Microsoft sent social media duties for its modern life and devices brands to Seattle-based VMLY&R West, multiple parties confirmed.
Spokespeople for both Microsoft and VMLY&R declined to comment.
The agency will handle social media responsibilities for all brands within this categories for Microsoft. According to sources close to the matter, the contract is worth around $3 million annually. Modern life appears to be an area Microsoft will focus on more in the future, so there also may be room for the account to grow.
As noted in ZDNet, the company recently announced plans to introduce new consumer-focused apps in areas like gaming after killing off its music service and its fitness tracker and acknowledging that its business is far stronger in the B2B realm. The work assigned to VMLY&R is an attempt to pivot away from that.
This agency move also comes about a little over a year after Microsoft opted to retain Dentsu Aegis Network as its global media agency of record. The company then unveiled the initial stages of a rebrand and redesign last November—again as part of an effort to better connect with consumers and avoid being known as a primarily B2B company.
On the VMLY&R front, that shop was named digital agency of record for social suite Sprinklr back in January, at the time the latest in a string of recent new business wins that included vitamin company Nature’s Bounty and Sundown Naturals and (most oddly) Thrivent Mutual Funds, a Minneapolis-based company offering investment advice to Christians.
Patrick Coffee contributed reporting to this story.