Back again for round two of ad:tech London at Olympia. Today, like yesterday has seen a steady stream of people to the exhibition and the Microsoft Advertising stand.

So what do people want to know about Microsoft Advertising?

Majority of the queries have been about Bing again and specifically what sets it apart from the competition and what it can do for consumers. All the buzz is really positive with people saying they are willing to give Bing a go and engage with it. They're also asking where they can get their hands on our Bing branded polo tops. We must be popular!

So all is well and good on the stand but what were our speakers up today?

First up was Ravleen Sahni (Microsoft Advertising Search Account Manager ) in the Search and Ad Network Theatre, who gave a very informative and actionable presentation titled: "Making more informed decisions on campaign planning and achieving a better ROI".

Ravleen gave some great insights into how important it is to understand seasonality peaks and to spot new emerging trends early. She also warned about getting complacent towards existing and established trends and to keep up to date with current affairs because factors such as the recession or even the weather can skew seasonality.

Finally, Ravleen talked about the importance of insights and intelligence to better hone and focus campaigns towards desired customers. She demonstrated the Microsoft Advertising Intelligence Tool (MAIT) which is free to download and will sit within Excel.

Next up was Craig Brown (Microsoft Advertising Senior Search Media Analyst) who jointly presented a case study with Charlotte from Efficient Frontier regarding Marks & Spencer. Craig and Charlotte talked about the positive benefits of a three way relationship between Microsoft AdCenter/Bing, Efficient Frontier and M&S to fulfill the best ROI for M&S.

Craig also gave a demo of the Microsoft Advertising Intelligence Tool  to the audience.

After lunch it was James Grant's (MSN Product Specialist) turn in the Video Theatre where he gave a presentation titled: "Can online media and broadcast work together?" James stated he believed that online can and must work together with broadcasters. TV is more popular than ever, however the audience is becoming more fragmented in the way they consume TV.

James stated that for TV and video to co-exist and grow then strategic partnerships would have to be struck to take advantage of what both mediums have to offer. James predicted that Brand and quality programming will win out in time, citing the BBC iPlayer, You Tube and MSN Video as particular good examples of this emerging trend.

Well that's it for Microsoft Advertising and ad:tech London for 2009. We've had a lot of fun, met a lot of new people and learnt a few things along the way. See you next year!

Cheers,

Kate