Mimi Ito, author and professor , shared her insights on teen social trends with attendees at Imagine. Mimi showed us there are two types of social interaction: interest-driven and friendship-driven. There is a clear fault-line between these two types of social participation. Interest-driven participation is less common. It isnt about popularity and more about researching and learning about interests and hobbies.

Ivan Pollard has spent 25 years working for agencies and consulting firms creating messages. The mantra, The media is the message, was coined by Marshall McLuhan and led the predominant thought towards advertising for decades. But Pollard walks us through how times have changed, and how they continue to change, in how we are, and should, be creating messages today. As VP of Global Connections at The Coca-Cola Company,

Attendees of Imagine 2011 had a chance to hear from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on using technology to connect consumers. Given ever-changing technology, Ballmer spoke first about the need for innovation. How do we get there? We focus on Ever Changing Technology. The speed of innovation, if anything, is still accelerating even 60 years later in this industry. Ballmer notes, If you wanted a business that changes slowly you chose the wrong career. You move forward or you die.

You cant help but notice that the buzz around the upcoming royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton is getting louder. As Kate Newton pointed out in her recent blog post , the event presents opportunities for online advertisers to maximise their digital spend by ensuring theyre engaging with the wedding buzz in the right way. One brand thats getting involved is childrens charity Save the Children,

It is an exciting week in Redmond. Not only are we starting to see signs of Spring )and hopefully the end of Winter rains!(, we are welcoming agency and marketing leaders from around the world to our corporate campus for Imagine 2011: The Marketing Leadership Summit . Weve gathered some of the most creative minds in marketing, academia, entertainment,

Just over a year ago, our team wrote our Social Media White Paper )PDF(. Essentially it's the story of how we've gone about creating an engaging experience for our customers using social platforms like blogs, forums, Twitter and Facebook . Since then we've been asked to tell our story at digital marketing events all over the world. Me, Greg Jarboe, Lisa Buyer & Kristjan Hauksson with our colourful butterflies!

A volcano eruption, ash clouds driving millions of air travellers crazy, national bankruptcy It is an euphemism to say that Iceland, as a country, has been hardly spared in the last couple years. Yet, 2011 could be the year of redemption as the entire country has mobilised to put Iceland back on the map. To a certain extend I am convinced that many corporations could learn from the Icelandic people and how their passion,

In the rapidly evolving world of digital media, Microsoft is focused on helping our clients navigate the complex and increasingly technology and data led space. We do this through delivering market leading media solutions either with our own proprietary technology and tools or through partnerships. Today, after a long a rigorous evaluation process,

The war for the living room is on. The gaming industry is going beyond the 18-34 year-old male by building partnerships with best of breed providers )think Netflix, Last.fm( and social partners )think Facebook, Twitter( and building connected entertainment experiences like Xbox Kinect. Microsofts Ken Simon spoke to the rise of two things,

Nancy Hill, 4As CEO, kicked off the morning at the Transformation 2011 conference with energy and optimism. She addressed how the industry is growing and how the advertising industry is back. She backed up her optimism with facts around the Super Bowl, letting us know that this years advertising placements experienced the earliest sellout in the history of the event and the expectation that next years sellout will happen even faster. It was the most watched broadcast,

To finish off the day at Transformation 2011 , we found out almost everything you need to know about Boomers from Jeffery Cole, Director, Center for the Digital Future at USC. Jeffery spent the last year researching teenagers and as he started looking at their parents, realized that Boomers )people born 1946-1964( do almost the exact same things teenagers do with just one major difference, they have all the money.

The hashtag #transform2011 is buzzing and even trending at Transformation 2011! The chatter is not only sharing out the top themes from the conference, but also adding humor to the sessions. Lincoln Stephens, Marcus Graham Group and Ryan Johnson, Amazon are two heavy tweeters we got to catch up with. Lincoln scheduled a tweet up for the #coolkids )Ive always wanted to be in the cool crowd( to enable tweeters to meet in person.

Bug-eyed with excitement, I watched Fareed Zakaria, Time Magazine Editor-At-Large and CNN Host )also, one of my all-time favorite columnists(, address the crowd at Transformation 2011 on Events Transforming the World. He didnt disappoint, either. Fareed grew up in Mumbai, India during a time when everyone he knew was fascinated by the United Sates, including himself. The U.S. was perceived as being glamorous, often tied to expensive cars, rich business men,

Nancy Hill, 4As CEO, kicked off the morning at the Transformation 2011 conference with energy and optimism. She addressed how the industry is growing and how the advertising industry is back. She backed up her optimism with facts around the Super Bowl, letting us know that this years advertising placements experienced the earliest sellout in the history of the event and the expectation that next years sellout will happen even faster. It was the most watched broadcast,

Were down in Austin, Texas, cowboy boots and all, mingling with some of the finest agencies and industry leaders in advertising at Transformation 2011 . I was able to sneak aside with Keith Lorizio, Vice President of US Sales and Marketing for Microsoft Advertising, to get his thinking on our relationship with agencies. For more coverage from Transformation 2011 follow @MSAdvertising and keep an eye on the Advertising Blog . Best, Kaila Lightner,

So after nearly four months of planning, developing, refining, creating and curating we are now live with Microsoft Advertisings Ford C-Max re-launch. What started out as a kind of Could we really pull this off? creative pipe dream is now manifest as a fantastic stand-alone microsite within the MSN UK portal.

At Sundays Oscars the much-favored to win film The Social Network grabbed only three of the eight Academy Awards it was nominated fora surprise to some, who speculated the film was, well, over-socialized in the press and with the Academy. In other words, they may have lobbied a bit too hard for a Best Picture win, and it cost them . None of which changes the fact that the Social Network is a fascinating inside look at the origins of the phenomenon now known as Facebook.

We are packing our bags and bringing Microsoft Advertising to Austin to participate in the Transformation 2011 conference , March 7-9, put on by the American Association of Advertising Agencies )4As(. Enjoy some good Texas BBQ at the Opening Night Dinner on Monday, March 7 , sponsored by us and hear opening remarks from Keith Lorizio, Vice President of US Sales and Marketing. Wednesday, March 9 at 11:15 AM Central Time, Ken Simon, Microsoft Advertising Regional Manager - Xbox,

Dive into this live interactive discussion on Tuesday March 22, 11am PDT and 2pm EDT. Brand Building in the Digital Landscape will highlight winning submissions to The IAB Rising Star competition , reveal some clever campaign executions, and examine digital brand interaction. In the spirit of progressive engagement and creative thinking, our brand building webinar moves beyond sedative seminar style and insists that you, our participant,

Today at the Interactive Advertising Bureaus )IAB( Annual Leadership Meeting , which draws industry leaders from around the world to discuss trends and the future of the online marketplace, I delivered a keynote that I hope will spark industry dialogue and debate. As a member of the IAB board of directors, I have participated in the development of self-regulation practices and policies, such as our groundbreaking new Code of Conduct that was announced yesterday. In my speech,