Microsoft Advertising Community

Boundless Productivity: Computing and Printing On-the-Go for SMBs

Melissa Zieger - Guest Blogger — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:48:31 GMT

If the last two decades were defined by the explosion of personal computing, the current decade will be defined by a great untethering. Now, you are free to work from anywhere, print from virtually anywhere and expand your productivity through the broadband wireless revolution and the devices that have grown out of it.

Mobile devices

Devices like smartphones are built for mobile multitasking, featuring full keyboards, 4G speed and web browser capability—all in a package small enough to fit in your back pocket (with room to spare). Laptops round out the personal computing options that can help you become—and stay—mobile.

Web-connected printers and mobile printing features

This new generation of mobile devices is supported by a network of complementary web-connected printers and wireless printing features that let you virtually print from anywhere to anywhere. Printers are now multi-functioning with features like ePrinting— allowing them to connect to the Internet directly and letting you print from anywhere with a web connection by emailing the printer’s unique email address.

With new tools and new technology available, web-connected printers can now provide extra benefits:

Save time: Attach your document to an email and hit send so it will be waiting in your print tray when you arrive in the office.
Streamline workflow: Save precious seconds while you’re on the go by sending information directly to in-house staff or colleagues working in satellite locations.
Improve client relationships: Share your printer’s email address with visiting clients and let them print important documents without the tedious process of installing software.
Work from anywhere: Print and share travel itineraries, directions, purchase confirmations and more, right from your mobile device.
Print when out-of-range of your wireless network: Print remotely from your smartphone using products like HP’s ePrint-enabled printers.

Thanks for reading,

Melissa Zieger

Melissa Zieger (@HP_SmallBiz) is the editor-in-chief of HP's SMB blog, 367 Addison Avenue and a worldwide public relations manager for HP's Personal Systems Group.

David Sable from Y&R on Best Bets for 2012 – #AdVision

Shelby Healy - MSFT — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:40:00 GMT

In this edition of AdVison, our very own Mel Carson looks into the crystal ball with Y&R’s David Sable on what to expect for 2012.

“Storytelling is getting much more important,” Sable said. With the increasing number of advertising channels entering the market so rapidly, advertisers must now carefully consider how to captivate their audiences without getting lost in the shuffle.

Listen in on what Sable has to say on the return to great storytelling and how you can begin penning your own great brand narrative destined for a happy ending:

Also, be sure to bring your storytelling magic to the first ever Microsoft Advertising Story Awards, where you can win a VIP trip to the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. Need even more inspiration? Be sure to visit our brand new advertising site chock full of case stories, research and more!

Stay Curious, Storytellers!

Shelby Healy – Microsoft Advertising

Finding Lost Impressions with the Share of Voice Report in Microsoft Advertising adCenter

Joel Davis - MSFT — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:00:00 GMT

It’s frustrating. You go to your local hardware store (or super-store) to buy some screws to fix that loose kitchen cabinet door, and you buy one of those handy packages of 10. You only need eight, so that should take care of it. Back at home you open the bag – and count out seven, yes, seven screws. You paid for 10, you got seven. You’re feeling…well…frustrated. Now imagine that you’ve spent a goodly amount of advertising budget on your online search campaign...(read more)

British advertisers: get ready to benefit from a combined Yahoo! and Bing audience by April.

Cedric Chambaz - MSFT — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:39:00 GMT

As we initiated the Microsoft and Yahoo! Search Alliance, we committed to offer each of our customers a quality transition towards the newly formed combined market place. For that reason, we are providing you on this blog with regular updates on the progress we make, and some guidance on how to prepare for the transition. For instance, when we initiated mid-January to test the delivery of paid search results from adCenter on a small percentage of Yahoo! traffic in France and the UK, we encouraged adCenter customers to closely monitor their campaigns and to be prepared to increase their budget if it was more than 80 per cent depleted.

Soon, we will start the next phase towards combining Bing and Yahoo! Search audiences, and wanted therefore to give you further guidance to advertisers who would currently run some search marketing campaign on Yahoo!.

Your Yahoo! Search Marketing account transition will be soon available.

As part of the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance, Yahoo! Search Marketing users will need to transition their accounts to Microsoft Advertising adCenter in February. While there is no action required today, it’s important to know that we will provide support and an easy-to-use transition tool when we are closer to transition. This tool will be available as an extra Tab in your Yahoo! Search Marketing account starting from mid-February.

The full transition process itself is fairly simple and you will be guided through it:

Setting up your account in adCenter, if you do not already have one;
Ensuring that all your campaigns are ready in adCenter. By default, campaigns imported from Yahoo! Search Marketing will be paused until the ad serving transition happens. We will provide you more insights soon on how to make the most of adCenter unique capabilities and latest features, so that you can thrive in the combined auction;
Ad serving transition is when the Yahoo! traffic will start to flow through adCenter. This final phase will be complete when 100% of the Yahoo! search traffic is exposed to adCenter ads. At that stage only, your Yahoo! Search Marketing account will become read-only and will stop serving any ad impressions.

By following the instructions in the specially compiled Transition Checklist, small businesses will ensure to transition their accounts with ease and with little impact to their search marketing campaigns. Larger advertisers, with complex account structure or extensive portfolios, will be soon contacted by Microsoft and Yahoo! representatives to explore together the best approach for their specific case.

Register for the upcoming free webinar on 22nd February

We will attend SES London later this month to answer questions you may have about the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance. But we will also organise a one-hour webinar on February 22nd during which our experts will walk you through the overview of the Search Alliance, its benefits, the transition overview and the features comparison between the two platforms and their implications when setting up your campaign in adCenter. If you’d like to attend the webinar, please register here.

Towards a competitive search marketing alternative

Yahoo! Search and Bing will offer a competitive search offering that provides advertisers both quality audiences and opportunities to leverage strategic partnerships to efficiently deliver a strong return on investment. We expect to complete our transition in the UK, France and Ireland by end of April 2012. This means our advertisers will start benefiting from the new joint audiences by the second quarter of 2012. By then, you will be able to advertise on the full Yahoo! Search, Bing and their partner networks traffic through your adCenter campaigns. However, we are keen to bring you the benefits of our combined audiences sooner and may accelerate the transition in these markets if we can do so while still maintaining a quality experience.

As always, we will keep you informed of our progress. So stay tuned.

Challenging Global Marketers and Agencies to be Storytellers and Win a trip to Cannes!

Richard Dunmall - MSFT — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:22:00 GMT

The following has been cross-posted from the Global Microsoft Advertising Blog.

Microsoft Advertising is inviting brand marketers and advertising agencies from across 30 countries to submit their most creative and innovative ideas to help drive a brand or nonprofit organization’s story forward. Right in time for TV and movie awards season, we’re launching the Microsoft Advertising Story Awards also known as “The MSAs”. Global winners of each category (a brand and a nonprofit) will be selected and awarded with an exclusive trip to the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2012 to be Microsoft Advertising’s VIP guests for one full week!

Unlike other award competitions, this one won’t focus on work that’s already been executed. Instead, this contest will be a true measure of marketers’ acumen, pushing them to develop forward looking ideas using Microsoft’s advertising technology and solutions – across MSN, Mobile, Windows Live, Xbox, Messenger, etc. – to solve real marketing challenges.

And we have the best and brightest rating the work. David Sable, Global CEO, Y&R will chair the global judging committee. Other judges are being confirmed for the global and local panels – stay tuned.

Here’s what the judges will be looking for from entrants:

· A digital media solution and creative idea for the brand or nonprofit of their choice

· The key business challenge being addressed for the 2012 or 2013 calendar year

· Campaign submissions will be weighted among the following criteria: overall strength of idea, most innovative use of Microsoft Advertising solutions, creative impact and how it could be measured

· The deadline for all submissions is March 31, 2012. Local winners will be announced in April and global winners will be announced in June.

We’ve also created a short video starring actor, writer and producer Felicia Day of ‘The Guild’ web series fame to tell our own story and give you some inspiration. Take a look and get your creative juices flowing. We can’t wait to see the ideas you come up with. Click on our contest page for entry guidelines and full details on how to submit.

Good luck to you all – hope to see you in Cannes!

Richard Dunmall - VP of Global Agencies and Accounts, Microsoft Advertising Asia

Release Announcement: Ad Description Character Length, Budget Overview and Targeting Updates in adCenter

Tina Kelleher - MSFT — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:00:00 GMT

Last year was a pretty busy one across the board for all the teams that touch adCenter. Not only were our development teams hard at work rolling out new features and functionality in both the UI and tools, the Customer and Partner Experience team also debuted their Feature Suggestion Forum and here on the Community team, we launched the Microsoft Advertising for Small Business page on Facebook Now that 2012 is well underway, we’re looking forward to another great year of making adCenter the...(read more)

MSN Lifestyle has Transformed into MSN Living!

Gabriela Bayardo - MSFT — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:20:00 GMT

You know how it is with a new look – sometimes you need to shake things up a little. That’s what we’ve done at MSN ~~Lifestyle~~ Living. Not only have we updated our name, we’ve got a vibrant new look with larger imagery for deeper user engagement, new social tools for our highly social audience and more timely, targeted content. This transformation makes MSN Living the freshest face in the MSN portfolio of sites. Check out the new site today with this slideshow and contact us for advertising opportunities.

Guess what else? With MSN Living you can connect with 8.1 million people who aren’t on iVillage.com: The Women’s Network, Sheknows, Yahoo! Shine and AOL Lifestyle.₂ The MSN Living audience spends more money online than the audience of our competition (12% more money online than the AOL Lifestyle audience and 20% more than the Shine audience).₁ Our audience also spends more time on our site with more minutes per visitor than iVillage.com: The Women’s Network and Sheknows and more visits per user than Shine and iVillage.com: The Women’s Network.₁

We’ve created more powerful tools for you to reach and engage with our audience of over 8.7M₁ users.₁ The new scroll-initiated ad offering keeps your message with the scrolling user, the new Sliver ad snags attention right up front and the Interstitial ad displays in galleries where users are held captive by interesting content. Try adding Postbox in your sponsorship to integrate your brand where users are connecting socially.

When you put it all together, MSN Living’s new look is turning heads. Get more details (Sponsorships! Custom branding options! Rich media!) at http://advertising.microsoft.com/living and join the excitement.

Gabriela Bayardo - Sr. Brand Marketing Manager at Microsoft Advertising

1. comScore Media Metrix December 2011, 2. comScore Media Metrix November 2011

Design with AdChoices in Mind

Lori Goode - MSFT — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:12:00 GMT

A few months ago, we launched the AdChoices program in the Atlas Media Console, giving advertisers and agencies an easy way to provide enhanced in-ad notice to consumers according to the Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA).

The goal of the AdChoices program is to ultimately deliver a better consumer experience with digital advertising—but what if the icon negatively affects the look of the creative itself? While the logo is small enough not to be intrusive, if you’re not considering it when designing it could conflict with images or messaging within the ad. If you are using AdChoices, you should be involving your creative teams early, and giving them what they need to plan for the icon in the design to optimize for the consumer experience.

To help Atlas clients with creative concepting that includes the AdChoices logo, we produced a Creative Guide for designers.

You can download the Creative Guide from our Client Center here. Designers can use our Photoshop files as layers during the concepting process to ensure the aesthetic of the ad is preserved. The guide includes the following standard IAB sizes:

120x60
160x600
180x150
300x250
300x600
728x90

File with both layers on

Top layer (layer is transparent, except for the logo—shown as gray here for illustrative purposes)

Bottom layer

Layer view

Note that this guide is available for use during the creative concepting process only. The cost of the icon license is covered for ads delivered through Atlas. If you’d like to license use of the logo for other purposes, click here for more info.

We hope the Creative Guide is useful in helping you deliver effective creative that also meets the goals of increased transparency about ads for consumers!

Thanks,

Lori

@AtlasAdvertiser | Atlas on Facebook

#TurbineHQ on Pay Per Click Advertising for Small Businesses and a £30 Start Up Offer #SmallBiz

Simone Schuurer - MSFT — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:18:00 GMT

If you own a small business you know that advertising your enterprise is important. You probably also have a lot of other things to do to keep your company running and allocating time to get your head around pay per click (PPC) advertising may not be top of the list. It doesn’t have to be time consuming however and many small businesses before you have tried and tested it with great results to match.

Small businesses sharing their digital marketing experience

Last week we shared an interview with the owner of a pharmacy in London’s Covent Garden who explained that PPC advertising helped them compete with big brands and to reach new customers. This week we’ve been talking to Matthew Stibbe who is not only a pilot and writer for a living but also the founder of www.TurbineHQ.com; an online self-service HR admin system.

PPC Objective

Matthew was looking for an online advertising solution that could help them gain visibility for Turbine in the marketplace. The United States is an important target market for them, so advertising on Bing seemed like an obvious choice since it opens international opportunities in addition to the UK Market.

PPC Results

It took Matthew under an hour to set up Turbine’s Microsoft Advertising adCenter account and soon saw the results: Turbine’s advertisements were consistently displaying in the number one or two spot on the Bing search page. He found the cost of his campaign competitive and was contented with the acquisition leads it was giving him. On top of that the free tools gave him insight into which keywords from his PPC campaign had been most successful which enables him to fine-tune his advertising efforts even further.

How can we help you?

I know we can tell you that digital advertising isn’t hard to grasp and that it is a very cost effective way to advertise but maybe you should see it for yourself. If you like to give PPC advertising a go then go to the Microsoft Advertising for Small Business Facebook page to claim £30 worth of free* clicks . Good luck and do get in touch with us if you have any questions or need support!

* See offer conditions

Challenging Global Marketers and Agencies to be Storytellers and Win a trip to Cannes!

Richard Dunmall - MSFT — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:43:00 GMT

Here’s what the judges will be looking for from entrants:

· A digital media solution and creative idea for the brand or nonprofit of their choice

· The key business challenge being addressed for the 2012 or 2013 calendar year

· Campaign submissions will be weighted among the following criteria: overall strength of idea, most innovative use of Microsoft Advertising solutions, creative impact and how it could be measured

· The deadline for all submissions is March 31, 2012. Local winners will be announced in April and global winners will be announced in June.

Good luck to you all – hope to see you in Cannes!

Richard Dunmall - VP of Global Agencies and Accounts, Microsoft Advertising

Look to the Stars: Microsoft’s IAB Rising Stars Successes

Jennifer Creegan - MSFT — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:35:00 GMT

As I reflect back on 2011, there are a number of successes I am incredibly proud of, including: two of our formats being selected for the IAB Rising Stars awards; the announcement of our intent with “Polymorphic” ads; we let the market know that Windows 8 will support advertising-in-applications; and last but not least, our views on the changing tide of social advertising and how brands are shifting the way they think about using social as an advertising medium. Each of these efforts are examples of how Microsoft Advertising is committed to making it easier for brands to launch digital ad campaigns at scale while also giving creatives new and powerful canvases upon which to tell their stories.

As part of that commitment, Microsoft Advertising was one of the first publishers to adopt all six IAB Rising Star Solutions and implement them across our display properties in the U.S. before the end of 2011. This meets the goal I laid out at Ad Week last year, and our commitment goes well beyond the U.S. I am very proud of the fact we’ve made the Rising Stars Solutions available in 42 markets worldwide and implemented well over 100 executions around the globe. Here’s a great example of the IAB Filmstrip ad in action in France:

“Lancôme represents elegance and beauty. We needed an online ad format that would live up to this brand promise and invite user engagement. The Filmstrip did just that, with its elegant interface of large, sliding panels.” Virginie Gerin , Digital and CRM Director at Lancôme France

In addition to launching all six IAB Rising Stars Solutions we have worked alongside multiple partners to implement the IAB Filmstrip that we developed, and are very encouraged by its broad adoption. To date, we’ve run dozens of IAB Filmstrips, including executions for Jaguar in Ireland, Alfa Romeo in Italy, Disney in the U.S., Audi in Germany, and Ford in the U.K. The Filmstrip has broad appeal across multiple verticals; we’ve seen executions for autos, retail, personal care, technology, and entertainment. To aid with adoption, we have provided key pieces of code to help the industry build an IAB Filmstrip (available here). We are thrilled to see advertisers like Mercedes and Botega Venetta run the Filmstrip on publishers like CNN and NY Magazine, and look forward to seeing many others in the coming weeks and months.

Even with the positive adoption figures, we fully understand that ROI and performance metrics will be important in order to continue the Rising Stars momentum. We’re currently collaborating with the IAB and IPG Media labs on research that will use biometrics (i.e., eye tracking) to track the impact of the IAB Rising Stars ad units versus standard ad units; the results will be revealed at the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting .

And if you attend the IAB conference, be sure to keep an eye out for the IAB Rising Stars Creative Showcase. We’re partnering with Crispin Porter + Bogusky to develop a really spectacular campaign that will utilize the IAB Filmstrip as the primary ad format. I look forward to what the other IAB Rising Stars creators will submit to the showcase as well.

As for me, my next stop is Social Media Week in NYC this coming February 14^th. I’ll talk about Microsoft’s vision for Social Advertising and how we’re bringing consumers and brands closer together in a differentiated way using social as a tool. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to sign up here. As always, if there are questions please let me know in the comments section. I look forward to sharing more of our positive momentum soon.

Thank you!

Jennifer Creegan, General Manager of Brand Advertising

The Best of Mobile in 2011: Intel’s ‘The Chase’

David Pugh-Jones - MSFT — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:54:32 GMT

This year we’ll be talking a lot about mobile, and personally I’m excited about all of the innovative advertising solutions we’ll deliver for our clients via the mobile channel over the course of the next 12 months. In anticipation, I took a look back on some previous campaigns we’ve driven that effectively integrated mobile platforms and Intel – ‘The Chase’ – stands out to me as a fantastic example.

Intel wanted to launch a digital campaign that would increase its brand awareness and promote the incredible power of its new Core i5 processors. We can't see these processors, since they are embedded in our PCs, but they are in fact the backbone of these remarkable machines that we use everyday. The question was: how could Intel make these processors, which seem unfamiliar or even boring, come to life and really convey to the average consumer the possibilities they create? How do you build excitement around something that's, well, invisible?
The solution: immersing the consumer in an action-packed chase across PC programmes. A heroine outwitting two thugs trailing her through YouTube, Facebook, and Microsoft Office, all the while demonstrating the amazing things Intel's processor lets us do on our computers. The two-minute video was a big hit and was named an ‘Ad Worth Spreading’ by TED that you can watch here.

Following on the success of the video, Intel partnered with Microsoft Advertising to take elements of its creative and continue ‘The Chase’ on a global scale across Microsoft platforms--spanning mobile, web and Xbox Live, and covering the UK, Germany, France, Russia, Poland and Turkey. To make this phase of the campaign a truly engaging experience, we kicked off with a 24 hour bespoke HPTO across MSN sites, created 1-on-1 games on Windows Live Messenger, and offered Intel theme packs for Xbox Live Spotlight users. And importantly, we extended ‘The Chase’ experience to handheld devices with the use of expandable rich media.

The campaign was a great success for Intel. Research conducted by Dynamic Logic across the UK, Germany and Russia showed uplifts in the campaign association for the brand across all markets, with the highest spike seen in Russia. The campaign also boosted Intel Core i5 processor awareness, particularly amongst the Windows Live Messenger audience, which saw a 21 per cent increase. We were able to help Intel, a giant company that makes products people don't necessarily touch or see, bring its brand story to life.
By creating a branded experience with rich, interactive content across multiple markets and screens, we really demonstrated what Microsoft Advertising's unique offering is all about. In a way, today's consumer is like our heroine jumping effortlessly from screen to screen--our task as digital advertisers is to engage them holistically and tell a good story in the process.

David Pugh-Jones, Brand Strategist, Microsoft Advertising

Money-Saving Tips on Creating Your Own Marketing Brochure In-House #SMB #smallbiz

Melissa Zieger - Guest Blogger — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:00:00 GMT

Customers love when businesses have printed materials to share. Whether you are a real estate agent or flower shop owner, the power of a good brochure that delivers your message with vivid visual impact cannot be overestimated. A marketing brochure can boost your sales efforts instantly, and by creating those materials in-house, you can save both time and money.

Why create a brochure in-house?

There are some great benefits for small businesses that print materials in-house. Not only does using high-quality printers like OfficeJets make it easy to save big with in-house marketing materials, but more control can be used when customizing content. Businesses can take extra care in developing a brochure that builds loyalty, understanding and potentially reaches new audiences.

If you’re not too sure about developing a brochure for your audience without a design professional, here are a few tips to develop a clear, focused message that will visually appeal to you target readers:

· Study your audience: Understand who your target reader is and craft a message that reflects their demographic, likes, dislikes and individual category, whether that is stay-at-home moms or Chicago baseball fans.

· Plan your message: Use insights from your customers, employees, and salespeople to create a message that is clear, concise and gives a “call to action” for the readers.

· Compile your artwork: Pictures and illustrations are almost always the first thing readers look at in brochures, so make sure all visuals reflect your business’ culture and are consistent with the theme of the content. Digital cameras can be used to take professional-looking shots and sites like Wylio.com have free images for download.

With your established brochure content in place, many websites and types of software like Adobe InDesign offer professional-looking brochure templates that you can download, easily personalize, and then print yourself. Here are tips when using brochure templates:

· Editing headlines and copy: An easy way to catch typos when you’re done adding text is to read the text and headlines out loud. Ask someone else to read it too.

· Communicate with color: Experiment with color by changing them to match the message of your business. It's best to limit the number of colors to two or three, and choose complimentary colors that go with the hue and lightness of your art.

· Add photos and artwork: Before adding your artwork to the brochure template, remember to touch up, crop or improve your images using your favorite photo- or imaging-editing software before inserting the image into the template.

· Save your work: Brochure files can be quite large once you have added your image files. If you make several brochures to target different audiences, consider making a backup on CD to save your hard drive space. Also, be sure to save your document every few minutes to prevent disasters in the event the computer crashes or the power suddenly goes out.

· Choose the right paper: Spend time going over your paper options to really bring your brochure to life.

· Check brochure on paper: Producing a "proof" on plain paper first, allows you to check your picture placement and color. It also helps you practice your two-sided printing directions and saves the valuable specialty paper you'll use for the final brochure. Here are more guidelines for flawless prints:

o Use plain paper and draft mode for your proof copy.

o Follow Microsoft Word directions for two-sided printing.

o Try marking the top of the paper before your print, to help you visualize how both sides of paper flow through the printer.

o Have someone proof again.

o Use highest-quality setting when printing your final brochures.

o To avoid ink smears, set the pages aside to dry completely in between printing on the front and back.

o To extend the physical life of your brochures, store them in a dark, dry place.

With the above tools, technology and tips, any business can create professional and impactful brochures to increase sales, customers and credibility. For more information about HP’s print offerings, you can visit here.

pubCenter Expands Internationally to Seven New Markets!

Avi Sagiv - MSFT — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:02:00 GMT

It is our priority to provide developers around the globe an opportunity to make money using the Microsoft Advertising Solution and today we are happy to announce we are expanding our solution into seven new countries in late February, 2012 (updated from previous communication): Denmark, Hong Kong, Japan, India, Mexico, Sweden, and Switzerland. Now, developers from nineteen countries (full list below) can make money by taking advantage of Microsoft’s Advertising solution for mobile developers.

Our solution includes ad controls that are built right into the Windows Phone SDK; combined with pubCenter’s self-serve sign-up, reporting and automated payouts, we ensure a seamless experience. After your app goes live in the marketplace and users start to use it, you can watch your revenue grow.

Developers will need to provide account information into pubCenter required for payment. Once advertising revenue reaches the minimum amount required for payout (see table below), and the developer has completed the steps necessary for payment, Microsoft will start sending money their way.

The Microsoft Advertising solution for Windows Phone apps has been shown to make more money for developers than other solutions in the market… up to 71% more in a recent study!

Here are three easy steps to get started:

Have questions? Check out the Microsoft Advertising Forum. To send us feedback and have your voice heard, please contact psupport@microsoft.com (English only)

Thank you from Microsoft Advertising.

Avi Sagiv

The Evolution of Bing, adCenter Feedback and What M&Ms Have in Common with Both

Tina Kelleher - MSFT — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:00:00 GMT

While scrolling through my Facebook feed last night, I ran across a shared link from a friend highlighting a Technorati article by Andrew Froehlich, Bing: The New King of Search .* Needless to say, I felt compelled to click through… having watched the evolution of Bing since arriving here at Microsoft, I have to say without any bias whatsoever that the decision engine has come a long way. It’s old news now, but I clearly remember this article from ZDNet.com stood out to me when I ran...(read more)

UK Bing Launches ‘Help Your Britain’ Campaign to Celebrate the Work of Britain’s Unsung Charities #helpyourbritain, #charity

Simone Schuurer - MSFT — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:12:00 GMT

Every once in a while I do wonder if I shouldn’t be doing something a little bit more, well useful with my life. Don’t you? Perhaps I should get my driving license, buy a race car and get on with it but seriously: this isn’t midlife crisis just yet. The good intentions are all there but the time isn’t, not now anyway. That’s why it’s so nice to see that Bing (the search engine you should all be advertising on to achieve an amazing ROI with our help) has been lending its homepage to small charities this week enabling them to tell their story to Bing’s users.

Every Last Friday of the Month Bing will Feature a Charity of Your Choice

In Britain there are more than 187,000 registered charities – all worthy to get some attention and the chance to tell their story. Each day this week Bing has been highlighting a charity as part of a long-term campaign in which the British public will be able to nominate the charities they would like to see featured on the homepage on the final Friday of each month via www.bing.com/HelpYourBritain. The Bing hotspots providing background information about the cause.

The last few days you’ve been able to learn more about :

Magic Breakfast: Delivers free, healthy breakfast foods to UK primary schools where more than 50% of pupils qualify for free school meals.
Lifelites: Started out as a pilot project in 1999 with the idea of providing education and entertainment technology for children in hospices currently serving around 5,000 children and their families in England, Wales and Scotland.
All Dogs Matter: A voluntary dog rescue based in London. It is focused on rescuing and re-homing each dog it takes into care, ensuring that it will be safe and loved for the rest of its life.

Today’s yellow speech bubbles represent User Voice, an organization founded in 2009 by Mark Johnson, an ex-offender whose aim was to foster dialogue between those who have experience of the criminal justice system and the system itself to bring about its reform and reduce offending rates. Tomorrow you’ll find we draw attention to Life Cycle UK ; a Bristol-based organization that aims to inspire people and equip them with the skills, the knowledge and the confidence to make cycling part of their everyday lives.

What could you do?

Your advertising campaign can wait for a minute. Look at the Bing homepage, have a look at the charities on the homepage. You can also nominate a charity close to your heart to feature on our homepage on the last Friday of the month at www.bing.com/HelpYourBritain. It won’t only help deserving charities – it will also make you feel very useful and it won’t take much time at all!

We’re Just Warming Up

Cindy Lee - MSFT — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:09:00 GMT

It might be cold outside, but it’s sizzling in here! Let me share our best digital storytelling from the last few months.

Cindy Lee, Go-To-Market Lead, Microsoft Advertising Asia

Coca-Cola’s Jonathan Mildenhall on Advertising Innovation and #Creativity – #AdVision

Shelby Healy - MSFT — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:42:00 GMT

Growing up, I always knew I wanted to work in advertising. There was something so exciting and alluring about creating an ad that made people actually feel something. I had to be a part of that. I imagined myself creating one of those brilliant spots running during the Superbowl or being part of the team that made it happen. I wanted to bring the world the next “Herding Cats” or create thirty seconds of something so memorable, it would become part of our regular conversation like McDonald’s “The Shootout.” (“Over the second rafter, off the floor, nothing but net.” If you ever played basketball, you know you said this at least once). Coca-Cola knows exactly how it feels to be the advertising great I had dreamed of. In 1979, it aired “Mean Joe Green” that to this day remains in the top Superbowl ads of all time.

When we had a chance to interview Johnathan Mildenhall, VP, Global Advertising Strategy & Content Excellence for The Coca-Cola Co. at Advertising Week, I couldn’t wait take a peek into how such a huge global brand develops these campaigns and how they plan on transforming the user experience in the future. Take a look at what Jonathan Mildenhall had to say on innovation, creativity and so much more just after he took the stage at IAB MIXX:

There are many useful marketing tidbits in the interview, but my favorite part? “I think it’s really, really important that everybody feels very, very comfortable with change and very comfortable with innovation.”

I don’t know about you, but that statement alone gets me excited to see how Coca-Cola will be integrating new technology with advertising to bring us creative, all-new experiences in the future. More interactive ads on Xbox? Connected experiences with our TVs and PCs? We’ll have to wait and see, but you can believe I’ll be glued to the TV and sharing the videos online come February 5. How about you?

Stay Curious!

Shelby Healy – Microsoft Advertising

Video: Curt Hecht from VivaKi on Advertising with Microsoft in 2012

Mel Carson - MSFT — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:57:22 GMT

Along with our well-watched interview with Sir Martin Sorrell, we captured other delightful digital insight from a number of industry luminaries at CES 2012.

In this clip we talked to Curt Hecht from VivaKi, who gives his thoughts on how his teams approach advertising with Microsoft and what they’ll be looking to capitalise on in 2012.

Adore his comment on advertisers loving “sight, sound and motion”!

Watch on and let us know your thoughts!

More soon…….

Cheers

Mel Carson – Digital Marketing Evangelist

UK Finance Trends and Digital Opportunities

Lucinda Johnson - MSFT — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:52:18 GMT

UK Finance Trends and Digital Opportunities

With consumer confidence remaining at all-time lows, and negative perceptions of the high street banks, (45%* feel banks have lost touch with their customers) finance brands in the UK are under increasing pressure to rebuild relationships with the public.

Although times are hard, there is a real opportunity to engage with an audience who sees little differentiation in this marketplace (62%* agree that “most high street banks are pretty much the same as each other).

Finance brands need to rebuild brand confidence and create greater client engagement opportunities (43% of 16-24 year olds want to build a relationship with their bank*)

With consumers increasingly interested in their finances, we know that the internet provides them with a wealth of information. 69% of all adults say that the internet is the first place they look when they seek financial information.

Finance brands should consider the following digital opportunities to help rebuild brands and re-engage with their consumers:

1. Brand building with creative Channel Takeovers: To build brands you need to reach large audiences and with the MSN UK homepage having almost 19 million visitors per month (44% of the total Internet population**) you can do just that in a cost effective way. In two months more people visit the MSN Homepage than fly out of Gatwick Airport in a year!

Gone are the days of the humble banner ad format. MSN UK has recently launched several new creative ad formats including the award winning Filmstrip, a brilliant format that encourages deep levels of engagement in a very intuitive style with 5 separate panels that the user can scroll through to explore all different types of content.

The billboard, a huge canvas that sits as not only the largest image on the MSN homepage but also the first image a user will see, sitting above the editorial content, just below our site navigation bar, offering a perfect extension of any large format offline campaigns, in particular outdoor and press.

The 3D Cube combines the impact of a rich media homepage takeover with heightened engagement and interactivity through a user-initiated experience. Six panels showcasing a range of rich media content ensure that the 3D Cube combines a high-impact brand showcase with the opportunity for in-depth messaging.

The Two Things Every #PPC Beginner Should Know How to Do #SMB #smallbiz

Erik Kjerland - MSFT — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:00:00 GMT

If you’re a small business owner new to the world of online advertising, you may be a bit overwhelmed by all the of the options and features that are available to you. How can all of this help you sell your product or service? I won’t try to give you a full seminar on online advertising in this post. Instead, I’m going to give you two quick suggestions: finding more keywords and experimenting. Finding more keywords What queries do people use to find stuff on Bing? How can you get...(read more)

Content is King in the Land of #SEO - Get an Early Bird Discount on Tickets for the Online Business Makeover Event London on 12th March 2012 #Smallbiz

Nick James - Guest Blogger — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:02:00 GMT

Nick James is founder of Fresh Business Thinking , the leading website for small-to-medium size businesses in the UK. Over 55% of traffic to Nick’s websites comes from search engines pointing queries to top quality ideas and information making Nick something of a content evangelist. In addition to Fresh Business Thinking Nick runs International Trade and The International Trade Awards As a ‘Johnny Come Lately’ to the online world I have a pretty good understanding of the problems...(read more)

Introducing the brand new MSN iPad app

Leena Shah - MSFT — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:13:33 GMT

The iPad app follows hot on the heels of MSN's first Xbox app, released last December.

What's in the MSN app?

The MSN app for iPad presents the same exclusive and original content as found on the new-look MSN UK.

It’s easy to find what you want with stories being split into six main channels: News, Sport, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Cars and Video. You'll also find our pick of the day's best features' in Editor's Picks.

In the News channel you can find all of the latest-breaking UK and world news, as well as the web's oddest news stories.
The Sport channel contains all of the latest happenings in the world of football, rugby, cricket, Formula One and more.
If you like Entertainment, you will find a wealth of TV, movies, music and celebrity gossip here.
MSN’s award-winning MSN Cars channel has everything for the motoring enthusiast, with comprehensive buyers' guides, car reviews and used car listings.
Lifestyle is the place to go to find everything you need to know to look good and feel great; it also includes expert insight into Tech & Gadgets, Food, Travel and Money.
MSN's Video hub includes a bumper-crop of classic TV shows and the web's funniest viral videos.

Search the MSN app with Bing
Just like its desktop counterpart, the MSN iPad app uses Bing to search the web. The Bing search box can be found at the top of your screen. To perform a search just tap into the Bing search box located at the top of the app. Don't worry about having to exit the app, Bing will perform a web search without leaving the app - just hit 'search' on the keyboard to begin. When you're done, tap the blue 'Done' button to close the search window.

How do I get it?

The MSN iPad app is available to download now, for free. You can easily install iPad apps using either iTunes (on your PC/Mac) or through the iPad App Store on your iPad.

iPad:Make sure you have turned on WiFi or have 3G enabled. Click on the App Store icon from your iPad home screen. Search for "MSN iPad".
iTunes: Open iTunes on your PC/Mac. Select the 'iTunes Store' from the menu on the left - it's underneath 'Store'. Click on the App Store tab. There are buttons for both iPad and iPhone apps, to see apps specifically available for the iPad click on the iPad button.

Happy viewing!

#AdVision at #CES 2012: @WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell on Digital Advertising Budgets and Mobile

Shelby Healy - MSFT — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:30:00 GMT

In another world several years and several media plans ago, I was in advertising sales. I began my stint working at my college newspaper (remember those?) entering hand-written insertion orders and frantically leafing through the daily edition to see that my client’s investment appeared in print as beautifully as I imagined when I sold the space. Graduation came and went and so began my collection of media sales adventures. Online display? Check. Search? Of course. Radio? I’ll do it. The list of media I’ve become familiar with over the years is quite diverse, but one thing has always and will always stay the same. This question from nearly every single client:

“How much should I spend on advertising?”

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

In a recent interview at CES 2012, our own Mel Carson caught up with WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell to discuss the answer to this very common question. If you’ve ever spent even a second wondering what percentage of sales you should devote to your efforts and where you should be placing your advertising dollar, look no further than the video below:

Great insights from Sir Martin Sorrell and a fun interview to watch to boot. As you start planning for the coming year, consider your audience and where you would like to connect with them when reviewing your budgets - and don’t be afraid to make mistakes! (Just make two good decisions to balance everything).

Stay Curious!

Shelby Healy – Microsoft Advertising

The Search for Incredible Comes to an End at Sundance Film Festival

David Pugh-Jones - MSFT — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:23:00 GMT

The following has been cross-posted from the Global Microsoft Advertising Blog.

This week, amid the Hollywood glitz and glamour of Sundance, the world-renowned independent film festival in Park City, Utah, there is one incredible screening that I cannot wait to attend.

A few months ago I announced the global launch of the ‘In Search of Incredible’ campaign that Intel, ASUS and Microsoft Advertising partnered to create. This campaign was designed specifically to amplify the official ‘insearchofincredible’ brand experience that promotes ASUS’ new N5 laptop. With their lightening fast Intel i-5 processor and unparalleled audio technology by Bang & Olufsen, these devices are made for the adventurous and imaginative, those who seek to be captivated and amazed—in other words, people who are looking for incredible experiences.

So Microsoft Advertising designed a bespoke digital campaign complimenting the official site that spanned mobile, web and Xbox Live and took consumers in 16 markets on a global journey ‘In Search of Incredible’. Finding and celebrating the most amazing stories on earth—that’s no small undertaking.

The adventure began by engaging viewers with original branded content on the campaign website, which was promoted across a range of Microsoft platforms: MSN, Xbox, mobile and Windows 7 themes. On the campaign site, viewers could explore extraordinary sights and sounds from around the world with singer and filmmaker Jason Mraz, who shared his most incredible places to sing; enjoy celebrity interview-based features that were released throughout the campaign; and peruse galleries of awe-inspiring images by the great photographer Don McCullin.

But of course, those who seek the incredible would not be content just watching or reading about other people’s experiences. They would want to tell their own stories, and this campaign encouraged them to do just that. Inspired by the spirit of the campaign, people from all around the world submitted their most incredible moments, whether they were stories, sights, sounds, or something they created. In the final instalment of the campaign, ASUS and Intel invited the creator of the most standout entry to develop their idea into a film, with the help of a professional film crew and acclaimed director Asif Kapadia of SENNA fame.

This week, the finished product will be screened at an exclusive Sundance event at the Bing Bar in Sundance. Guests will be invited to view the film and enjoy a special appearance/60 minute set by Jason Mraz streamed live onto the facebook pages of Bing, In Search of Incredible, Intel, ASUS and of course Jason Mraz’s with an accumulated reach of over 15 million fans! And of course the creator of the winning film will be there to experience it all.

As we wrap up the final phase of this campaign I feel proud of the work we have delivered for Intel and ASUS, as well as the close working relationship we have with both Digitas, the campaigns creative agency and the media agency for ASUS and Intel, ZenithOptimedia Worldwide. The campaign demonstrates some of the key resources that make Microsoft Advertising a unique partner for marketers: original branded content by our Global Creative Solutions team that engages consumers across screens; hubs on Xbox and MSN that connect with target audiences; and our core integration with Bing. But perhaps most of all I feel inspired by all of the incredible things I have seen along the journey—and inspiration is always the basis of good storytelling.

David Pugh-Jones, Brand Strategist, Microsoft Advertising