Global roll-out of MSN Advantage Marketing Programme

Alongside its global counterparts, MSN South Africa is launching its Advantage Marketing programme and is announcing new digital marketing products and services to help advertisers and brands build closer relationships with their customers.

The global $110 million initiative is designed to take online advertising to a new level by delivering products, technology and services that will provide better results for brand and direct-response marketers.

"As the media landscape continues to fragment and consumers become more assertive about who and what messages are allowed to reach them, online communication is becoming a vital link in marketing plans," says Ashika Ramgovind, country manager at MSN South Africa.

The initiative includes the MSN Agency Alliance Programme that offers leading brand and online advertising agencies the opportunity to take advantage of special benefits when their clients run schedules on MSN. The programme aims to equip top agencies with the training to deploy MSN marketing solutions to their clients. MSN will brief members quarterly on upcoming content integration and sponsorship opportunities; host day-long, on-site sessions highlighting successful online advertising strategies; and offer advanced access to proprietary industry research.

The Internet is the fastest growing technology to gain customer acceptance and is increasingly being used for a wider range of activities. As a result of Internet usage, online advertising allows marketers to stay closer to their customers throughout the marketing cycle - from initial brand awareness right up until the point of purchase.

MSN South Africa has tripled its revenue in the one year since its launch and has grown its user base to in excess of one million home and business users to the site on a monthly basis. Ninety percent of all MSN users have shopped online in the last six months, and MSN users spend on average 138 minutes per month on the portal. These figures are significant when seen in the context of the depressed advertising market over the past year, following the dot-com crash and the overall economic slowdown. Probably one of the key reasons why MSN has achieved such success in SA is due to its distinctive local appeal while leveraging off a strong global brand. It includes a wealth of relevant local content, but maintains an international flavour by offering users access to a `world` of information.