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Microsoft’s chief brand officer Kathleen Hall is stepping down after 16 years with the business, continuing an era of flux for the tech giant’s marketing team as it lays the foundations for a “new era of AI.”
In a LinkedIn post, Hall – who also served as corporate vice president of brand, advertising and research – said she would be relocating from Redmond, Washington to her home state of New York to take some time off before her “next adventure.”
Hall is credited with launching Windows 7.8 and 10 and Microsoft’s Surface and Cloud products. She was also the exec behind the brand’s first national Super Bowl ad, holiday campaigns, and its NFL and NBA partnerships.
Microsoft CMO Takeshi Numoto confirmed the news in a memo seen by ADWEEK, outlining other changes to the marketing department. These include:
- Xbox CMO Jerret West is also departing to join Roblox. The console’s current vp of integrated marketing, Kirsten Ward, will now lead a newly unified gaming marketing team.
- Global creative, advertising, branding, and operations teams will be bundled under the leadership of consumer CMO, Yusuf Mehdi. Mehdi will work closely with Stephanie Ferguson, who oversees Microsoft’s centralized global sales and marketing engine.
- As Microsoft gears up for a cookie-less landscape, Numoto has hired Google exec Bryson Gordon as a corporate vp to lead its global media, partnerships, and agency management efforts.
- The brand has “realigned” its events, studios, and communities team. 26-year veteran Vivian Eickhoff will lead event production and studios, while Alyssa Schutter will join from Amazon Studios to lead event creative experiences.
U.K. CMO, Bonnie Pelosi, was also recently promoted to EMEA CMO.
So what’s going on at Microsoft?
Numoto took over the CMO job after Chris Capossela left the post after a 32-year run in Oct. 2023.
At the time, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company was gearing up for a “new era of AI.”
Microsoft has been pouring investment into generative AI to power its growth. In Jan. 2023, the company invested $13 billion in AI start-up OpenAI, home to hit product ChatGPT. It’s also been spending big on its cloud division, integrating AI across its software and services via its Copilot chatbot.
