Ad Track: Welches mean 'Business'; Ikea's inner voice

ByABC News
June 15, 2009, 5:36 AM

NEW YORK -- In the first show, the duo, who also do a weekly BusinessWeek column and consulting, help the Hertz car rental company hash out an information technology issue using a Welch method known as a "work out."

Welch devised the process in the 1990s at GE. It pits people with a conflict across from each other at a table. The Welches ask questions to get to the heart of the issue. They go at it until the two sides come together on a solution.

"When (Microsoft CEO) Steve Ballmer called me and took me through what he was trying to do there with business-to-business, it sounded like fun," says Welch, who led GE from 1981 until 2001.

It's Everybody's Business is available here. Aimed at business IT executives, it was created by reality show producer Reveille Productions, maker of The Biggest Loser. The reality show builds on Microsoft's current "b-to-b" ad campaign, It's Everybody's Business by agency JWT, which also helped develop the show. Two more shows are in the works, but Microsoft would not disclose the subject companies.

"Marketing in business-to-business is hugely important to Microsoft's mission," says Gayle Troberman, Microsoft's general manager, advertising and customer engagement.

The tech giant spent $13 billion in sales and marketing in 2008. Traditionally, business-to-business efforts have received the bulk of the budget, but lately, the company has stepped up its consumer marketing. A new campaign by Crispin Porter + Bogusky helps Windows PCs take on Macs. And Microsoft search engine Bing, a Google rival, now is being promoted with teaser ads by JWT, with a full campaign to follow through the summer. New mobile phones are due in the fall.

But the consumer push is not coming at the expense of its business audience, Troberman says. "We've been invested with business-to-business audiences ... for decades now. It's a very significant investment. You'll see us continue to invest with consumer audiences as well, but not at the expense of continuing our dialogue with business."