• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, February 11, 2010

As part of a broader realignment of its Central Marketing Group, Microsoft on Thursday named Gayle Troberman to the newly created position of chief marketing officer.

Troberman, who has been with the software giant for 13 years, was most recently in charge of creating Microsoft's ad concepts as the general manager of its advertising and customer engagement team.

"She will partner closely with our campaign teams and agency community to ensure we are delivering world-class creative," said a Microsoft spokeswoman.

Meanwhile, David Webster -- general manager for brand marketing at Microsoft -- has been named chief strategy officer, and will oversee the 2- to-5-year marketing strategy for the company's brand portfolio, and how that spans cross-company campaign efforts. He is also expected to remain involved in all the company's key campaigns.

Troberman and Webster will continue to report directly to senior vice president Mich Mathews.

Regarding the restructuring, a company spokeswoman added: "The new structure formalizes how the group has already been working for quite some time."

In other appointments, Karen Edwards will lead global marketing and communications strategy; Kevin Peck will lead global brand strategy; Steve Petitpas now leads digital; and Megan Hanley is in charge of media.

Microsoft is presently deploying several high-profile ad campaigns, including "I'm a PC" and "Laptop Hunters" for Windows, Bing and "Because It's Everybody's Business."

Amid a serious Windows 7 marketing effort, more than 2 million consumers downloaded the beta for Microsoft Office 2010 in the weeks following its launch.

More generally, the company has what could be described as a broader image problem.

For one, Dick Brass, vice president at Microsoft from '97 to '04, last week penned a Times Op-Ed asking why the software giant "no longer brings us the future, whether it's tablet computers like the iPad, e-books like Amazon's Kindle, smartphones like the BlackBerry and iPhone, search engines like Google, digital music systems like iPod and iTunes or popular Web services like Facebook and Twitter."

In a blogged response, Frank Shaw, corporate vice president of corporate communications at Microsoft, said he disagreed with the characterization.

Microsoft also has issues in the mobile arena, where it has so far failed to establish itself. Along with unveiling its next-generation Windows Mobile 7 operating system, Microsoft is also said be enhancing its "go to market approach," and getting more involved with mobile original equipment manufacturers.

Prior to her general manager role, Troberman handled branded entertainment for MSN.