Bob Bejan goes from Publicis back to Microsoft as sales boss
Microsoft has appointed Publicis exec Bob Bejan to permanently fill the role of U.S. sales boss, eight months after the ousting of Keith Lorizio.
Bob Bejan: Back to MIcrosoft
It's a return to his old company. As Microsoft's VP-North American sales and marketing, Bejan will oversee sales for the continent, manage relationships with media buyers and develop new opportunities for advertisers in hopes of improving Microsoft's market share, said AdAge.
Bejan said the role's expansion to include all of North America will allow him to do things like experiment with new ad products in Canada, which he described as "a great test market with applicable parallels" to the U.S.
Microsoft's advertising division sells ads across its Bing search engine, Outlook e-mail client, Skype messaging service, Xbox gaming console, Windows operating system and the MSN portal.
A former Microsoft executive who joined the company in 1996, Bejan led ad sales and programming for the company's online properties including MSN among other roles he held during his six-year tenure.
He left in 2002 to co-found a digital marketing firm that Publicis acquired in 2008 within its public relations network MSLGroup. Bejan was eventually named MSL Group's chief development officer.
Once Bejan starts at Microsoft in New York office , his first task on the job will be reaffirming Microsoft's commitment to advertising with media buyers, said AdAge.
"I think the need is making sure people understand how serious Microsoft is about the ad business," he said.
Bejan plans to spend the first 45 to 60 days on a listening tour during which he'll meet with advertisers and Microsoft employees to understand their perception of Microsoft's advertising business and address any concerns.
"That's kind of job one: making sure on that tour that as I listen I'm making sure people understand that we're here and we're for real and we're committed to developing not only great solutions that work today but also out-of-the-box solutions that work for tomorrow," said Bejan.