The opening of Windows Live Hotmail also comes with a push from Microsoft as the company tries to sway more advertisers to the product.
Murdok heard from the PR elves employed by Microsoft’s closest buddy in public relations, Waggener Edstrom, about Windows Live Hotmail. It wasn’t just a message to mark the general release of the upgraded service.
Microsoft wants its potential marketing clients to know that if they want certain types of demographics, Hotmail is where they want to go today. The company opened its Strategic Account Summit today, where Hotmail and other ad-related topics will be discussed.
One very notable non-Microsoftie will be speaking at the Summit. Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, whose company was the recent focus of a rumored merger with Microsoft, is on the list of people speaking in Seattle.
Another speaker will be Microsoft’s founder and chairman, Bill Gates. Though he is more removed from Microsoft publicly in favor of his philanthropic efforts, he still has a substantial stake in Microsoft’s possible online ad success.
The demographic information presented in the email we received suggests how marketers might successfully target their campaigns. Microsoft touted 72 percent of Hotmail users as discussing travel; 68 percent of women talk about health and medicine topics; and 75 percent of men chatting about buying electronics and gadgets.
Chris Dobson, a VP with Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, called the new Hotmail “a cornerstone online service for Microsoft and an important part of our expanding online advertising opportunities.”
That cornerstone will have to be rock solid to help Microsoft make inroads against Google, which dominates the online advertising market.
