Microsoft adLab : MSN adCenter’s Incubation Lab
Microsoft has opened its adCenter Incubation Lab, dubbed adLab, in Beijing this week. adLab, a joint project between MSN’s adCenter paid search, content, & targeted advertising platform and Microsoft Research. adLab’s mission is to research and incubate advanced technologies for Microsoft’s adCenter, providing advertisers with rich targeting capabilities based on audience intelligence information while giving consumers a more relevant online experience. adLab sounds like it sure will wet the whistles of interactive marketers and monetization junkies, introducing new targeted advertising platforms across an interactive & mobile ‘Always On’ generation.
adLab will be headed jointly by Ying Li of Microsoft adCenter in Redmond and Jian Wang of Microsoft Research Asia in Beijing, and will specialize in the areas of data mining, information retrieval, statistical analysis, artificial intelligence, auction theory, visual computing and digital media. With 50 researchers manning the helm at adLab, plans are inthe works to develop integrated and innovative advertising solutions that connect marketers with consumers.
One adLab project which is gathering the eyes and imagination of the 2.0 marketing industry is video hyperlink ads, which can detect product items displayed on a television screen during a show or commercial, allowing consumers to zoom into products featured on the television screen and click through to detailed product descriptions and information on where the products can be bought.
Also shown were projects addressing areas of incubation in their earliest stages of investigation, such as ad bar-code readers, social network mining, image and video and large-display ads.
“The exciting work being shown at adCenter Demo Fest and the new Microsoft adLab reflect Microsoft’s commitment to innovation in the field of ad products,” said Tarek Najm, general manager of adCenter at Microsoft. “The Microsoft team of top researchers in this field is unsurpassed and certain to produce compelling advances that will impact and ultimately change the game in online advertising. With this long-term applied research, we will continue to improve advertisers’ return on investment by delivering rich audience intelligence information and enabling simple and complete control over all aspects of the advertising campaigns.”
