From golf clubs to online encyclopedias

September 27, 1999

BY MICHAEL KRAUSS

This is one of an ongoing series of articles on interactive marketing leaders. They're the emerging leaders of an emerging marketing discipline.

Name, rank and serial number: Mark Young, 33, product marketing manager, Microsoft Encarta. B.A. from Illinois State University; MBA from Northwestern University's J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Started at Leo Burnett, became brand manager, golf clubs, Wilson Sporting Goods. Built Wilson's corporate Web site in 1993. Recruited by Microsoft to run Encarta.

Mantra: "Have a passion for how high-tech products solve people's problems."

What turned him on to Web marketing: Participated early, donating Wilson golf clubs as premiums for online promotions. In return, got surprisingly powerful customer information. "Made me a believer in the marketing power of the Web."

Why he likes his job: "Parents buy PCs to educate their children; Encarta helps fulfill the promise of the PC. If we do our job right, we're helping parents fulfill one of their highest needs. That's a great position."

Why Encarta succeeded where Britannica stumbled: "Britannica's old business model was extremely profitable, (but) they didn't understand how we could charge $100 for a product they sold for $3,000, and make money."

What he likes about Microsoft: "Love the people-great collection of individual talent. The vision is fabulous. When you have this many great people working toward a common goal, great things happen."

Biggest marketing challenge: "The pace. There's no traditional planning phase, execution phase, observation phase and reanalyze phase. The pace of innovation is phenomenal. We release a new encyclopedia every year, (and so) the pace (at which) we do everything-packaging, pricing, channel tactics, selling-is so condensed."

Advice to marketers moving to high-tech: "The transition isn't hard. We're just solving customer needs in a different way and at a different pace. We have a lot of packaged- goods people doing very well at Microsoft."

Bottom line: "Consumers do things differently as a result of technology. (For example,) there's a huge shift is how students are studying. Encarta is an example of a product that capitalizes on technology: It enables students to perform better, helping them find and synthesize information."

Michael Krauss is a partner with Diamond Technology Partners in Chicago.
He can be reached at news@ama.org.