Microsoft Gets New Marketing Chief

Chris Capossela will be taking charge of Microsoft's marketing strategy from Mich Matthews, who announced her departure last week.

Microsoft marketing has not been, outside the Xbox business, exactly successful lately. I am still scratching my head over the Windows Phone 7 "Really?" campaign that told prospective customers that the Microsoft phone is not really a phone to spend time with. That was somewhat funny, if you think about the fact how addicted we are to our smartphone screens.

Capossela was senior vice president of Microsoft's Office division, where he oversaw the marketing of all product in that group, including Office 365 and Office 2007. Years ago, Capossela was Bill gates' speech assistant and the chief of staff to the president of Microsoft EMEA.

Are we seeing a trend here? AMD fired high-ranking executives, Intel did as well. Google replaced its CEO, Acer's CEO left and there is now chatter that Steve Jobs may not return to Apple. What we are seeing right now is probably one of the most significant changes in executive leadership in the IT industry in more than a decade. If I had to bet, I'd guess that a lot has to do with the technology shift toward smartphones and tablets.