With the news that Yahoo and MSN are back courting each
other, I thought it relevant to talk about the (not so) recent MSN advertising
summit. Actually, the fact I can talk about it at all is something to be
celebrated. All too often entry to these events is dependent upon donning a
pair of NDA handcuffs. MS did consider this, but then removed the requirement
in a gesture of openness. Hopefully others will follow suit.
Convergent (and synchronised) consumption means that digital
advertising, through different forms, is becoming both ubiquitous and
fragmented at the same time. Think: mobile, display, TV, video, search, gaming,
etc... With people jumping between digital mediums at an ever increasing rate,
it’s becoming increasingly important to integrate the advertising media.
Channel integration has been an industry buzzword for a long
time, but I would say the evidence suggests it’s falling far short of what the technology
is capable of. Media is better when it’s
tailored, and failing to recognise you have a heterogeneous audience and deliver
targeted, integrated messaging is opportunity and budget wasted.
The issue probably lies with the level of technical and
resource requirement to build an all-encompassing media delivery system that delivers
targeted messaging across all channels.
Historically, this has meant changing the agency structure and
building the media strategy around the messaging delivery technology (usually
the adserver), which is fraught with complexities. However, it looks as though MS
may be about to make things a lot simpler.
When it launches, the new Microsoft advertising platform looks
as though it will allow users to buy media across different channels and target
that media dependent upon individual’s activity. For example, only showing car-insurance
display ads to people who had Binged ‘car insurance’. (That’s Binged not binged, although I can’t get
enough of searching for ‘car insurance’, as readers will know.)
At the moment, it just looks like search and display, but
the hire of Ashley Highfield (of iplayer fame) and the recent launch of MS long-form
streaming video (not to mention windows mobile and the Xbox) seem to be a
strong indication that the MS ad platform will eventually offer complete and
easy channel integration.
