Danielle Tiedt

Chief marketing officer at YouTube

• Born: c. 1975
• Place of Birth: Iowa

Primary Company/Organization: YouTube

Introduction

Danielle Tiedt is recognized in the technology industry as a marketing innovator who helped Microsoft Corporation launch and promote many of its successful computer networking and web-related products and services during her fifteen-year tenure with the industry behemoth. She is most closely associated with the roles she played in showcasing MSN and in launching the Bing search engine in 2009. Tiedt was recruited by Bing's main rival, Google, in February 2012 to head the search engine leader's marketing efforts for the popular online video-sharing service YouTube. She was brought in specifically to devise new and creative ways not only to position YouTube as the primary destination for original video content but also to make it extremely attractive to advertisers so that it will ultimately generate advertising revenue rivaling that traditionally seen in television.

Early Life

Danielle Tiedt is the daughter of two educators, Lowell and Ann Tiedt. She was raised in Anamosa, Iowa, a small city in the Cedar Rapids metropolitan area surrounded by rolling green hills, sprawling farms, and picturesque communities along the Wapsipinicon River. As a child, Tiedt excelled at hay-stacking and pig-wrestling competitions.

Tiedt attended Anamosa High School and graduated in 1993. After receiving her diploma, she moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to attend the University of Wisconsin. She majored in business administration and received a bachelor's degree with honors in that field in 1997. She was hired by Microsoft Corporation right out of college and moved to the Seattle area of Washington to begin what would be a fifteen-year career with the computer and new-technology industry giant.

Life's Work

When Tiedt joined Microsoft in 1997, it was just beginning to redefine its offerings and expand its product line into computer networking and the internet. Tiedt's main area of focus was to develop the company's cutting-edge products and market them to consumers. In connecting consumers to Microsoft's products, Tiedt consistently employed a straightforward data-driven approach derived from her formal business education and combined it with her personal passion for devising innovative new approaches to launching and promoting technology products. During her tenure at Microsoft, Tiedt was responsible for a US media budget in excess of $118 million and was a key player involved in approximately fifteen major product launches for various sectors of the company's business.

One of the product launches with which Tiedt was involved was the 2004 rollout of MSN's services, targeted at high-speed broadband users. The expanded offering included optimized content services, sophisticated communication tools, digital photo sharing, and comprehensive online security solutions. The successful launch of the revitalized MSN.com was critical to Microsoft Corporation's strategic shift to a purveyor of broadband services. Tiedt led the marketing charge, which included a yearlong US advertising and marketing campaign incorporating print, television, and online media as well as a rebirth of the brand's butterfly logo.

Two years later, in 2006, Tiedt led the marketing effort behind Microsoft's launch of Windows Live Academic Search, a specialized internet search service targeting researchers and other academics. The service searches the content of academic journals to find associated journal abstracts and enable easy extraction of information for citations. Although it was designed to compete with Google Scholar, it was expected to be less of a moneymaker and more of a component in Tiedt's broader effort to foster brand loyalty for Microsoft's burgeoning internet search services. At the same time, Tiedt recognized the importance of building a brand relationship with users of academic search engines. She identified a select group of librarians, academic researchers, and others from among the heavy users of Google Scholar and invited them to the Microsoft campus in Washington to preview the company's product and provide input on its development. The company also connected with top businesses in the reference arena, including industry association CrossRef and various academic publishers, during the development phases of Windows Live Academic Search. That type of relationship building is a signature strategy for Tiedt, who recognizes that connections are just as critical as cash in establishing the success of a product or service.

In 2009, Tiedt was responsible for launching another Google rival product, the search engine Bing. Backed by $100 million in advertising funds, Tiedt faced the uphill battle of creating a market need among users who seemed to be content with the leading search engines, Google and Yahoo! Essentially, she had to convince satisfied customers to switch their loyalties. The campaign was largely successful, and by 2012, Microsoft had secured some 15 percent of the US search market, slightly ahead of Yahoo! but still significantly behind Google, which held nearly 66 percent of the US search engine market. Microsoft Corporation put Tiedt in charge of a Bing rebranding effort. Tiedt helped take the brand's tagline in a more consumer-friendly direction, from “Decision Engine” to “Bing Is for Doing.”

Shortly after the Bing rebranding effort, Tiedt was recruited by Google to join the YouTube team as vice president of marketing. She switched to Microsoft's chief rival in February 2012. At that time, YouTube was in the midst of launching ninety-six entertainment channels designed to attract television-level advertising dollars. Tiedt was responsible for guiding those channel launches and building consumer loyalty for them, which in turn was expected to lure the support and funding of big-ticket advertisers.

Tiedt's hire signaled Google's larger focus on the consumer as a significant part in the overall success and growth of YouTube. Until early 2012, the YouTube brand was known primarily as a source of comical amateur videos that had gone viral. While YouTube was the top-ranked video-sharing site in the United States—with more than 150 million unique viewers—its parent company, Google, planned a major transformation. With Tiedt's help, Google sought to transform YouTube into a genuine entertainment brand and leading destination for original content, capable of serving as a desirable alternative to television and other forms of mainstream entertainment. In the past, the company's advertising and marketing efforts had centered on utilization of its service or platform. Google recognized that such an approach would not drive the change it was seeking for YouTube. Therefore, after months of searching for a marketing executive, the company decided that Tiedt's extensive experience with consumer-focused campaigns and heavy emphasis on building loyalty was the right mix to lead the rebranding effort for YouTube. Instead of persuading consumers to try a new product, as she had done with the Bing launch, Tiedt put her efforts into getting consumers to view an established and successful brand in an entirely new light. As chief marketing officer, a position she still held as of 2024, Tiedt helped YouTube grow by launching new projects such as the YouTube Kids app and YouTube Music. She also supported LGBTQ advertising efforts. In 2016, for example, she headed the launch of the #ProudToBe campaign, which focused on gender identity and sexuality acceptance. Viewership of YouTube has grown significantly since Tiedt was hired in 2012. By 2023, research showed that more than 868 million users worldwide were watching YouTube, with forecasts expecting that number to top one billion by 2026.

Personal Life

Tiedt lives in San Francisco, California, with her partner and her two children. While at Microsoft Corporation, she was a recipient of the company's Outstanding Contributor Award in recognition of her stellar work on multiple key projects.

In April 2012, it was reported that Tiedt was listed as an owner of the high-end handbag manufacturer Tradesrogue. Tiedt's then boyfriend, leather artisan and designer Nathaniel Smith, served a manager for the company. Allegations of impropriety were made when the company's handbags were featured at New York Fashion Week in 2011 as part of a Bing marketing event. While Tiedt properly disclosed her relationship with Smith in compliance with Microsoft's conflict-of-interest policies, the question about disclosure of her individual affiliation with Tradesrogue was posed.

Tiedt joined the board of trustees of the National 4-H Council in 2019. She served as a board member for Habitat for Humanity of Greater San Francisco in 2014.

Bibliography

Artero, Juan P. “Online Video Business Models: YouTube vs. Hulu.” Palabra Clave 13.1 (2010): 111–23. Web. 20 Aug. 2012.

Degenhard, J. "Number of YouTube Users Worldwide From 2020 to 2029." Statista, 30 Jan. 2024, www.statista.com/forecasts/1144088/youtube-users-in-the-world. Accessed 6 Mar. 2024.

Green, Lelia. The Internet: An Introduction to New Media. New York: Berg, 2010. Print.

Nasr, Dara. “With So Much Content on YouTube, How Do I Ensure My Marketing Stands Out?” 25 July 2012. Marketing. Web. 20 Aug. 2012.

Wasserman, Todd. “Why Microsoft Chose the Name ‘Bing.’” Brandweek 50.22 (2009): 33. Web. 20 Aug. 2012.

---. “You Tube.” Brandweek 47.37 (2006): M14–M17. Web. 20 Aug. 2012.