Microsoft enables device-aware advertising using Microsoft ID tracking

Fahad Al-Riyami

Microsoft enables device-aware advertising using Microsoft ID tracking

Ever get tired of seeing that same banner ad over and over again whether you’re on your desktop PC, your laptop, your console, your tablet, or your smartphone? Well you won’t have to anymore thanks to Microsoft’s creative sequencing and frequency control technology that was introduced at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity last month.

“Cross-device creative sequencing also prevents consumers from being bombarded by the exact same message every time. It’s up to us as an industry to make sure we’re not showing them the same thing over and over again, ensuring campaigns remain as premium as possible,” said Owen Sagness, General Manager of Advertising & Online at Microsoft UK.

The technology uses your Microsoft ID to detect what device you’re currently using, and displays ads in a sequence designed by the brand owner. This would enable brand owners to display what Microsoft calls “multi-screen storytelling” on a host of websites that can detect your Microsoft ID such as Outlook and MSN.com, in addition to other Microsoft service like Skype, and within Windows 8 apps that support ads.

Today, Bulmers, a Heineken-owned cider brand, will be launching their “live colorful” campaign in the UK using this technology, although it won’t display to users who are under 18 understandably. The company will display 5 different ads for each of the cider flavors they sell. If you’re in the UK, or use any of the .co.uk domains of Microsoft services, and your over 18, be on the lookout, you might catch a glimpse of the ads as they roll out, regardless of what device you’re on.

Below are some other examples of what the tech is capable of doing.