Microsoft will put an estimated $400 million behind its marketing push for Windows XP, which will launch on Oct. 25.
In a written statement, the company vowed that XP would be the "biggest Windows marketing event in Microsoft history --doubling the investment of the Windows 95 launch in the first four months of product availability alone." Microsoft put $200 million behind the much-hyped Windows 95 release. Subsequent Windows releases have received much more subdued backing.
The effort coincides with Microsoft's $500 million marketing push for its Xbox game console. In total, the company will spend close to $1 billion in advertising this fall for those two products. McCann-Erickson will handle advertising out of its New York and San Francisco offices.