Microsoft takes scientific approach to making ads more effective

by Jennifer Whitehead, Brand Republic 13-Jan-06, 15:20

LONDON - Microsoft is harnessing an army of white-coated scientists to develop ways of making online advertising ever more targeted.

It plans to achieve this with a new research centre based in Beijing. Known as the Microsoft adCenter Incubation Lab, it has a mission to research and develop advanced technologies that can make ads ever more targeted, based on audience intelligence. This, Microsoft says, will give consumers a "more relevant online experience".

On Friday, Microsoft was already to present prototypes of 15 technologies currently in development. These include "video hyperlink ads", which can detect products displayed on a television screen during a show or an ad, and lets viewers zoom in on the product, and then click through to receive more information about it.

The adLab is to be staffed by team of more than 50 researchers will be headed by Ying Li, who is based in the Microsoft adCenter in Redmond, Washington, and Jian Wang of Microsoft Research Asia in Beijing.

They will develop ways of making ads more relevant and more innovative across media including the internet, television and mobiles.

Tarek Najm, general manager of adCenter at Microsoft, said: "With this long-term applied research, we will continue to help improve advertisers' return on investment by delivering rich audience intelligence information and enabling simple and complete control over all aspects of the advertising campaigns."

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