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Microsoft spends to promote new e-mail
Source: Agencies |
February 20, 2013, Wednesday
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MICROSOFT is so confident it has the Internet's best e-mail service that it's about to spend at least US$30 million to send its message across the United States.
The barrage was set to begin yesterday when Microsoft's twist on e-mail, Outlook.com, escalates an assault on rival services from Google Inc, Yahoo Inc, AOL Inc and a long list of Internet service providers.
As part of the process, all users of Microsoft's Hotmail and other e-mail services operating under different domains such as MSN.com will be automatically converted to Outlook.com by the summer, if they don't voluntarily switch before then. All the old messages, contacts and settings in the old inboxes will be exported to Outlook.com. Users will also be able to keep their old addresses.
E-mail is still a key battleground, even as more people are texting each other on phones.
People still regularly check their inboxes, albeit increasingly on their smartphones. The recurring e-mail habit provides Internet companies a way to keep people coming back to websites. It gives people a reason to log in during their visits so it's easier for e-mail providers to track their activities. Frequent visits and personal identification are two of the keys to selling ads, the main way most websites make money.
That's why Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have recently been retooling their e-mail services.
After keeping Outlook.com in a "preview" phase since July 31, Microsoft Corp is ready to accept all comers.
To welcome new users, Microsoft is financing what it believes to be the biggest marketing blitz in the history of e-mail. Outlook.com will be featured in ads running on primetime TV, radio stations, websites, billboards and buses. Microsoft expects to spend from US$30 million to US$90 million on the Outlook campaign, which will run for at least three months.
The Outlook ads will overlap with an anti-Gmail marketing campaign that Microsoft launched earlier this month. The "Scroogled" attacks depict Gmail as a snoopy service that scans the contents of messages to deliver ads related to topics being discussed.
The Gmail ads are meant to be educational while the Outlook campaign is motivational, said Dharmesh Mehta, Outlook.com's senior director.
"We are trying to push people who have gotten lazy and comfortable with an e-mail service that may not be all that great and help show them what e-mail can really do for them," said Mehta.
By Microsoft's own admission, Hotmail had lost the competitive edge that once made it the world's largest e-mail service. The lack of innovation left an opening for Google to exploit when it unveiled Gmail nearly nine years ago.
Gmail is now the industry leader, although estimates on its popularity vary.
Google says Gmail has more than 425 million account holders, including those that only visit on smartphones and other mobile device.
Microsoft is counting on Outlook.com to catapult the company back to the top of the e-mail heap.
The barrage was set to begin yesterday when Microsoft's twist on e-mail, Outlook.com, escalates an assault on rival services from Google Inc, Yahoo Inc, AOL Inc and a long list of Internet service providers.
As part of the process, all users of Microsoft's Hotmail and other e-mail services operating under different domains such as MSN.com will be automatically converted to Outlook.com by the summer, if they don't voluntarily switch before then. All the old messages, contacts and settings in the old inboxes will be exported to Outlook.com. Users will also be able to keep their old addresses.
E-mail is still a key battleground, even as more people are texting each other on phones.
People still regularly check their inboxes, albeit increasingly on their smartphones. The recurring e-mail habit provides Internet companies a way to keep people coming back to websites. It gives people a reason to log in during their visits so it's easier for e-mail providers to track their activities. Frequent visits and personal identification are two of the keys to selling ads, the main way most websites make money.
That's why Microsoft, Google and Yahoo have recently been retooling their e-mail services.
After keeping Outlook.com in a "preview" phase since July 31, Microsoft Corp is ready to accept all comers.
To welcome new users, Microsoft is financing what it believes to be the biggest marketing blitz in the history of e-mail. Outlook.com will be featured in ads running on primetime TV, radio stations, websites, billboards and buses. Microsoft expects to spend from US$30 million to US$90 million on the Outlook campaign, which will run for at least three months.
The Outlook ads will overlap with an anti-Gmail marketing campaign that Microsoft launched earlier this month. The "Scroogled" attacks depict Gmail as a snoopy service that scans the contents of messages to deliver ads related to topics being discussed.
The Gmail ads are meant to be educational while the Outlook campaign is motivational, said Dharmesh Mehta, Outlook.com's senior director.
"We are trying to push people who have gotten lazy and comfortable with an e-mail service that may not be all that great and help show them what e-mail can really do for them," said Mehta.
By Microsoft's own admission, Hotmail had lost the competitive edge that once made it the world's largest e-mail service. The lack of innovation left an opening for Google to exploit when it unveiled Gmail nearly nine years ago.
Gmail is now the industry leader, although estimates on its popularity vary.
Google says Gmail has more than 425 million account holders, including those that only visit on smartphones and other mobile device.
Microsoft is counting on Outlook.com to catapult the company back to the top of the e-mail heap.
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