Microsoft Advertising Community

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Raymond Ness — Wed, 23 May 2012 23:14:24 GMT

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Contacting adCenter Support: Which Option is Right for You?

Tina Kelleher - MSFT — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:00:00 GMT

Being a bit of a pack rat when it comes to written communication, I typically will exhaust every online documentation option available to me before I’ll admit that I’ve hit a brick wall and will seek out a way to contact a company’s support staff. If I do hit that point, I often default to email because I like to have a chronologically-ordered paper trail of all correspondences so I can refer back to information if I need to later on. My husband, on the other hand, doesn’t...(read more)

MSN UK Launches Consumer Campaign: The "Best of Now"

Leena Shah - MSFT — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:13:00 GMT

MSN UK's executive producer Pete Clifton on our tireless quest to be “the best of now” for our millions of loyal readers.

When we relaunched MSN UK last November our focus was on more real-time coverage, along with great exclusives, high quality video and a better presence beyond the main website.

We can put a tick alongside a lot of these – we regularly switch to live coverage for anything from the Brits red carpet to Murdoch being carpeted by Leveson; our breaking news box delivers 24x7 updates from more than 600 media sources around the world; we publish original content and great video events every day; and MSN UK can now be found on mobile, iPad and our very own Xbox channel.

So far so good, and the feedback we gather from you suggests our commitment to fast updating and live coverage has really made a difference to your view of MSN UK.

Now it’s time to turn up the dial some more. Our site is the place to come to for “the best of now”, and we will soon reveal a classy new video to help get the message across too.

With so much happening across the web every second – stories published and updated, comments, recommendations, tweets, recommendations and even the odd poke – it can seem impossible to make sense of all the noise. And that’s where we come in.

Trending box

Our trending box will move to the top right of the homepage, and we have a newly developed “demand dashboard” that gives our team a real-time view of the latest trending topics across search and social networks.

With that dynamic data we will have our journalists in London (and other MSN newsrooms around the world) working around the clock to highlight these emerging topics and tell you why they are making waves. Click through to read about a topic and curated Twitter lists will provide you with a live insight into what other people are saying about the issue, as well as some really neat data visualisation to show you how different topics are getting hotter and colder.

Live voting

The homepage responds quickly to unfolding events and will include a live vote every day. This will deliver thousands of votes every hour and will give us great insight into the views of our readers.

Social voices

And finally, but by no means least, we are introducing our new stable of “socialvoices”. We have recruited a range of bright and challenging writers from Twitter who are geared up to respond on a daily basis to events as they happen. I hope these writers will provide plenty of opinion and insight, and give all our readers plenty to react to. Ahead of the launch we have published a few of these pieces as a trial, and they have created a real buzz.

@Queen_UK at the Chelsea Flower Show
My big fat geek wedding

Happening now and next

This will be filled with Tweets from writers on our homepage team and give our readers a regularly updating view of things that are happening across MSN UK.

Find out when we expect to publish our next exclusive; which pop star is coming to be interviewed, when we think court cases will start, when our live Wimbledon coverage begins….. you get the idea. I think this will be an excellent aid for our users, providing them insight into what we are doing and ensuring they return for more updates.

Put all these things together and they represent another bold step in our “best of now” mission. But it’s by no means the end of the journey; we have a whole bunch of new features that we will be unleashing on the site over the coming year.

In the meantime, please enjoy all that MSN UK has to offer. On our “best of now” page you will find more information about our plans, and also find out how “Now” you are. Go on give it a try!

All the best,

Pete,

Pete Clifton: MSN UK's Executive Producer

Microsoft Advertising and WPP’s 24/7 Media Announce Joint Online Advertising Partnership

Rik van der Kooi - MSFT — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:30:00 GMT

Earlier today, in partnership with WPP’s 24/7 Media, we announced a comprehensive partnership to connect our digital assets, the details of which can be found here. Our goal with this deal is simple: make it easier for our customers (both advertisers and publishers) to optimize the buying and selling of media online.

I’ve often said our industry needs to remove unnecessary points of friction and “walled gardens.” With this partnership, 24/7 Media and Microsoft are taking a big swing at breaking down those walls. When the integration of our pipes is complete, our market place will reduce friction, and streamline the process for media partners who buy online inventory, and improve yield for publishers who sell that inventory.

We made this deal with the needs of our marketing and publishing customers in mind. Marketers have continually told us that they need to get their hands on premium quality inventory at-scale with less friction. Conversely, our publishers’ have told us they need greater access to demand.

For advertisers specifically, this agreement, which combines premium publishing inventory from both Microsoft and Real Media Group, helps them reach consumers with less friction and at unprecedented scale. For publishers, the partnership gives 24/7 Open AdStream’s clients access to the Microsoft Advertising Exchange, which is designed specifically for the needs of premium publishers. In addition, WPP will utilize Atlas as a preferred buy-side ad server and promote Atlas to its clients. WPP will also become a part of the Atlas Technology Partner Alliance for DSP program.

Today is the first step of a continuing journey we are on to make it easier for both marketers and publishers to unlock and increase the value of online media. We’re very happy to partner with 24/7 Media on this deal and will share more details about the pending rollout of this agreement over the coming months. Stay tuned.

Register for the Bing Tools Webinar on June 14th – New Advertisers Get $75 in Free Search Advertising | #ppc #sem

Tina Kelleher - MSFT — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:00:00 GMT

Kick off the summer season with new online strategies to drive more business to your site. Join this webinar to learn how you can take full advantage of all the online marketing solutions Bing has to offer. During this one-hour session, you'll learn how Bing tools can help you: Quickly improve your website's rank on Bing and Yahoo! Search results pages. Make sure your site "gets found" by the customers you want. Drive immediate traffic to your site through flexible pay-per-click search...(read more)

Série Portant sur le Comparatif des Fonctionnalités – Rapports de Performance en France #bingyahoo #yahoo

Simone Schuurer - MSFT — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:31:00 GMT

Le 18 avril, nous avons commencé à transférer le trafic adCenter vers Yahoo! Et désormais l'intégralité des annonces diffusées sur Yahoo!, Bing et nos sites partenaires est issue de la plateforme adCenter* Puisqu'il s'agit d'un nouveau type de plateforme, il est sans doute intéressant pour vous de savoir quels sont les rapports à votre disposition et dans quelle mesure les rapports adCenter diffèrent de ceux que vous utilisiez sur Yahoo! et Adwords.

Rapports sur les requêtes de recherche

Ce rapport est l'un de mes préférés, car vous pouvez l'utiliser pour découvrir les requêtes effectuées par les internautes sur Bing et Yahoo! qui ont généré l’affichage de votre annonce. Il s'agit également d'un outil très pratique pour affiner vos listes de mots clés et vos ensembles de mots clés négatifs. Le rapport sur les requêtes de recherche est une nouveauté par rapport à Yahoo! ; les nouveaux clients qui commencent à utiliser adCenter peuvent s'en servir sans attendre.

Vous le trouvez dans adCenter, sous l'onglet Rapports, en sélectionnant search query performance (Performances de la requête de recherche) dans la première liste déroulante. Nous publierons prochainement un article sur le blog à ce sujet.

Rapports sur les performances des annonceurs

Dans le rapport sur les performances des annonceurs d'adCenter, vous pouvez voir les sites de notre réseau sur lequel vos annonces sont diffusées et utiliser ces informations afin d'optimiser vos campagnes

Analyse des campagnes et suivi des conversions

Microsoft adCenter propose actuellement un outil d’ Analyse des campagnes et la fonctionnalité de suivi des conversions au niveau des campagnes.

Lors du transfert depuis Yahoo!

En utilisant le portail de transition dans votre compte Yahoo! Search Marketing, vos paramètres de suivi des conversions ont été importés dans adCenter. Vous devez toutefois vous assurer que le Suivi des conversions est bien activé pour chacune de vos campagnes adCenter, car le suivi de conversion n'est pas automatiquement activé. Vous n’êtes en revanche pas obligé de marquer vos sites avec des balises adCenter.
À l'instar du produit Full Analytics de Yahoo!, l'outil Analyse des campagnes d'adCenter vous fournit des informations à propos des activités des visiteurs du site consécutives au fonctionnement de vos campagnes de recherche sponsorisée (revenus générés par les conversions, coûts publicitaires et autres comportements des visiteurs du site).

Ressources et publications connexes:

* Pour information : vous ne pouvez pas exclure l'un ou l'autre moteur de recherche; il s'agit d'un seul support.

Sky’s the limit for UK Broadcaster’s Mobile Search Campaign

Leena Shah - MSFT — Tue, 22 May 2012 10:02:00 GMT

Hot off the press – discover how Microsoft Advertising UK increased Sky’s mobile traffic 133% through a mobile search campaign.

Sky operates the most comprehensive multi-channel, multi-platform television service in the UK and Ireland, with over 10.4 million households across the UK and Ireland enjoy a market-leading choice of movies, news, entertainment, arts and sports channels.

Campaign Objective:

With technology, specifically mobile devices, increasingly playing a prominent role in consumers’ everyday lives, Sky sought to optimise its ongoing search engagement by creating targeted campaigns for mobile to complement its already successful browser-based/web-based PC campaigns.

Sky aimed to increase the volume of traffic to its website and drive high-quality click-throughs from mobile devices where searchers could either make a new purchase from Sky’s wide range of products, or choose to upgrade their existing Sky package.

Campaign Approach:

Search marketing has always been an important element of Sky’s online marketing strategy. To date, it had used hybrid Search campaigns which targeted both desktop computers and mobile devices using the same keyword engagement. With Sky’s current and prospective customers becoming increasingly active on mobile devices, this helped Sky identify an opportunity to increase the value of their mobile Search traffic.

To achieve this goal, Sky decided to build out a secondary search strategy that focused on optimising mobile traffic.By utilising Microsoft adCenter’s unique targeting tools, Sky created mobile-specific campaigns that reflected the unique behaviour of Bing’s mobile Search audience. Creating mobile-only campaigns allowed them to benefit from the following:

Increased visibility – the ability to track mobile campaign performance separately gave Sky greater management of the campaign, meaning that it could optimise bids, keyword lists and ad copy without affecting its already successful desktop campaigns
Separate bids and budgeting – having separated budgets and bids allowed Sky to adjust according to ROI

Campaign Results:

The search optimisation process significantly increased the amount of quality traffic that Sky’s website received and dramatically achieved greater click-throughs:

Mobile traffic has increased by 133% since the bespoke mobile campaigns were launched
Mobile click-throughs were on an average 69% higher than on Desktop specific campaigns
Average CPC across mobile is 30% lower than PC

“The delivery of targeted individual PC and mobile campaigns is vital to reach and engage with consumers who are living in a world where their online behaviour is influenced by the device they’re using. By integrating Microsoft adCenter into our keyword targeting to create mobile-specific campaigns, we’ve achieved outstanding results in increasing website traffic and mobile click-throughs.” Helen Southgate, Online Marketing Controller – Strategy & Planning, Sky

Windows 8 – What Media Agencies and Advertisers Often Ask

Rory Otterburn - MSFT — Tue, 22 May 2012 08:44:00 GMT

I’ve been demoing Microsoft’s Windows 8 consumer preview to several UK media agencies and clients on my new Samsung tablet Series 9 (a piece of kit designed for windows 7) over the last few weeks, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

My demos started off as 15 minute slots at the end of meetings to showcase exciting nuggets into the future. Though, as more excitement builds around the operating system and more information around the product has been released, I’m continuously being asked to present in greater detail on the changes in the consumer’s experience the operating system will bring, the impact we expect it to have on the industry and also what this means for advertisers.

I thought that I would try and answer a few of the FAQs I receive from the advertising world:

Q: What type of ads and formats will Microsoft support for Windows 8 applications?

A: Microsoft will support a wide range of standard ad formats designed to enable specific types of ads for different applications and experiences. The ad formats will vary from standard display formats, such as the popular 300x250 banner, to immersive rich media ad solutions that are currently in development. More information on this will be coming soon.

Q: Will Microsoft Advertising allow advertisers to manage campaigns regionally or globally?

A: Advertisers will be able to continue to manage their in-app campaigns following the same business rules that apply today on the Web.

Q: What type of ads experiences will be available?

A: Windows 8 will support a variety of ad experiences, including textual, static image, rich media and video.

Q: Is Microsoft Advertising the sole advertising network to offer ‘ads in Windows 8’ to advertisers?

A: No. While we feel Microsoft Advertising can provide the best mix of developer experience, yield and advertiser reach, Microsoft is committed to enabling application developers to have a choice in their advertising provider and also Windows 8 application developers have the option to choose their preferred ad network.

Q: Is advertising the only option Microsoft is providing Windows 8 application developers to monetize their applications?

A: No. Windows 8 will provide a number of ways for application developers to monetize their Windows 8 applications, advertising is one of these options.

Q: Who shall the agency or advertiser contact to learn more?

A: We will provide agencies and advertisers more information in the future. To stay up to date, please visit www.windowsadvertising.com

Why not get started on Windows 8 for yourself? Download the consumer preview and let us know what you think: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/consumer-preview. Or watch Tami Reller, Chief Marketing Officer of Windows, gives the crowd at CES 2012 a demo of the Windows 8 preview during the Microsoft keynote.

Take a look at Windows 8

Stay tuned for more updates coming soon!

Rory

SES Toronto: Come Check Out the adCenter New Features Lab – Register Now with Our Discount Code

Tina Kelleher - MSFT — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:36:00 GMT

SES Toronto is quickly approaching! This year, it’ll be held at the Hyatt Regency Toronto from June 11th-13th. If you haven’t registered yet, there’s no time like the present; be sure to use discount code MADC20 to receive 20% off the price of your all-access pass. The adCenter New Features Lab This year at SES Toronto, be sure to stop by the adCenter New Features Lab where Paul Corkery and John Gagnon will showcase some of the latest technology and features. This is a great...(read more)

Cannes Lions 2012 - Follow Advertising’s Next Chapter #MSACannes

Mel Carson - MSFT — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:01:00 GMT

In just four weeks, thousands of creatives, advertisers, marketers and agencies will descend on Cannes, in the South of France, for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Birds Eye Bing Map of La Croisette

2012 is the 11th year we’ve proudly sponsored the event and it just keeps getting better and more digitally focused.

This June, we’ll be on the ground in force with a myriad of activities including participating on the main stage with our seminar – “Device Love” presented by Microsoft CMO – Chris Capossela – and a festival forum, where delegates will get a peek into the future of interactive TV with the head of Xbox Advertising and Entertainment - Ross Honey.

We’ll also be hosting festival-goers in our Digital Lounge in the Palais, where they’ll be able to chill with a coffee, play the latest Xbox games, Skype home and handle some of the latest phones, slates and PCs on the market.

If you haven’t got a ticket to one of advertising’s hottest events, don’t worry because our team will be blogging, Tweeting, updating our Facebook page and creating videos to share with you via our Cannes Lions 2012 microsite!

So make sure you bookmark that link on your device, follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page to keep up with our crescendo, as we write advertising’s next chapter on the Cote d’Azur this summer.

Our all-important hashtag for the festival is #MSACannes so stay tuned for more very soon!

A bientôt

@MelCarson

Online Learning Trends & Client Center Solutions

Steve Hanvey - MSFT — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:13:00 GMT

Online training has been developing as an integral part of the learning landscape at businesses globally for some time now. Atlas has also invested heavily in its service and support offering in the shape of Client Center.

Client Center continues to demonstrate strong growth in all areas, specifically: active users, monthly searches and completed training courses as seen below.

Online training will continue to grow and develop with such strong backing. The following trends are particularly relevant to our clients:

· Flexible learning drives efficiencies: Modularised online training allows users to learn at their desks in smaller chunks, providing positive business impact on cost and operational efficiency.

· Churn + Classroom = Lag: Due to churn, there is constant need for current and continuous role-based training. Companies who want to deploy new technologies quickly and efficiently will require users to gain new skills without the lag of classroom-based training.

· Truly globalized: Online training continues to remove the boundaries and barriers to specialized learning by truly globalizing access and standardizing essential skills-based training. In a global economy it is essential that every collaborator in the process is on the same page at the same time. Online learning affords a company the best chance to get up to speed on a new technology all at the same time, without the limitations of geography, travel, expenses, and limited classroom sizes.

· Engaging interactivity: Technology has pushed forward experiential learning and users now benefit from interactive, engaging education rather than stale classroom scenarios.

· Work and learn anywhere: In an age of the flexible work anywhere culture, online training plays an essential leading part. Role and skills based programs can be experienced from the comfort of a living room or internet café, adding value to the users work-life balance and smashing traditional boundaries to learning.

Experience the future of learning yourself at:

https://advertising.microsoft.com/client-center/home

https://advertising.microsoft.com/europe/client-center/home

Thanks,
Steve

How Fast is Your Smartphone? #SmokedByWindowsPhone

Mel Carson - MSFT — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:36:47 GMT

Bit of Friday fun for you!

Do you remember we talked to Ben Rudolph a few weeks back about the Windows Phone and how well it had bee received by tech critics?

Well recently he posted about their Smoked By Windows Phone challenge and the numbers behind that awesome campaign and they’re impressive.

Read his full post for all the stats, but know that the team estimate more than 100,000,000 people have seen or heard about the challenge through social media.

Pretty impressive huh?

Now watch the video and see how the Windows Phone stacks up against the latest iPhone in all round swiftness!

Cheers and have a great weekend!

@MelCarson

Video: Going Beyond 10 Blue Links with Bing

Mel Carson - MSFT — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:46:00 GMT

As we mentioned on Twitter last week, the Bing team have been busy over recent months bringing a new experience to Bing users to help them do more.

In this behind-the-scenes video you’ll hear the inside story from Online Services President Qi Lu and his team as they explain the new features and how Microsoft is taking search “beyond 10 blue links”.

“Like” what you see? The please “Like” it above or share with your followers!

Cheers

@MelCarson

Reminder: Upgrade to Adintelligence v.8 Before the End of May

Tina Kelleher - MSFT — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:10:06 GMT

If you didn't see last month's post on enhancements to AdIntellignece for API users, there was some info in there about an action you'll need to take before this month is out. As we've hit the half-way mark in May, now is probably a good time to post this quick reminder:

KSP 5.5 and 6.0 API Deprecation

Please note that KSP 5.5 and 6.0 are being deprecated and API users need to move to AdIntelligence v8.
As an adCenter API user, to continue to take advantage of Ad Intelligence make sure you code to API V8 as applications coded to earlier KSP API versions will not function after May 30^th
How to Move to V8

Feel free to leave a comment with any questions!

Insiders Tips for #Social and #SEO Success from #SMX London

Simone Schuurer - MSFT — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:43:00 GMT

Got up two mornings in a row at 6AM and it’s taken two strong coffees to appreciate that the sun is shining today. However (and how nerdy have I become!?) the first SMX session ‘Social shares, the new link building’ woke me up and cheered me up to no end. There must be many of you -tucked away in an office somewhere- that are the only one in their office dealing with PPC, SEO or social. Isn’t it nice to meet colleagues that a similar job to you at a conference & discuss...(read more)

SMX London 2012: The New Behavioral Ads With Retargeting & Remarketing #SMX

Nadia Hamraie - MSFT — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:28:00 GMT

Who hasn’t been a victim of retargeting or remarketing ads? Most of you must have had ads following your user journey and it works… As a marketer, it’s always good to learn about new techniques and not miss out on the opportunity to build stronger relationships with your customers and drive conversions. We are at the SMX event in the Famous Chelsea Football Club in one of the most modern conference centres in London and the first panelist on stage is Guy Levine, CEO, Return...(read more)

Data Driven Marketing: Learn to Save Time and Resources in Upcoming Webinar

Lori Goode - MSFT — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:27:40 GMT

How much time do you spend pulling campaign reports, formatting them, and sharing them with your stakeholders? And how many data sources do you have to include? How quickly can you make time-sensitive creative or media optimization decisions for live campaigns?

If you’re like many agency and advertisers we know, these are among the greatest challenges in our world of data driven marketing.

That’s why we’ve partnered with Praxinet, a leading provider of Microsoft-based software solutions, to bring Business Intelligence to Atlas clients in a simple and scalable way, hosted for you in the cloud.

Atlas will be holding a webinar on Tuesday, May 22 to introduce you to Praxinet’s Atlas+ Enterprise Hosted solution, which provides new media data management, analytics, and dashboarding hosted in Microsoft Azure.

This solution addresses many of the data challenges marketers face today:

Data Management, across channels and disparate data sources
Share timely, relevant data with various stakeholders
Save time and resources in tedious data pulling, analyzation and formatting
Make quick optimization decisions across creative, media, and budget performance

Find out how easy it is to get up and running with a comprehensive data management solution in no time!

For an invite to the Atlas+ Enterprise client webinar, please reach out to your Atlas account representative. For those that can’t attend, we’ll post the webinar to Client Center for viewing at your convenience.

Webinar details
Date: Tuesday 22nd May 2012

Time: 2:00 pm (EST); 11:00 am (PST)

Duration: 30 minutes

Thanks,

Lori

@AtlasAdvertiser | Atlas on Facebook

SMX London 2012: Complying and Coping In the New World of Regulated Global Marketing Environment

Nadia Hamraie - MSFT — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:28:00 GMT

The EU’s cookie and tracking legislation is an onerous policy that limits online marketing. US lawmakers are contemplating sweeping changes to intellectual property law that will stifle access and the flow of information. What’s a marketer to do? In this session, our panelists provided marketers some tips on how to comply to new and proposed regulations that limit relationships with your online customers and users. Our first panelist, Andy Atkins-Krueger, Group CEO, WebCertain ...(read more)

How to Seduce Seven Types of Searchers with Great #PPC Ad Copy #SMX

Simone Schuurer - MSFT — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:24:00 GMT

Welcome to London: it is pouring with rain and the tube doesn’t work. When the district line does reluctantly grinds to a halt at Fulham Broadway it only takes minutes to reach SMX London which is taking place in the home of Chelsea Football Club, Stamford Bridge. Luckily my lack of knowledge of the offsite rule doesn’t matter today as we’re in the company of international search specialists instead off blue-shirted sportsmen. The first session we attend to cover with a blog...(read more)

Interested in Accessing the adCenter API? Here’s How to Get Started

Janet Micka - MSFT — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:14:00 GMT

Before you can begin to use the adCenter API, you will need a developer token and a user account that has the API user role.

The following flow chart walks you through the the basic steps needed to get an account and the credentials you will need to access the adCenter API.

1. Set up account.

2. Request credentials.

For more detailed information about the onboarding process , see Getting Started with the adCenter API.

If you have any questions or comments, please visit the adCenter Forum.

Brooks Running Finds Success with Bing and Yahoo! Search

Maryn Juergens - MSFT — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:31:00 GMT

Want to know if advertising on Bing and Yahoo! Search actually supplies a great ROI for your SMB’s marketing dollars? Don’t just trust us - trust your fellow SMB customers. The proof was in the numbers for Doug Rosenberg, Online Traffic & Loyalty Manager for Brooks Sports. Check out the video below to hear about Doug’s experience. If you want to hear more from Doug, you can check out his written testimonial and read stories from other small and medium businesses who have found success with search...(read more)

FREE Limited Time Accreditation!

Ricky Poole - MSFT — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:05:00 GMT

The best things in life are FREE!! Are you ready to become a Microsoft Advertising Accredited Professional ? For a limited time we are offering FREE accreditation so don’t hesitate, sign up and take the exam today by following this link and clicking “Sign Up” at the bottom of the page. Becoming a Microsoft Advertising Accredited Professional will give you the tools and resources you need to become an expert and get the most out of Microsoft adCenter. Upon earning member status...(read more)

UK Premium Ad Formats Research

Tim Lumb - MSFT — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:11:00 GMT

The IAB’s Rising Stars formats were selected for their potential to drive brand equity at scale. But marketers and planners want to know how they compare to the current ‘go-to’ standard formats for branding at scale such as the MPU.

Why? Because nowadays it is all about ROI not risk. The new formats are more expensive to buy, so the market needs evidence to justify that price premium and discover their true value in brand storytelling.

What we did

We recruited three groups of 600 people.

Group 1: exposed to the premium formats
Group 2: exposed the same campaign, but in standard formats (MPUs)
Group 3: the control group, exposed to completely unrelated campaigns in standard formats

Our 1,800 people tested a handful of premium format creative that have run on the MSN Homepage in the UK: 3 x Billboard ads, 4 x Filmstrip ads and 1 x Pushdown ad.

The study took place over two sessions. The first session was positioned as a ‘User Experience’ questionnaire, with the second session taking place three days later. The second session was about the sectorrelated to the advertising that they had the opportunity to see during the first session. E.g. if they saw an automotive creative, the second survey was about ‘car manufacturers’. It wasn’t explicit to respondents that we were really interested in their reactions to the advertising, and the three day delay gives a clear sense of what is truly remembered.

So let’s look at the recall metrics:

The premium formats are show to be more effective than the standard formats, especially in with regards to consideration (twice as effective, from 3% to 6%) and opinion (two-and-a-half times more effective than standard formats). In terms of creative evaluation, the premium formats outperformed standard across all measures, especially in differentiation, click intent and purchase intent.

The uplifts here represent the increase in levels of agreement with statements. E.g. Click intention = agreement with the statement “This ad makes me want to click on it”. The final piece measured respondents’ attention levels and areas of focus during the crucial first eight seconds after they land on the MSN Homepage.

The premium formats attract the attention of an additional 32%of MSN homepage visitors compared to the average of standard formats. Why?

Some of this will be down to the ‘shock of the new’ – consumers are not yet completely familiar with the premium formats. Premium formats are also larger, with enhanced functionality, enabling brands to deliver their stories in more imaginative, content-rich ways. By acting now, brands can capitalise on this differentiation, and the associated high levels of attention. And in the mid- to long-term, premium formats will be deliverable across many devices.

Finally – some advice. Our research found all the campaigns we tested delivered strong increases in attention levels. However not all campaigns successfully transformed the higher attention levels into strong brand uplifts. This tells us that creative execution remains fundamental for driving brand equity.

Download the Microsoft Advertising UK Premium Adformats Research PDF now

For more information contact msastudy@microsoft.com

Tim

4 Tips for Digital Storytelling Success from Matt Walsh from Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Mel Carson - MSFT — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:26:00 GMT

Now the local winners of our Story Awards have been announced and the process of assessing all the entries for the grand prize of a trip to Cannes Lions is underway, we caught up with one of our global judges - Matt Walsh, VP / Executive Experience Director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky – and asked him about bringing brands to life through digital and how to best tell their stories using online marketing.

Watch this 3 minute video in which Matt explains his four tips for digital storytelling success!

Agree? Got any to add? Please comment below and let us know!

Cheers

@MelCarson

Take the Test: Integrating Creativity with Social Media

Lucas Pickett - MSFT — Mon, 14 May 2012 03:35:45 GMT

This post is cross-linked from the Global Microsoft Advertising Blog

For most of us, social media has become an integrated part of our daily lives and has changed the way we interact with not only each other but with businesses and organisations. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Skype are a few examples of social networks that have been around for a relatively short period of time and all of which have enjoyed a phenomenal rate of growth and adoption all over the world. Facebook recently announced that it had 845m monthly active users at the end of December and Twitter passed 500m users recently. Worldwide, eMarketer estimates that there will be 1.66 billion users of social networks in 2013 with that figure rising 11.6% to 1.85 billion in 2014¹.

Personally, I am on various social media sites, as are all of my friends. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Hotmail are usually my first destinations online when I log in at home and are permanent fixtures in my internet browser although my homepage is Bing. This is an interesting behaviour I have noticed amongst my friends, although social media sites are often one of the first destinations they are not set as homepages which tend to be portals, search, or news sites.

Additionally, thanks to the increasing capabilities and development of mobile devices and apps, logging into social media sites and checking what my friends have been up to is a regular occurrence on my train journeys to and from work.

So whilst browsing online, I see various forms of advertising on social sites as well as on portals and homepages. Personally, the larger more creative formats are much more engaging and appealing than smaller text based ads on social sites, but the value of social is too much to ignore. So a solution that combines the two, such as the Hyundai campaign by Microsoft (more on that later), gives you the strong appeal that creative campaigns offer as well as utilizing the power of social media in one solution.

The impact of large ad formats has been independently validated in a recent study by MediaMind. It identified homepage takeovers as one of five ad formats that deliver the best results online, finding that this particular format had a dwell rate that was 32% higher than polite banners.

Key to social marketing is gaining word of mouth and recommendations are also a powerful tool. If I see one of my friends post an article, a link to a video or a link to a cool new product/service I instantly become interested. I’ll take the time to research further by looking at the webpage they’ve posted, watching the video clip or reading the article. It also works just as well in the other direction for me, if I’m looking for recommendations before going through with a purchase I’ll often post on my social networks asking for advice on a particular purchase decision or for more information in general.

I’m not talking about all of my Facebook ‘friends’ here, more precisely I’m talking about views and opinions from influential contacts such as close friends and family that can offer trusted and valuable information. Information from these groups becomes much more significant to me because of the connections I have with close friends and family, I know their tastes and interests and can make an informed decision whether or not they align with my tastes and interests. I am not alone as this was a key finding in a recent Talking Brands Study conducted by Microsoft.

Here at Microsoft Advertising, we’re recognising that people are changing the way they behave online and coming up with innovative and exciting new ways to cater for these changes. The New Thinker’s Index for Hyundai is a particularly good example; it allows the user to share their experience through social media with their friends and family as well as enhancing the experience for themselves.

The New Thinker’s Index, running across MSN, Xbox, Messenger, Mobile, Tablet and Social, is an interactive, digital experience that aims to index the way we think and look at new perspectives on our current thinking (see Jonathan Oliver’s blog for the full details). Users can explore the Index through the rich media environment of MSN by taking the test itself, watching various video clips or reading through fascinating articles.

Microsoft sites were the media behind social integrating Facebook, for users to share their ‘Thought Visualiser’ on completion of the test. This enabled friends and family to take the test and compare results. Users can also further deepen the experience by joining the New Thinker’s Index Facebook group where they can participate in live debates on the hot topics of the moment as well as having access to interesting articles and videos.

This social integration was exactly how a number of my friends found out about the campaign, from me posting it on my wall, as I was intrigued to see where they mapped on the index. For me, this is a great example of innovation at Microsoft Advertising as consumers such as myself can enjoy a deep, engaging digital experience that this campaign delivered and hook my friends and family into the same experience.

This is one of many examples of how highly engaging strong creative campaigns can be enhanced by sharing experiences in social media. Why not try the test yourself and compare your results to your friends on Facebook.

Make sure to take the test for yourself and see what type of thinker you and your friends are!

¹eMarketer.com, Social Network Audience February 2012

Lucas Pickett – EMEA Insights and Analytics

Microsoft Advertising Community

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