Mich Mathews

Former senior vice president of Microsoft's Central Marketing Group

• Born: 1968
• Place of Birth: United Kingdom

Primary Company/Organization: Microsoft

Introduction

Hired in 1989, when Microsoft was well known in the computer industry but far from the household name it would become outside it, Mich Mathews-Spradlin rose through the ranks of marketing positions at Microsoft and became principally responsible for its public image in the 1990s and 2000s. She handled the transformation of founder Bill Gates's public image and focused strongly on creating subbrand identities for Microsoft properties such as Windows, Office, MSN, Bing, and the Xbox, rather than trying to create a consistent cross-brand identity.

Early Life

Michelle “Mich” Mathews-Spradlin was born in 1968 in the United Kingdom, and after graduating from high school at sixteen, she worked in an apprenticeship program with General Motors. This was followed by work with a British consulting firm, Text 100 Public Relations Consultancy, which led to her hiring by Microsoft.

Life's Work

Mathews-Spradlin joined Microsoft 1993, after four years of working as its UK consultant. She was placed at the head of Microsoft's Corporate Public Relations and became an officer in 1999. She continued to move up the ladder of Microsoft's marketing positions.

Mathews-Spradlin built numerous partnerships between the marketing and engineering teams at Microsoft, partnering with engineers to create measurement analytic and RM systems. Marketing insights were incorporated into the product development cycle. Public relations research events furthered relationship marketing, and Mathews-Spradlin oversaw integrated marketing endeavors in more than seventy countries.

Mathews-Spradlin was responsible for public relations during the Windows 95 launch, the most successful marketing campaign in Microsoft history. The launch centered on commercials using the Rolling Stones' hit “Start Me Up,” in reference to the program's Start button, which played a prominent, interface-defining role in the operating system. The rumor that Microsoft paid more than $10 million for the rights to use the song in the ad was in fact started by Mathews-Spradlin's people in order to increase the brand's premium image.

Mathews-Spradlin's work included the “I'm a PC” campaign, created by the Crispin Porter + Bogusky ad agency, which was a response to Apple's “I'm a Mac, I'm a PC” campaign. While Apple's campaign portrayed PCs as boring and stodgy, the I'm a PC campaign showed real-life PC users in interesting jobs, including celebrities such as Eva Longoria.

Mathews-Spradlin was also responsible for the makeover of Bill Gates's public image. Over time, Gates began to dress better and use personal stylists, assisting in his transition from a scruffy geek to a powerful businessman. Part of the inspiration for the transition was Gates's arrogant defiance during a Justice Department antitrust deposition leading up to the United States v. Microsoft suit; it was exactly that arrogance that Mathews-Spradlin needed to keep out of the public eye, and the new Gates was more humble and plainspoken. She was also responsible for the ads featuring Gates and Jerry Seinfeld together, which were widely criticized because of Gates's lack of television charisma and somewhat stilted presence. The ads ran for only a brief period, despite the cost of Seinfeld's involvement.

Mathews-Spradlin was featured in a number of articles and lists on women in powerful corporate or computer industry positions, including Newsweek's 10 Power Women Getting Ahead, Ad Age's 2009 list of Power Players, and Business Pundit's 25 Hottest Women in Business.

As senior vice president of Microsoft's Central Marketing Group, Mathews-Spradlin oversaw $1 billion in marketing expenditures annually, including marketing for the Xbox, Bing, and Windows. Key colleagues working with Mathews-Spradlin included Gayle Troberman, the general manager of Consumer Engagement and Advertising; Michael Delman, the corporate vice president of Global Marketing of the Interactive Entertainment Business (the Xbox); and David Webster, general manager of Brand Marketing.

When Kevin Turner joined Microsoft from Walmart in 2005 as its chief operating officer—wielding more influence than anyone but chief executive officer Steve Ballmer—Mathews-Spradlin lost her officer position. She announced her retirement in 2011, the same week as Microsoft's online marketing leadership summit Imagine 2011, amid a number of other resignations, including chief software architect Ray Ozzie, Server and Tools president Bob Muglia, Entertainment and Devices president Robbie Bach, chief financial officer Chris Liddell, Microsoft Business Division president Stephen Elop, global ad sales head Carolyn Everson, and Windows marketing chief Brad Brooks. Mathews-Spradlin's was one of the most surprising resignations; although Ozzie's was surprising given how much authority he had at the company, he had only been there for a few years. Mathews-Spradlin, on the other hand, was a fixture in Microsoft corporate culture, one of the few 1980s hires still working for the software giant. Mathews-Spradlin was replaced by Chris Capossela, formerly a senior vice president in charge of marketing in the Microsoft Office division, where he oversaw the launches of Office 2007 and Office 2010. Some have speculated that Mathews-Spradlin's resignation may have been related to a stagnation of the Microsoft brand under the leadership of CEO Ballmer, who many feel has failed to innovate the way Gates did.

Before retiring, Mathews-Spradlin's managed the transition as Microsoft reorganized its media relationships. Starcom Mediavest, part of the Publicis Groupe, was put in charge of global planning and strategy, as well as U.S. buying for the company. Universal McCann, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, handles buying duties outside the United States, having previously handled much of the company's North American spending. These new relationships were part of Mathews-Spradlin's ongoing effort to change Microsoft's agency model and marketing mix.

Just before her resignation, Mathews-Spradlin praised the launch of the Xbox Kinect, an accessory sensor that opened up new possibilities for game play. The sensors were promoted four months before their global launch, in a tour that let fans play with the Kinect before it was released and upload video of themselves doing so. By the time the Kinect appeared on the market, it had more than 4 million Facebook fans; 8 million units sold in the first two months.

Since Feburary 2015, Mathews-Spradlin has been a director of The Wendy's Company. She has also sat on the boards of a variety of companies and institutions, including Unilever (advisory board member, digital), The Wendy's Company, UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television, Caltech, and Jacana.

Personal Life

After resigning from Microsoft, Mathews-Spradlin relocated from Seattle to Los Angeles's Holmby Hills neighborhood, paying $11.5 million for the 12,000-square-foot home formerly owned by entertainment executive Dawn Ostroff. She is a fan of the animated television comedy The Simpsons, Justin Bieber, the movie The Hunger Games, the Angry Birds video game, the television series Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey, and soccer. She married Jason Spradlin in 2013.

Bibliography

Auletta, Ken. The Highwaymen: Warriors of the Information Superhighway. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1998. Print.

Edstrom, Jennifer. Barbarians Led by Bill Gates: Microsoft from the Inside: How the World's Richest Corporation Wields Its Power. New York: Henry Holt, 1998. Print.

Eichenwald, Kurt. “Microsoft's Lost Decade.” Vanity Fair Aug. 2012: n. pag. Print.

"Michelle 'Mich' J. Mathews-Spradlin." Wendy's, www.wendys.com/who-we-are/board-directors/michelle-mathews-spradlin. Accessed 6 Mar. 2024.