Just a quick note to say Ill be travelling down to Asia for Search Engine Strategies Hong Kong the week after next. Its the first time the event has been held there, so should be a fascinating immersion into all the online marketing activities in the region. Ive been honoured to be asked to speak on the keynote discussion panel on the second day Tuesday 14th September. From the agenda: Keynote Panel: Increasing ROI through B2B Lead Generation For the first time,

Had a chance to sit down and review a new program we have around Video that got my old Brand Manager motor running. For a while Ive been bullish on our Admira TV product, but as we build up our inventory to get to amazing scale, I also kept thinking about how we can expand that reach via Internet Delivered video ads. The pilot combines Microsofts owned inventory - MSN, MSNBC, Fox Sports, Windows Live, etc - with Admira )Television(,

I came to the 2010 Cannes Lions Advertising Festival to learn, share, and collaborate with my peers in the advertising industry )OK, and to catch some rays on the incomparable French Riviera(. I was also looking forward to a vigorous discussion on the topic of the future of television during a workshop I led called, The Rise of Rich TV . The workshop was filled to capacity in fact, standing room only - confirming that this is indeed a hot topic. What surprised me,

Someone great once said, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. This was obviously way before the internet was thought of and digital advertising became so important in many of our lives. Case studies have become part an parcel of how we communicate the effectiveness of online marketing, helping us all evangelise the medium and pull other advertisers and marketers onto the accelerating internet advertising train. Now, you obviously cant eat a digital campaign,

Two & a half minutes of video showing some of the very best advertising we've delivered for brands around the world. Includes MSN homepage take-overs, rich media, in-game advertising on Xbox Live, multinational solutions, mobile and multi-screen executions, lots of stats, lots of animation, lots of dreams delivered. Check out our Digital Creative Showcase to see these campaigns in action. For more on our solutions visit Microsoft Advertising .

Bereft of digital ideas? Looking for some creative inspiration? Check out our brand new Creative Showcase . Youll get to experience a full range of digital experiences and creative executions from simple banners to innovation multi-screen campaigns. You can search campaigns by top verticals, ad formats, countries and properties. If youre looking for something specific, use the search bar.

On the Microsoft Advertising Blog, we like to bring you the very latest digital insight in the form of case studies and proof points, so today were talking Games Advertising. Whether its JJ Richards on in-game advertising or Mark Kroese showing how were helping brands reach consumers through Xbox LIVE advertising , there is no doubt that online gaming is becoming a huge area in an advertiser's multi-screen armoury .

Why do we all love digital advertising? Id venture one of the main reasons is that it performs. With more people coming online and the web becoming more and more an intrinsic part of our lives, the opportunities for marketers to harness the power of technology and reach consumers across properties like MSN, Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger and Bing, are becoming more and more relevant..and valuable. Much of the onus is put on the platform, the data, and the accountability.

Our team at Microsoft Advertising Asia are giving advertisers and agencies in the Far East the chance to pit their digital wits against each other in an innovative competition to win a trip to the Spikes Asia Advertising Festival . The DQ Test is open to residents aged over 18 in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, and is designed to quiz your knowledge of Digital Basics, Digital Media Trends,

You may have seen news about Microsoft Advertisings multi-screen advertising capabilities over the past year. Do Discovery Channels Deadliest Catch , ABCs Flash Forward , History Channels America: The Story of US , or NBCs fall line-up ring a bell? Given the recent success of these campaigns we wanted to dig deeper to understand multi-screen usage and consumers attitudes and expectations for multi-screen experiences.

The world of online display advertising as we know it is bifurcating. The display ad market, which accounted for $8.0B of the $22.7B in total internet advertising revenues in 2009 and is projected to grow to $13.4B by 2013 is rapidly headed in two very different directions. One direction leads to a land of increasingly complex, but incredibly engaging and custom solutions that make full use of the digital palette. The other direction leads to the land of scale display,

Last month, our team in New York held an event for advertisers and agencies that set out to showcase digital marketing and inspire the attendees with thoughts on content, social media and how we use technology. In this first video, Joshua Green , a fantastic speaker and former media researcher at MIT now based at the University of California, challenges the notion of what makes something viral and raises questions about how we evaluate that earned media.

Over the past couple of weeks, Ive been inspired by the World Cup. The strategy of each game is what drives my enthusiasm, and I believe that coaches and players who are willing to take risks bring even more excitement to the game. As I think about travel marketing strategies, I tend to see a lot of the same tactics over and over again: search, travel sites, email, TV, and magazines with some budgets for mobile, social media, and video. All of these channels have their place,

First, great to see so many people return to Cannes! If my increased bill for rose wine on the Carlton patio was any indication, the mood and the attendance was completely different than 12 months ago. Marketers were looking for innovation and creativity along with results and ROI, not just cost savings and agencies were talking about innovation anddigital, digital, digital. A year ago,

"Mobile advertising growth is eight times the growth of online over TV in the same time frame," says Charles Johnson who heads up Mobile Advertising for Microsoft. In his presentation at our business conference in Cannes 10 days ago, Charles took the audience through the opportunities in mobile advertising, how targeting capabilities are getting more sophisticated, and gave a sneek peek into Windows Phone 7 .

Our trip to Cannes this year was fruitful, not only because of the awards and seminars, but because we were able to mix and mingle with advertisers and marketers from all over the world. In this video, we chatted to some big brands in China, and got some great ideas on how best to think about advertising in the region. We hear about mobile advertising in China, how gaming is huge, and that targeting locally is key.

That's it from Cannes! We hope you enjoyed our coverage on the Microsoft Advertising Blog . We've posted all our interviews and recordings of all the demos on Bing Video and there are hundreds of photos on Flickr and our Facebook Page . In the meantime enjoy this 2 minute rollercoaster ride through the week!

The final seminar we attended at Cannes Lions 2010 also happened to be one of the more interesting. Pitted against WPP chief Sir Martin Sorrell was Keith Weed, Unilever CMO. They discussed a veritable smorgasbord of topics throughout the hour long debate, with some very strong opinions on consumer insights, creativity, social media, global market opportunities and much more. Reflecting on a brutal 2009,

Many people here at Cannes Lions 2010 have been looking into crystal balls all week and some have seen the same vision. It invariably consists of a digital future where technology is reaching bigger audiences with richer, more relevant and engaging advertising. It was Marcel Fenezs turn to share the perspective PwC has in his capacity as Global Entertainment & Media Leader yesterday. He was joined onstage by Michael Roth, IPG CEO and Brian Perkins,

Carolyn Everson joined Microsoft this week as Head of Global Sales for Microsoft Advertising . She joined me on the pier here at Cannes Lions to chat about the festival, what excites her about digital, and how she's going to go about telling the Microsoft Advertising story. Follow us on Twitter and our Facebook Page and subscribe to the Microsoft Advertising Blog for all the latest news from the south of France. Thanks,