Well, its safe to say that its been an eventful week for our team! Before we head into the weekend, I wanted to share some of the milestones our exchange has reached, as well as a perspective from my teams participation in this weeks IAB Networks & Exchanges conference in New York City. First, Im proud to share that all non-guaranteed MSN and Fox Sports inventory is now available through the Microsoft Advertising Exchange in the U.S. ,

At our Imagine conference in March, I had the pleasure of speaking to Michael Kassan, Chairman and CEO of Medialink, about keeping up with change, key drivers in our industry, and how one enduring quote from his earlier law profession has guided his career in marketing. I found Kassans thoughts on the inextricable link between agencies, planners, buyers,

As far as reality TV goes, it was pretty unreal. There I was, watching my TV, as contestants on The Biggest Loser sweated their way through a workout session that they were watching on a TV screen exercise content that was delivered through a gaming console Kinect for Xbox 360. Then I was invited to join the workout session by downloading the TV challenge pack to compete against the same Biggest Loser contestants I just viewed. As one of the on-air contestants put it,

I had the pleasure of speaking at the ANA Marketing Members Only Multi-Screen conference on Thursday, where four classic brands presented case studies demonstrating how they drive engagement across screens. Rick Song, GM of the East Coast Region at Microsoft Advertising, hosted the event in our midtown New York offices.

We are pleased to announce the expansion of our mobile rich media solutions in the U.S. with the addition of two new partners, EyeWonder and Phluant . These partnerships compliment Microsoft Advertisings current rich media offering provided by PointRoll , and will enable us to deliver more interactive and innovative ad experiences across Microsofts premium mobile browse properties, such as MSN, Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger and FOX Sports.

Well it's the end of week one, so it must be time for number 5 in our Ad Vision Series of interviews with digital experts in the advertising and marketing industry. Jeffrey Cole from the Annenberg School Center talks about how to predict the future of digital and gives us insight into how is team tracks how it's changed the world. I ask him about tracking and the accountability of online marketing, and what he thinks of social media and the explosive growth of mobile.

When I started my day this morning with a visit to the MSN homepage, I cant tell you how excited I was to see the very first execution of our new IAB award-winning Filmstrip ad format! We are especially proud to announce Dodge as our advertising launch partner. The IAB Filmstrip was one of just six ad formats selected as winners in the IAB Rising Stars competition for new formats earlier this year.

On Tuesday 10 th May at The Festival of Media Global 2011 , I had the pleasure of hosting the first in a series of discussions under the banner of the Microsoft Advertising Ad Vision Series . Navigating the digital possibilities the theme of the session is a challenging subject that the advertising industry is currently facing. I was delighted to be joined by Ian James, Chief Digital Officer for EMEA at Starcom MediaVest, Steve Parker,

Number 4 of our Ad Vision Series of interviews with digital experts in the advertising and marketing industry. We met Paul at the IAB UK offices during a games advertising conference a couple of months ago, and asked him where he gets his creative inspiration from. His team works with a lot of big brands in the social space so he's well qualified when suggesting planners look at motivators of psychology and how consumers' habits are rapidly changing to stay relevant.

In number 3 of our Ad Vision Series of interviews with digital experts in the advertising and marketing industry, m'colleague Kaila Wyman chatted to Linda Sawyer - CEO of Deutsch - at the 4As conference earlier this year in Austin, Texas, about how to be successful in this fast moving digital environment, the importance of understanding pop culture, and what will be the key success pillars for mobile in the future. Kaila also slipped in a cheeky question about us too!

Welcome to the very first video in our series of interviews with leading lights in the digital marketing industry. Every weekday between now - when we're preparing for the first Ad Vision panel discussion at the Festival of Media in Montreux - and the start of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity , we'll be showcasing the thoughts of 30 advertising experts from all over the world probing them on current trends,

In partnership with USA TODAY, the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and Microsoft Corporate Citizenship, the Microsoft Advertising team came up with a pretty cool marketing challenge: Invite U.S. marketers under 30 years of age to develop a winning marketing plan that focused on owned and earned media for a nonprofit doing important work in the world. As part of a broader sponsorship in the annual Young Lions competition,

Heading to Switzerland this weekend we're looking forward to celebrating the best in creative media thinking and strategy together with exploring emerging media opportunities at the The Festival of Media this Sunday 8 th May to Tuesday 10 th May. The event originally starting as The Venice Festival of Media in 2006 is moving this year from Valencia to Montreux.

The following has been cross-posted from the adCenter Blog. Today at Social-Loco , I had the opportunity to share Bings thinking around local search advertising specifically around how consumers are embracing locally targeted content on the PC and mobile, and because of that shift, how Bing is helping advertisers engage consumers at the important moment of decision. For context, many know that mobile has become a medium where consumers are looking to complete tasks.

In 2006, when I started this job as Community Manager at Microsoft Advertising, we had 1 blog and 1 forum. Over the years weve always kept pace with how our customers want to glean information, how they want to interact with us and feedback, and where they spend their time online. 5 years later, we have 8 forums, 4 blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, photo streams and video hubs, all teeming with helpful,

How has the recession and growth of digital shaped our modern shoppers purchasing path? What do the new dynamics means for marketers? Join Natasha Hritzuk, Director, Global Research and Insights at Microsoft Advertising, as she details findings from our recent research into shopper purchasing patterns in the below videos. You can also download The New Shopper Journey White Paper . How Shoppers Use Media: Grocery Who is buying what and where should marketers step in?

Earlier this month, I was honored to be invited by our partners at AppNexus to speak at the summit and present Microsofts perspectives on exchanges and real-time bidding, particularly from the vantage point of a large publisher and technology company. Below is a quick rundown of what I shared. I focused my presentation on a few topics including: the rapid pace of innovation throughout the ecosystem through the management of brand considerations for both buyers and sellers,

Spring: When a young mans fancy turns to love- and when filmmakers, television producers, techies and creatives assemble at Digital Hollywood for a week-long showcase of the latest innovations and thinking shaping our future. Never a bore, Digital Hollywood has become one of the year's most anticipated conferences since its debut in 1990, attracting many of the most influential players in the entertainment industry. For a taste of whats to come,

From its wildly popular Messin' With Sasquatch advertising campaign to a then first-of-its-kind augmented reality experience LivingSasquatch.com , Jack Link's Beef Jerky has combined marketing savvy with edgy creativeand consumers have been eating it up. One of the key ways Jack Links has become a monster brand is through a masterful approach to combining content with advertising a topic Ill dive into with my next blog post. In particular,

The fact that I work in online advertising may make me biased but Im more than happy with companies knowing information about me so that I can see more interesting ads as I browse the web. After all, online ads are an integral part of the internet, so surely having a truly relevant ad that speaks to me individually is better than one that doesnt? Im also fine with retargeting, remessaging, remarketing. whatever you want to call it. If youre not familiar with these terms,