Microsoft Steps Up Marketing and Advertising Efforts in Dubai
Computer giant Microsoft has sent a team to Dubai to set up and oversee a new online marketing and advertising division responsible for the region.
Although Microsoft does not have any plans as yet to create or develop specifically Arab content for Dubai or beyond, it wants to be able to be more focused on developments in the region and to develop the ability to tailor its online advertising and marketing to suit computer users across the Arab-speaking world.
Microsoft consumer and online international general manager Aubrey Edwards commented: “We do have the Microsoft office in Dubai Media City, but in terms of advertising, we are adding some people to our Middle East and Africa team to help build the market and work closely with our partners.”
The company’s area general manager for Microsoft Middle East and Africa Ahmet Burak Gokmen confirmed that “we are trying to increase the relevance of MSN Arabia and our MSN business in the region.
“MSN Arabia, as you know, has both English and Arabic sites. For this market, the English site is visited probably twice as much as the Arabic site.”
Mr Gokmen admitted that there was not enough Arabic content across Microsoft’s sites, and suggested that this “might be one of the reasons why search engines are not growing in terms of advertising as much as is expected.”
He said that observing and reacting to the “entrepreneurial activity in the region” would be key to developing and driving more content, as was user-generated content.
“With our tools and new services such as Windows Live, which includes social networking and content-sharing platforms, we enable users to have more local content on the web,” he concluded.
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