) gives a laymen’s explanation of social capital as
the “ability of people to work together easily and efficiently based on trust, familiarity
and understanding.” I will use the sales, marketing and consulting employee counts
of each organization as a proxy for the social capital that MSN, Google or Yahoo
have with large corporate customers. This seems reasonable; the greater the
investment in marketing communications between one of the vendors and the
corporate world it serves, the greater the social capital.
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To calculate the correlation strength of each vendor in the social capital
dimension, I normalize employee counts to a percentage by summing all employee
counts and dividing the total count into each company count. The employee counts
are derived from the SEC 10-K filings for each company. Here is the raw data:
Here is the relative percentage of employees dedicated to marketing
communications and services in the three organizations reflecting social capital
strengths:
For the other dimension in this map, the portal corporate functionality, I will
use Tancer’s market ranking comparison of the three sites that is published at
HitWise. However, not all attributes Experian tracks are related to corporate interests.
For example, sports, dating, games, personalities and music would not be. The
following are the Search Portal characteristics I will use in the perceptual map: Portal
Pages, Email Service, Search Engine, News/Media, Business Information, and Maps.
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For the corporate portal functionality dimension, I use a balanced scorecard
approach based on those rankings in Tancer’s survey. The notion is that the current
market share ranking of each Web site reflects the market’s perception of the
company’s ability in each of these categories: Portal Pages, Email Service, Search
Engine, News/Media, Business Information, and Maps.
Here is the score card calculation based on rankings in those categories:
Here is the relative strength of each ranking factor:
Combining the Portal Functionality numbers with the social capital, we then
get the following sets of coordinates for our perceptual map:
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Here is a perceptual map based on those coordinates:
I included a desired point in the map that would reflect the combined strengths
of Yahoo and MSN, which is what I believe Microsoft was after in its merger
attempts with Yahoo. For a more complete explanation of how this perceptual map
was prepared see my blog at http://gmrwvu.blogspot.com/2008/11/perceptual-map-
of-msn-yahoo-and-google.html
3.5.2 A Perceptual Map Based on My WVU Survey
I will also relate my own WVU survey results into a perceptual map. The two
dimensions I select for this exercise are the relative strengths of each vendor as a search
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site and as a portal site. My survey results show that for a search engine, seven out of
eight respondents use Google and the other uses both Yahoo and MSN. It also shows
that four respondents use Yahoo for portal services, one person uses both MSN and
Yahoo, and the other three use completely separate services for various portal functions.
Here is a chart of the results:
Search
FunctionalityAs a
Percentage Portal
FunctionalityAs a
Percentage Google 7 87.50% 0 0.00%Yahoo 1 12.50% 5 83.33%MSN 1 12.50% 1 16.67%
The coordinates for our map then become:
Google (87.5, 0)Yahoo (12.5, 83.33)MSN (12.5, 16.67)
The map shows customers perceive Yahoo as strongest for portal, Google for search.
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0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0 20 40 60 80 100
Search Use
Perceptual Map from WVU Survey
Portal
UseMSN
Yahoo
MSN Brand Audit
4.0 Recommendations
My recommendation to increase brand equity for Microsoft’s Internet operations
and services has four interrelated parts. They will redefine the MSN brand. Neumeier
(2006, p 45) recommends that if a brand cannot be number one or two in its market, it
needs to redefine itself. This is the case with MSN.
My first recommendation is to create a brand extension that can exclusively
service an important audience visiting Web portals: “strategic buyers.” Microsoft can
leverage its sophisticated sales teams and its relationships with corporate and government
organizations to provide a necessary service to these “strategic buyers” as Casadesus-
Masanell and Ghemawat label them. It can do this with a credibility that Google and
Yahoo cannot, even if they had an organization in place to perform such a service, which
they do not.
Other recommendations include a promotion campaign, and a final commitment
to the LIVE brand name rather than the current straddling strategy. Microsoft now keeps
both the MSN and LIVE names in play, and they diminish brand equity in each other. As
noted in section 3.3.1, my own survey showed that only a small percentage of Web users
even know MSN is a Microsoft Web portal with search capability. An overwhelming
majority of them expressed preference form Windows LIVE over MSN. The next four
sections explain the recommendations in detail.
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4.1 Brand Extension
4.1.1 How to Extend the MSN Brand
The first recommendation is to construct a line extension (see Keller, 2008, p 491)
for MSN/LIVE by adding a new corporate service, one that creates customized and
searchable collections on corporate governance for “strategic buyers.” The MSN/LIVE
brand will be applied to this new service, which is designed to assist corporate and
governmental IT organizations with specific information search needs. This will be a
point of difference with the existing search portals that cater to a homogenized general
audience. Microsoft can leverage its sophisticated sales teams and relationships with
corporate and government organizations to provide this necessary service and deliver it
through MSN.
Microsoft the parent company of MSN is facing a challenge from Open Source.
There is a growing belief that the Internet is a more interesting place than the PC and that
the next generation of software will be developed on the Internet. The Open Source
Initiative furthers such sentiment because it encourages the sharing and contributions of
the wide audience on the Internet. Open Source software strikes at the essence of
Microsoft, the value add Microsoft gives to the environment is offered for free by Open
Source.
Microsoft must respond to the open source movement, both the formal initiative
and the growing number of adherents in the corporate and government worlds. Open
Source Software is a serious threat to current and future Microsoft revenues and this
recommendation will address the Open Source threat while advancing the MSN/LIVE
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brand. To summarize this threat, if certain publics become “strategic buyers” of Linux, it
is probable that Windows will be driven from the market. This is the conclusion of
Casadesus-Masanell and Ghemawat (2005, p 3), two Harvard Business School
professors.
Microsoft must establish effective marketing communications with these
“strategic buyers.” If Microsoft does not do this, misconceptions or mistrust may
influence decisions that result in the disastrous scenario of that Harvard study. This
recommendation to build MSN/LIVE brand equity will have the collateral effect of
establishing strong and trusted communications with strategic buyers.
It will extend the meaning of the MSN/LIVE brand. Neumeier (2006, p 45)
recommends that if a brand cannot be number one or two in its market, it needs to
redefine itself. Microsoft can leverage its sophisticated sales teams and relationships
with corporate and government organizations to provide a necessary service to these
“strategic buyers” as Casadesus-Masanell and Ghemawat label them. It can do this with
credibility that Google and Yahoo cannot, even if they had an organization in place to
perform such a service, which they do not. “Strategic buyers” have an abiding concern
with corporate governance responsibilities.
MSN can assist “strategic buyers” with corporate governance responsibilities.
Such responsibilities are information intensive. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act holds corporate
senior management personally liable for the accuracy of the information that the
organization communicates to the public (see Wikipedia Sox, 2008, p1). It also
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MSN Brand Audit
prescribes a corporate governance framework for fulfilling fiduciary responsibilities to
stakeholders in the organization.
Understanding the detailed aspects of corporate governance is a taxing ordeal.
Microsoft through its MSN/LIVE brand with integrated support from Microsoft
Consulting Services and Microsoft Sales Teams can help customers with this
responsibility. Experts on corporate governance are major influentials with corporate top
executives and decision makers.
Microsoft has extensive experience in establishing enterprise architectures, which
are the basis for corporate governance. MSN/LIVE can be the favored information
librarian and partner for corporate customers, those who are the “strategic buyers.” 75%
of respondents believe that an edited collection of information would be a valuable
service at their place of work. A content edited collection of corporate governance
information would help corporate and governmental senior management fulfill their
Sarbanes-Oxley responsibilities. The Harvard study concludes that these buyers are the
audience to reach for the optimal strategy to increase revenue and to survive. Today’s
search sites seem oriented instead to a child customer public, like those targeted by the
Apple advertising commercials.
4.1.2 What is Gained.
Several important advantages are gained with such a brand extension. First, the
new brand extension can act as a flanker (see Keller, 2008, p 440) to put competitive
pressure on external Software as a Service (SaaS) vendors. This will prevent them from
pushing SaaS too far into the aging Windows software paradigm, at least for the short
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term. Keller (p 445) says that this type of brand redefinition will address problems and
identify other opportunities. If Microsoft acts appropriately, it may turn a black hole
brand into a sleeper brand that has a bright future.
In addition, a successful brand extension will improve the credibility with outside
parties (p 460). It can also lead to attracting more qualified employees and at the same
time motivate existing employees by giving them a believable roadmap to the future.
Finally, as Keller notes (p 454), a successful brand extension can improve the trust and
likability that external partners have with MSN.
4.2 Place
75% of respondents prefer the LIVE brand to the MSN brand and the remaining
25% are indifferent to Microsoft in general. Microsoft introduced the LIVE brand in 2006
as discussed in section 2 above. Currently, both the MSN name and the LIVE name are
applied to several properties. Completely restructuring a brand name is not uncommon.
According to Cole (2008, p 1) many of MSN’s competitors have changed names
including: Yahoo, Google, AOL, and IBM. Alexa is a Web site ranking service and it
ranks Yahoo 1st in site visits, Google 2nd, LIVE 4th and MSN 6th (see Alexa, 2008, p 1).
Combining LIVE and MSN makes sense and LIVE is the better name to go with.
My recommendation is to apply MSN to the Internet Service Provider network
service that Microsoft owns and apply LIVE to the other properties now associated with
MSN. A GO LIVE series of integrated marketing communications including
advertisements would explain that Microsoft is doing this to improve the organization of
its Internet operations to better serve the site visitors. This GO LIVE campaign should be Page 32 of 41
MSN Brand Audit
concurrent with the introduction of Azure technology next year. The GO LIVE
marketing communications would also emphasize the major advance that Azure
represents, one that none of its competitors can match (see Mackey, 2008, p 1).
4.3 Promotion
In a private survey conducted at West Virginia University, my findings indicated
that only 12.5% of the respondents were aware of MSN as a Web portal or search engine.
On the other hand, 100% were aware of Google and Yahoo as Web portals or search
engines. In addition, in reply to a question about MSN and Windows LIVE, almost no
one was able to make a connection between MSN and Microsoft unless they already
knew about MSN. In contrast, they were able to establish an association between
Windows LIVE and Microsoft.
Keller (p 663) advises us not to forget brand-building basics with online brands,
starting with establishing points of parity and points of difference. An important point of
difference for MSN is its capacity and commitment to advancing technology, especially
the cloud computing of the future. With the release of Microsoft Azure in 2009,
Microsoft will provide a framework for truly making the network the computer (see
Mackey, 2008). MSN will be a service in Azure.
MSN has POWERFUL points of difference. Yahoo is unable to commit to
advancing technology, it is falling apart without such expenditure. Google does not have
the portal presence that either MSN or Yahoo have. This needs to be clearly
communicated in Microsoft public relations and advertising.
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MSN Brand Audit
Keller cites promotional programs as an important element in brand building
(2008, pp 256-9), including online brands. Visitors are rewarded for using search
functions. MSN can reach out initially to its HotMail, MSNBC, MSN Money, MAP
Maps, MSN Shopping, MSN Music, MSN Entertainment, MSN Match.com and MSN
Games with an offer to win a Microsoft Zune MP3 player or Microsoft Xbox game
console for using the MSN Search engine and filling in a short survey.
Keller also notes (pp 229-235) that the integrated marketing element of
advertising is a powerful means to build brand equity. MSN/LIVE needs to work with
McCann-Erickson (see Carter, 2005, p1) to coordinate advertising with other integrated
marketing communication efforts to increase recognition and recall of the brand.
4.4 Personalization
According to Rosoff (2006, p 2), MSN makes content available that is collated by
editors who work for either MSN or an MSN content partner. As noted in section 4.1 of
this report, my proposal is to create customized and searchable corporate governance
collections for customers who are strategic buyers. They will be attracted to Editor
Collated Content that has been customized for them and that regards corporate
governance. This will not only create a rich communication with these wealthy buyers on
MSN and thereby enhance the MSN operations, but will also enhance the
communications between Microsoft and these corporate clients, which are increasingly
lured by Open Source, and Software as a Service alternatives to Windows.
Editor collated content on corporate governance would be edited by experts from
the legal and business professions. The Microsoft sales teams that work closely with Page 34 of 41
MSN Brand Audit
corporate accounts would customize it. The input from this close personal relationship
would include IT plans, Sarbanes-Oxley audit services, Enterprise Architecture services
that have been organized into searchable collections and made available on private sites
of MSN/LIVE and sites internal to the company. MSN/LIVE search technology would
work both within those collections and the general Internet to provide the organization
with information on corporate governance.
As noted above, an important point of difference for MSN/LIVE is that Microsoft
has major resources world-wide that it can utilize to provide customer assistance to
strategic buyers. It has a skillful sales force that is accustomed to fulfilling demanding
assignments. It has a well-organized support structure to disseminate information and
software updates as well as a competent consulting arm (MCS) with a field-tested project
methodology that has a proven record of success. Finally, Microsoft has stable relations
with the corporate world, which makes negotiating and executing contracts
straightforward, a social capital.
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MSN Brand Audit
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