MSN launches another ad blitz to woo AOL members

NEW YORK: Microsoft Corp. said its MSN online service is spending $10 million

in its latest effort to woo away Internet subscribers from rival America Online,

a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc.

The latest online, print and direct mail campaign -- which starts on Tuesday

-- is an extension of efforts started last May when the software giant committed

$50 million in a "switching" campaign to gain market share from AOL,

the world's largest Internet service.

While AOL is far ahead of MSN with more than 34 million subscribers compared

to MSN's 7.7 million access subscribers, the software giant is trying hard to

narrow the gap.

"The other element we are adding for the first time includes a

technology element where we are offering some switching tools that make it very

easy for customers to switch from AOL to MSN," said Lisa Gurry, MSN product

manager. "People don't want to re-enter all their info ... These tools will

enable people to transfer their AOL address books, calendar and mailbox to the

new MSN service."

As part of the campaign, MSN is also willing to give those who switch $50

after they have spent three months with MSN. The $10 million campaign is

expected to last three months. "Since we launched our campaign (last May),

over 50 per cent of our new subscribers have come from AOL," Gurry said.

She declined to comment on how many new subscribers have been added as a result

of the campaign.

The campaign comes as AOL, a unit of AOL Time Warner, contends with a sharp

downturn in advertising spending, a slowdown in its dial-up Internet business

and slower-than-expected migration of its members to more expensive high-speed

Internet services. "We are looking at it as a long-term relationship (with

subscribers). We are certainly not giving (the service) away. It's an appealing

opportunity to try MSN," Gurry said.