Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announces the launch of Microsoft adCenter in the U.S.

REDMOND, Wash. — At the seventh annual MSN® Strategic Account Summit, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer will announce the launch of Microsoft adCenter, the company’s online advertising platform now serving 100 percent of paid search traffic on Microsoft® online properties in the U.S. market.

Ballmer is expected to recognize the advertising community for its pivotal support of Microsoft’s rapidly expanding digital content network and announce that the company is set to deliver even richer opportunities for advertisers in the months to come. Ballmer’s audience at the Strategic Account Summit will include more than 700 leading innovators in the advertising, marketing and media industries.

“Ad-supported software services are an integral part of Microsoft’s plans to give consumers access to a broader variety of digital media, whenever they want and on whatever device they prefer,” said Ballmer. “Our close partnership with the ad community is extremely important to us as we evolve Microsoft from a software company into the world’s largest, most attractive provider of online media through MSN, Windows Live™ and adCenter.”

Announced a year ago at the sixth annual Strategic Account Summit in March 2005 as a comprehensive platform and set of tools for advertisers, the Microsoft ad platform will be launched at the summit by Ballmer in the U.S. (English version only), joining the service’s availability in Singapore and France and serving 100 percent of paid search ads in these markets. Microsoft adCenter also will begin testing with a limited number of advertisers in the U.K. market in June.
Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates (L) meets Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings, at the MSN Strategic Account Summit. Redmond, Wash., May 3, 2006
Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates (L) meets Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings, at the MSN Strategic Account Summit. Redmond, Wash., May 3, 2006
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As the advertising engine for Windows Live, MSN and other Microsoft online services, Microsoft adCenter is helping advertisers strategically plan their online buys and is designed to help them gain a higher return on investment by utilizing real audience intelligence and advanced targeting capabilities.

Performics Inc., the performance-based marketing division of DoubleClick Inc., is using Microsoft adCenter extensively with its clients. Stuart Frankel, president of Performics, will join Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft senior vice president and chief advertising strategist, in demonstrating Microsoft adCenter’s capabilities at the Strategic Account Summit.

“We are very encouraged by the results of our campaigns in adCenter. In particular, during the pilot, the vast majority of our clients’ conversion rates have been better on MSN than the other major search engines,” Frankel said.

Ballmer and Mehdi will outline a broader vision for adCenter at the conference, sharing a road map of how adCenter will be enhanced to address advertising opportunities beyond paid search. Ballmer is expected to note that Microsoft is committed not only to a next-generation advertising platform for its advertising customers, but also to building through MSN and the Windows Live services the largest, most engaged audience on the planet.

Microsoft adCenter is designed to ultimately provide advertisers with a one-stop-shop experience, whether buying search, contextual or display ads across a number of Microsoft properties. Ballmer will emphasize the importance to advertisers of accessing powerful tools and audience intelligence in an easy-to-use, accessible way, and that Microsoft’s network of online sites and services will deliver to advertisers a range of audiences with very different demographics that advertisers will be able to reach in one consistent way. Contextual advertising testing begins on MSN in the U.S. market this summer. In addition, the following Microsoft properties are preparing to launch ads in the near future: Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Spaces, Windows Live Safety Center, Windows Live for Mobile, Office Live and Office Online, and the Xbox® Web site Xbox.com.

The one-stop-shop experience of Microsoft adCenter will allow advertisers to track ad campaign performance and report results in a holistic and measurable way. In response to advertiser feedback, Microsoft has not only built adCenter to deliver innovative reporting capabilities, but will announce that it had acquired DeepMetrix Corp., a privately held provider of Web analytics and business intelligence tools for online marketers and publishers. Expanding upon DeepMetrix technologies such as LiveSTATS.BIZ, Microsoft will deliver new Web analytics applications in future releases of Microsoft adCenter.

More information about Microsoft adCenter and registration is available at http://advertising.msn.com.

About MSN and Windows Live

MSN attracts more than 465 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 42 markets and 21 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering compelling programmed content experiences to consumers and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide. Windows Live, a new set of personal Internet services and software, is designed to bring together in one place all the relationships, information and interests people care about most, with enhanced safety and security features across their PC, devices and the Web. MSN and Windows Live will be offered alongside each other as complementary services. Some Windows Live services entered an early beta phase on Nov. 1, 2005; these and future beta updates can be found at http://ideas.live.com. Windows Live is available at http://www.live.com, MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com. MSN worldwide sites are located at http://www.msn.com/worldwide.ashx.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

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