“The best advertising is a satisfied customer,” according to Bill Gates. This is certainly one of the reasons for Microsoft's success in our daily lives. The We Are COM team takes you on a journey to discover the Redmond-based company. What is its communication strategy? From its founding myth to the management of an incredible portfolio of brands, Dominique Danaë – Director of Communications for Microsoft France – explains the giant's triumphant return and her convictions as a communications professional.
Because we all experience our profession differently and it is often misunderstood, we like to start with a very simple question: what is your definition of corporate communication?
You start from the premise that the corporate communication is often misunderstood. In my early days, it was the ultimate discipline, the one only the most talented and senior could aspire to. For me, corporate communication encompasses all the means by which we build, defend, and nurture a company's reputation. trademarkWe are touching on concepts of influence, relational capital and values that a company is eager to convey.
What's changing is that today the contract with audiences is no longer the same. The immediacy of digital media demands ever greater transparency, honesty, and sincerity. This is a constant for all brands, regardless of their communication methods, and it generates new interactions, with greater permeability between corporate and product communication. Thus, the actions of CSR or patronage, just like corporate campaigns with a social dimension, contribute to nurturing the brand, with ultimately an impact on the act of purchasing.
If the spheres interpenetrate, The approach varies depending on the audience. We naturally don't use the same communication styles when addressing, for example, generalist, tech, or business journalists, YouTubers, or the gaming community. At the same time, an Instagram user might be interested in our innovations as well as our civic initiatives. We constantly leverage a variety of approaches to generate a unique impact!
Our brand portfolio is based on audience-driven logic.
You had a career in agencies before working for the advertiser: as a Communications Director, what is your current view of agencies?
Although I've moved "to the other side," I still maintain an agency mindset, if only through my collaboration with those who work with me. For me, they are true partners, not service providers. In fact, I consider them to be the a natural extension of my own teamWe respect their work and guide them so they can make a strong contribution to our communication efforts. I think my agency experience facilitates communication: I understand their constraints, the turnover teams, profitability targets, etc., which doesn't stop me from being demanding when it comes to advice!
Our brand investigators seem to have identified two distinct worlds within Microsoft: "native" brands (Windows, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and acquisition brands (LinkedIn, Skype, etc.). What is your brand management policy?
Yes, our brand portfolio is very broad and is regularly expanding through both acquisitions and new creations. We also demonstrate our ability to integrate brands within the Microsoft framework (Skype or Whatsapp here, LinkedIn today), and that our ability to create powerful brands such as Xbox ou Surface.
At Microsoft, we did not choose a single brand which would be broken down by product. Each of the brands in our portfolio has a distinct identity. Thus, our "subsidiary" brands are very strong: Windows, Office, Surface, Azure, … or Xbox, whose 15th anniversary we recently celebratedIn recent years, our global brand strategy has focused on bringing together "daughter" brands and the "parent" brand Microsoft, thereby strengthening and energizing our communication and relationship capital. The organization of our brand portfolio also follows an audience-based logic. Microsoft has the unique characteristic of operating within two universes: the B2B and the B2C. The arrival of Satya Nadella My appointment as CEO in 2014 marked a true strategic shift, with significant investments in areas such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI). As a result, we cultivate a community of fans among the general public, while engaging B2B audiences is paramount, including developers, business decision-makers, IT professionals, SME owners, and so on.
Microsoft opens its first Insider Lab in
Heading for the#IoT and the #AI to accelerate R&D #startup https://t.co/c3FPGO6g8g pic.twitter.com/smPm1tnaGX— Microsoft France (@microsoftfrance) April 3, 2017
Microsoft is 40 years old. What role does the legend (and its mythical founder!) play in the life of your brand? How is this reflected internally?
In 40 years, Microsoft has only had 3 CEOs. (Isn't that crazy?)There was Bill Gates – iconic founder – then Steve Ballmer, and now Satya Nadella. Bill Gates wanted to separate his philanthropic activities from Microsoft, from the launch of its foundation. The storytelling Bill Gates' communications within his foundation do not go through Microsoft channels. However, it is undeniable that his actions, and the resulting visibility, indirectly benefit the Microsoft brand. This sincere approach by Bill and Melinda Gates, who give back after having received so much, inevitably influences our company's image.
Public opinion overwhelmingly supports their commitment, while understanding the separation from Microsoft. In fact, most media inquiries today focus on our current CEO, Satya Nadella – a true Microsoft product, with 25 years at the company – who in less than two years has managed to instill his vision in Microsoft and its employees. He has succeeded in reinventing the company and reviving a startup spirit by encouraging risk-taking and learning from mistakes, all while breaking down silos.
Data exploitation is an incredible promise
What is the role of communication in the Microsoft organization, in France and worldwide?
At Microsoft, the approach is "glocal." We share a global set of values and the freedom to adapt to take into account the specificities of the local market, cultural sensitivities, or simply Microsoft's history in the country. Our local autonomy is real, with a genuine ability to create our own programs. The challenge then becomes sharing our best practices between countries.
In practical terms, the French Communications team is attached to the Marketing & Operations Division of Microsoft FranceWe are responsible for institutional communication, media relations, and managing corporate social media accounts (Twitter et Facebook), The internal communication and citizenship policy, called Microsoft PhilanthropiesMy team consists of about ten people, plus a circle of HR experts, notably responsible for the employer brandand a marketing team in charge of events, digital branding, marketing campaigns, and media buying. From my perspective, There is no golden rule when it comes to organization: team dynamics are what matters most.
This need for constant collaboration is truly crucial in a matrix organization like ours. And this is true even within my own team. Therefore, we have implemented a newsroom (editorial committee format) every Monday, to foster synergies and be able to address the same topic from different angles for our various audiences. How do we tell company news with maximum impact? For example, we are experimenting with visual storytellingwhose codes are very effective in digital. This type of format enriches communication codes and tends to become widespread and, I must admit, makes the traditional press release look a little outdated.
Everyone knows Microsoft. In 2017, what is Microsoft's story? Where do you want to take us?
While we often talk about our customers' digital transformation, Microsoft is no exception. We have transformed our business modelBy shifting from selling software on physical media to cloud subscriptions, we're opening up new avenues for growth with disruptive innovations like mixed reality. And even if we rarely receive declarations of love for our Excel spreadsheets, our products are real assets for everyday use!
Always, Microsoft embodies the democratization of new technologiesYesterday, following Bill Gates' vision, we made it possible to install a PC in every home and on every desk. Today, we intend to make 3D and artificial intelligence accessible to everyone.
Technological change can be unsettling, and our mission is to provide guidance and support new uses: software has been replaced by applications, which will themselves be replaced by bots. Our societal legitimacy in the deployment of digital technology, with over 1,5 billion users of our solutions worldwide, offers us numerous opportunities to communication in the service of meaning, and that is very rare and valuable for a communicator.
Society is changing. Is communication changing too?
Artificial intelligence and data are transforming and will continue to transform our professions. Data exploitation holds incredible promise in the way content is produced.to personalize and distribute them. The communication teams will include developers and not just people with the ability to cultivate a network of contacts. cross-channelWe want to create new web interfaces very quickly, just as we produce an A4 printout very quickly today.
The influence professions will change radically. Bots will revolutionize public relations by handling journalists' first-level inquiries: What is the company's latest financial news? What is its development strategy? Who is its head of HR? What percentage of its employees are women? board Can I have a high-definition photo of the CEO? An aggregator bot can provide these basic elements instantly and make them available to the user in an interface produced by communications professionals. Microsoft is at the crossroads of these changes.
What advice can you give to aspiring communications professionals who regularly read We Are COM?
We practice a profession of paradoxes You must love the shadows without fearing the light, be as good a speaker as you are a writer, consider the internal aspects when developing external communications, embrace change even when it disrupts your daily routine, be rational while listening to your intuition… My main piece of advice is therefore also a paradox: you must combining personal creativity and quality of collective execution to succeed in the world of communication today and tomorrow.
3 things to know about Dominique Danaë
She graduated from an American high school.
She admits that her coding skills could be improved and that she doesn't have all the Microsoft badges.
She is present on Twitter… the exchange continues!
