Several of Microsoft's advertising and marketing departments were consolidated on Monday, creating a new Global Marketing and Communications Group, which will manage Microsoft's $1 billion in yearly
marketing spending. The group will be headed by Mike Delman, formerly Microsoft's general manager of advertising and events. The group will consolidate relationship marketing, worldwide advertising,
and events under one roof for Microsoft. The goal of this change was to integrate Microsoft's marketing and advertising departments to make their message to and relationships with their customers more
coherent. "This is a natural transition for us. We're coming to this with a major focus around integration and integrated marketing," said John Kahan, the general manager of the new group's Global
Relationship Marketing arm. "It's very important to us that our messages are consistent, impactful, and relevant."
--Shankar Gupta
