@ UBS Media Week: IPG’s Roth: Microsoft Will Remain A Client, Not A Challenger

Although ad holding company Interpublic Group hasn’t been as aggressive as rival WPP Group in pursuing interactive ad shops, IPG CEO Michael Roth used his presentation at the UBS Global Media Conference to make the case that his company can hold its own. For example, despite failing to capture Dell’s $4.5 billion ad account in a review against WPP, Roth told attendees that just being in that review was vindication of the company’s full service strategy. After showing a video of one of the company’s ads for Microsoft, (NSDQ: MSFT) Roth touted the company’s recent digital build up, as highlighted by the purchases of urban entertainment marketing firm Translation last month and search marketer Reprise Media back in April. Roth promised continued investment through next year and that digital is deeply ingrained in all IPG’s client service offerings. More after the jump…

Microsoft: client or competition?: The Microsoft reel Roth showed off only seemed to highlight the recent challenges traditional entities like IPG face in new challenges of the digital landscape. He was asked whether Microsoft, which hopes to become a major player in the online advertising with the purchase of aQuantive, represents an odd sort of threat to IPG. Roth said he didn’t see the company that way at all, saying that the Google, (NSDQ: GOOG) Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) and Microsoft appear to be primarily focused – with the exception of aQuantive’s AvenueA/Razorfish – on gathering user data, not on the execution of creative ad production.

A warning: In fact, he believes it would a mistake for those companies to cross the line into ad creation. “Right now, the question is whether we are a friend or foe of the internet? Frankly, without us providing the navigation tools to our clients, the internet would not be quite as successful as it is. So we have to be viewed as a friend to these companies in terms of the marketing dollars that are out there and helping our clients spend those dollars. I don’t see Microsoft going into the traditional advertising business at all. In order to be neutral, they shouldn’t be in [the traditional ad business]. On the internet, you want an independent view of the data you’re providing if you have a proprietary product, the independence of that data becomes questionable and you lose your position in the marketplace.”

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