Welcome, Ms. Captain.
Name's Calvin.

Eschewing online-only shops, MSNBC.com tapped SS&K to run its brand efforts, renewing the site's marketing after a hiatus of about 11 years. MSNBC's marketing VP Catherine Captain told AdAge that she feared going with an interactive-focused shop "would predetermine my plan."

But many marketing efforts for websites have found that traditional media prices make a tough algebra for media firms looking to garner viewers that can be, in turn, sold to advertisers. Such efforts in the past have indeed led to what might be seen as a predestination. MSNBC's own past efforts included several groundbreaking online creative efforts, such as the daily creation of banners with current headlines running in a news ticker.

That Anderson & Lembke effort garnered a large online share of voice with a spend in the very low six figures. The new campaign may cost as much as $7 million, although Microsoft has a long history of claiming large media budgets that fail to materialize.