Joanne Bradford to Lead MSN Advertising

Microsoft announced that Joanne Bradford will assume the role of corporate vice president of global sales and trade marketing. She will also serve as chief revenue officer.

Microsoft has said that in her new role Bradford will oversee Microsoft's push to embed advertising in several of its software products, including the Xbox video games, mobile phones, Internet protocol TV and its suite of Office products.

The lynchpin of these efforts is MSN AdCenter, a new ad platform Microsoft is developing (currently in beta and available by invite only) to allow advertisers to target ads across several different media channels.

Google has also been making strides in allowing advertisers to target multiple forms of media via a single interface. Google has been testing ads in newspapers and also recently acquired a radio advertising company.

Big changes on the adverting landscape in 2006. Exciting times to say the least.