Imagine Istanbul brings brands to life

Microsoft Advertising and Online division recently hosted over 130 attendees, clients, agencies and sales partners at its Imagine Istanbul 2011 event. The event focused on Microsoft offerings and approach to find more creative ways to support brands in the digital space across the MEA (Middle East & Africa) region.

Ali Faramawy, Corporate VP, Microsoft Corporation and President – Microsoft Middle East & Africa, welcomed regional guests while underscoring the huge potential, energy and momentum that MEA represents both in terms of growth and innovation. He said, “This region has some compelling and unique characteristics with its predominantly young demographic profile and quick adoption of technology, particularly mobile and the internet, which is driving change. IT has become a real enabler to realize the potential of the MEA region and what its people want it to be which points to the power and influence of technology in this process.”

Salwa Smaoui, Regional Director, Advertising & Online MEA, questioned the irony of current digital advertising investment trends, highlighting its meager contribution to just 2% of total advertising spend, given that internet penetration in the region stood at roughly 13% with a potential base of 1 billion people.

Salwa said “Given the region’s potential, we are absolutely committed to our advertising business in the region as we position ourselves to manage and monetize Microsoft's content and media platforms. Our divison already contributes to 10% of Microsoft's revenue. Imagine Istanbul is just the first of many such initiatives which are aimed at bringing together advertisers, agencies and partner stakeholders from the region in sharing, collaborating and shaping the future of online within the region”.

Marc Bresseel, Vice President, Global Marketing, Microsoft Advertising who spoke at the event talked about Microsoft’s offerings across MSN, Windows Live, X-Box Live and mobile, as well as shared key consumer and audience trends and insights. His session clarified Microsoft‘s diverse offerings and how they could be used to tell compelling brand stories.

Alexandre Michelin, General Manager for MSN Europe and Executive Producer for MSN EMEA shared insights into MSN’s global strategy and demonstrated how the portal’s “Choose MSN” strategy is moving the portal beyond passive engagement with consumers to become a destination of choice for local brands. Microsoft capabilities are being used to enable and empower audiences with locally relevant content through MSN Arabia. MSN portal now has 500 million users and is adding 50 million a year, while generating 20 billion page views a month and is currently the number-one portal across 26 markets. 

Microsoft research at the event also focused on the necessity of leveraging the power of digital as a new element in an advertiser’s approach to support brands. This would work particularly well in emerging markets where there is high consumption and high involvement.