October 16, 2007 — Microsoft-MSN thought outside of the box when it created advertising platform Microsoft adCenter and produced the critically acclaimed Live Earth project, which integrated television, radio, Internet, and audiences to bring a live concert to the world while raising awareness about global warming. The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) today honored those achievements, presenting Microsoft-MSN with DMA’s 2007 Marketer of the Year Award.
DMA’s Marketer of the Year Award ceremony took place today at 10 a.m. in the Skyline Ballroom at McCormick Place West in Chicago. The ceremony came in the midst of the DMA07 Conference & Exhibition, the six-day multichannel marketing event of the year, which concludes Thursday.
The award was accepted by Reed Price, editor in chief of MSN Video and Entertainment, and Jerry Hayek, Microsoft group marketing manager.
In presenting the award, DMA President & CEO John A. Greco, Jr. said that dozens of companies, nonprofit organizations, and individuals had been nominated for the 2007 honor. A distinguished advisory panel composed of DMA members then helped to select this year’s award winner.
“Microsoft-MSN is DMA’s 2007 Marketer of the Year because it consistently demonstrates thought leadership, market innovation, and exemplary corporate responsibility,” Greco said. “It addresses both sides of the marketing equation — consumer and business-to-business — while retaining user-friendly and practical approaches that deliver winning results. In short, Microsoft-MSN upholds the DMA tenants of delivering relevance, being responsible, and producing measurable results. Certainly, all of that was rather spectacularly evidenced with the multichannel Live Earth event this past July.”
What made Live Earth so special on July 7, 2007, wasn’t just that MSN provided great content to consumers in a relevant, timely, and informative manner. Live Earth was the largest concert event ever produced — bringing together live music events in Australia, Brazil, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Turkey, the UK, and the US. Live Earth was also the most watched live entertainment event in Internet history. But what really sets it apart is that MSN completed its mission of keeping the public engaged on the network by providing avenues for them to act on that information.
Greco pointed out that, in addition to demonstrating marketing leadership, innovation, and responsibility, DMA Marketer of the Year nominees also needed to display a pattern of consistent contribution to the multichannel marketing profession, as well a high level of competence in one or more disciplines, such as product development, research, marketing, management, education, sales, administration, or technological innovation.
“Certainly, Microsoft hit its marks in each of these areas,” Greco said. “In presenting this award today, we also honor Microsoft’s powerful and small-business-friendly advertising platform, Microsoft adCenter. While adCenter and Live Earth are two very different initiatives, both demonstrate Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to enable consumers and business ‘to realize their full potential.’”
About MSN
MSN attracts more than 465 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 42 markets and 21 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering compelling programmed content experiences to consumers, and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft is a worldwide leader in software, services, and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
