Windows Phone 7 will be an ad-serving machine

The key to any successful ad campaign is the ability is to ensure the chosen material doesn't intrude all too much on the user.

An ad popping up when it's not wanted can do enormous damage.

It's a bit of a surprise, therefore, Microsoft's general manager for strategy and business development, Kostas Mallios, told an audience at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival that the mobile OS reboot Windows Phone 7  is set to be an 'ad-serving machine'.

To qualify this he stated, "We're trying to get technology out of the way of people".

"For consumers, what this means is basically seamless experiences, seamless social connectivity not just about applications, obviously about the phone, obviously about media," he added.

When's an ad not an ad?

Microsoft's focus appears to be to encourage marketers to push information through to consumers at regular intervals but to do so in a way that doesn't alarm them.

As such, those working on the OS have prioritised how such ads are delivered and, in turn, brought into question just what a mobile ad is in the first place.

Rather than taking on a specialist form, consumers can choose to add brands as tiles to their home screen, where it will sit alongside the phone's other functions and taking users directly to the point of purchase with relative ease.

Once there, marketers can then push through information, updating the tile with news that displays directly on the home page.

Tiles and toast

"What you'll see is that there's actually a message on that tile," Mallios said of the set-up,

“That title is actually a dynamic tile that you're now able to push information to as an advertiser, and stay in touch with your customer. It's a dynamic relationship that is created and provides for an ongoing dialogue with the consumer."

Even if the consumer doesn't install said tile, brands and services can still reach them through what Microsoft describes as a toast set-up.

These push notifications enable companies to stay in contact with each user, providing they choose to opt in.

It's Microsoft's view that it's in the best interest of businesses to ensure that they're inclined to do so.

Mallios surmised, "For marketers... this is actually turning out, in my view, to be an ad-serving machine. It basically enables advertisers to connect with consumers over time."

Mallios' presentation in full can be viewed below.

[source: WMPoweruser.com]