Microsoft unveils adCenter

Look out Google, here comes Microsoft with their adCenter. Very similar to Google AdWords, adCenter is going to take the appeal to advertisers even further by offering specific details that AdWords may not be able to dish up.

Today at the annual Strategic Account Summit, CEO Steve Ballmer introduced Microsoft’s version of Google adWords, the prefix-identical adCenter. The selling of sponsored listings in conjunction with search results is not a particularly new idea, though plans for Microsoft’s adCenter are either innovative or vile, depending on who you ask. Using MSN Search, adCenter service will offer advertisers “in-depth audience intelligence,” or, without the buzzwords, targeted ads based upon such factors as “geographic location, gender, age group, lifestyle segment and time of day.” What is meant by “lifestyle segment” is unclear, but the value of this for advertisers is readily apparent. What advertiser wouldn’t want to know what the 18-24 year-old male is looking for on the Internet between the hours of midnight and dawn? Well, that’s a bad example, but the marketing implications are easily understood, even if the technology is not. How, exactly, is Microsoft able to gather “lifestyle” information? According to MarketingVOX it’s all about synergy.