Frank Shaw on corporate communication
From Marketing Excellence - Resetting the Microsoft Image Agenda - Frank Shaw - 2010/04 · · WalkingCat
“We have to start from a basis of simplicity. You know, we can't we're never going to get across more than three messages. People don't absorb more than three messages. Probably even fewer than that. You know, one would be better. So we have to design for from a storytelling standpoint, from a simplicity stamp simplicity because it's going to get more complicated it go as it goes along.”
On , Frank Shaw, Chief Communications Officer at Microsoft, spoke about corporate communication during Marketing Excellence - Resetting the Microsoft Image Agenda - Frank Shaw - 2010/04 on WalkingCat.
About Frank Shaw
In a 2010 internal talk, Shaw discussed Microsoft's brand image, describing Windows 7 as having "saved the company" by demonstrating its ability to deliver a quality operating system on time. He characterized Google as having an "Achilles heel" of "arrogance" and accused the company of lying about its user numbers. Shaw stated that Microsoft was "making a bet on citizenship" as a long-term branding strategy, even though it did not "dramatically move the brand" in the short term. He identified the U.S. Marine Corps as a brand he admired for its authenticity and the Dallas Cowboys as one he disliked for representing "arrogance." In a 2026 podcast, Shaw discussed the role of AI in public relations, arguing that the profession "really hasn't changed" but now has "better tools." He said he does not view AI as a cost-cutting measure but as a way to address work that currently cannot be done due to resource constraints. Shaw stated that communications professionals must become accustomed to working with "agents" that have "unique talents," managing them similarly to human team members. He noted that AI allows practitioners to "get information more rapidly" and "process information more rapidly," but emphasized that they must still make time to "sit and think about it."