Crisis Communications for Microsoft

When researching Microsoft's crisis response I was actually able to find some pretty detailed information.  I found a powerpoint. A quick break down of the basics. Microsoft uses five different teams to manage all different crisis' that might pop up. The breakdown is: global security, governance committee, US IMT (United States Incident Management Team), Planning Committee, and Core Stockholder group.

Then I figured out how they label each crisis that pop up in label of importance. They use a 3 tier rating system.  Level 1 is on the local level, these are irregular events with minor risk to the organization.  Examples of these are local fires, normal procedure complaints, and limited power outage.   Level 2 is for the regional aspect of the company. It usually involves moderate risk; examples being large fire or bomb threat. The highest level is Level 3 or Corporate. This is for something that would affect the company as a whole. Examples of what would be a level 3 are things like a national disaster, workplace violence, or anything that is a threat to Microsoft public image.

As in what can be considered the latest crisis when it comes to Microsoft would be the Paul Allen tell all book. While Microsoft hasn't come out to say anything specially. Bill Gates, though, did respond. "While my recollection of many of these events may differ from Paul’s, I value his friendship and the important contributions he made to the world of technology and at Microsoft.”  

Global Communications

Microsoft global communications was a little bit hard to find. I decided to do a different approach. The first thing I did with the Microsoft global communications was to look up their most recent global campaign. The called is the "Start Something" campaign. It launched for 15 months in April 2005. The campaign was designed as a "global awareness campaign designed to showcase to people how to explore, enhance, and pursue their passions." They encouraged people to explore their talents and passions by using the Windows XP software as well as other Microsoft technologies. This campaign ran in the following 11 different countries: United States (first ones to launch it) Australia, Canada, India, Korea, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. They showcased 13 different passions such as: art, music, sports, productivity, entrepreneurship, photography, education, and science.  In order to get the the campaign out there Microsoft had: 51 Television ads, 39 Print Ads, and 250 online ads. All of these we re featured globally.

I found this campaign somewhat off setting. I guess the thing that threw me was the fact that they did a competition to see who would use the products the the best while they were "starting something". But all the winners were American. I don't know if this is because is because each country did their own competition or if it was just in America; but nothing else came up in the search.

The second thing I did to explore Microsoft Worldwide was do a visual comparison of 3 different countries compared the United States. I picked the webpage for  Microsoft Italy, Microsoft Australia, and Microsoft Japan. I figured this would give me a wide range of how it's different around the world. The interesting thing to me was that the 3 websites were behind on appearance - I would say their website looked as what we were used to seeing back in to 2007.  Also on the Italian website they advertised two different products that weren't found on the other three. They advertised for a Zune (which living in Italy for four months I know is more popular than the iPod) as well as the services for Cloud was advertised right on the website. Lastly, both Australia and Japan had links to donate money for disaster relief unlike America and Italy. 

Investor Relations

This weeks blog is all about Microsoft's investor relations. They website they have set up is very intense.  I feel like any question one might have about the company and handling investors will be found here. They first thing I wanted to see was the upcoming events that are taking place. They actually have to different ones - and the unexpected thing is that they are both webcasted so those who can't attend can participate in their own home.  


Another aspect of Microsoft that I wasn't planning on finding on the investor relations website was a link to an outside website referred to corporate citizenship. After searching trying to figure out what I stumbled upon I came across this quotes "Our Citizenship approach focuses on activities that create value for both our business and society. Our commitments include the way we operate our company, our efforts to create opportunities through our technology offerings, the application of our research and development investments, and the power of our partnerships." I thought this website was very conniving in the way of stockholders who couldn't attend the conferences would come across this and see how management is using the company internationally.


The lsat aspect of investor relations I looked at was the proxy documents posted online. It went into detail about what every stockholder will be able to vote on, when and where it was going to be, as well as including all the different proposals. I thought it was interesting in the sense that they encourage people to vote ahead time. "Whether or not you expect to attend the Annual Meeting in person, we urge you to vote your shares at your earliest convenience. This will ensure the presence of a quorum at the meeting. Promptly voting your shares via the Internet, by telephone, or by signing, dating, and returning the enclosed proxy card will save us the expenses and extra work of additional solicitation" This makes me wonder if this is just another tactic used by senior management and the board to get people not come and hear the other arguments. 

Community Affairs

So when researching community affairs within the Microsoft company, I naturally assumed that I would just find a lot of monetary donations. I did find this to be true - but it was interested in who they were donating to. The thing that really interested me about Microsoft's community relations was their dedication to Washington state. They have many different programs. First is the category of education.  The lead the Higher Education Funding Task force so this way more people have the opportunity to afford college.  With the K-12 programs in Washington state they support MathCounts - which is a middle school nation - wide program the gives students incentives to succeed in math.

Another branch of of support to Washington state by Microsoft is to their public transportation system.  They are giving money to rebuild bridges and support the public transportation system. They also provide charter buses, incentives for carpooling, guarantee ride high program which you get 6 free cab rides a year, as well as incentives for taking alternative transportation like biking.'

The last aspect of community relations of Microsoft to Washington State is the volunteering programs. I didn't except to see this because I figured Microsoft would just rather write a check than give up their time. "Team-based volunteering events expose employees to community needs and inspire a longer-term relationship through community-wide service opportunities, such as the United Way's annual Day of Caring, and Seattle Works Day, sponsored by the Hands On Network."

Media Relations with Microsoft

This week our assignment was to review our company's media relations. I found this to show a different side to Microsoft compared to the social media we studied last week. The social media is used to draw in a younger crowd - the media relations takes on the professionals and people in the field. The media relations done with the company tends to lean towards newspapers and trade publications. They shoot out a lot of stock information and new product lines in their press releases.  I also noticed that for their boiler plate they constantly have two - one for the part of Microsoft the press release is about (for instance Microsoft Office or Dynamics) and then they just have a two line boiler about the company as a whole.  The last thing I noticed about Microsoft was that for the past couple of months every press release was something positive. They haven't had a crisis lately; or if they have they just hadn't used the press release as a communication tool.

Social Networking with Microsoft

After doing some research on Microsoft I found that they have a pretty decent handle on the social media aspect. The first account I looked at was their twitter accounts. They have four "official" pages, they are: Microsoft News were they keep clients up-to-date on the latest with Microsoft; Microsoft Windows - here they seem to be tweeting back to a lot of people answering questions or concerns with this outreach; Microsoft this is where people learn fun tips (I just learned how to add my name to spell check so it stops saying I spelled my last name wrong!) and finally Microsoft Office - tips on working with the Office programs.

Second thing I looked at for social media was what they were doing Facebook wise. The very first page that pops up is the Microsoft Windows U College Tour 2010/11 - it directs you to a Microsoft student link were on the left is available for Windows 7 upgrade and on the right are tips of the day, free downloads, and tutorials. I thought that this was very strategic because college kids are constantly wanting to know the 'ins and outs' of their computer programs.  The official Microsoft Facebook page is done fantastically. They immediately showcase their top news and a viewer can clearly see their "likes" (all other Microsoft pages on Facebook).  I was really interested in their Wall though. It was interesting because it seemed like it was polluted with spam (hate post and people trying to advertise other products) while people who have questions went unanswered.

The last part of social media is their blogs. I think that they do a good job with them. They are very easy to find - going on their website they are right there. I'm not surprised that they do such a good job with their blogs - its been the part of social media that has been around the longest so they should be the most comfortable with them.

Welcome to Microsoft

Hello, My name is Ashley Benisatto. I'm in my junior year at Quinnipiac University and am in a Corporate Public Relations class. We were assigned to write a blog about a Fortune 100 company. With this assignment in mind, I decided to write about Microsoft. One of the main reasons I picked Microsoft was because I am constantly using different programs run by Microsoft, not only in my professional life, but in my private life as well. I thought this would be a good opportunity to see how this very successful company was about and how they continue to stay on top. 


In order to get an idea of Microsoft and the impact that they have made, here is some background information.  The corporation started in 1975; founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.  In 1986 Microsoft became of publicly traded company. But to really understand the company their value statement says it the best:

"As a company, and as individuals, we value integrity, honesty, openness, personal excellence, constructive self-criticism, continual self-improvement, and mutual respect. We are committed to our customers and partners and have a passion for technology. We take on big challenges, and pride ourselves on seeing them through. We hold ourselves accountable to our customers, shareholders, partners, and employees by honoring our commitments, providing results, and striving for the highest quality."

I look forward in seeing the progress of Microsoft as well as following them as they continually handle the media.