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While Jay-Z is on the agenda for Microsofts seventh annual MSN Strategic Account Summit the week of May 1, the real star of the conference will be MSNs AdCenter.
MSN AdCenter is Microsofts platform for creating and delivering online advertising.
The AdCenter product has been being beta tested for months and is widely expected to be launched in the United States in June.
And AdCenter also is a key part of Microsofts services push in fiscal 2007, company officials told analysts on the Microsoft Q3 FY 2006 earnings call on April 27.
The MSN Strategic Account Summit is a whos who among advertising, marketing and technology experts.
On the keynote list are Chairman Bill Gates; CEO Steve Ballmer; President of Microsofts Entertainment and Devices division Robbie Bach; President of Roc-A-Fella Records Jay-Z; Google Vice President of Advertising Sales Tim Armstrong; and Yahoo Chief Sales Officer Wenda Harris Millard.
The three-day, invitation-only event will address some generic advertising topics, such as “Marketing: The Key to Connection” and “The Power of Story in Making Connections.”
But it also will include updates on Windows Live Services, AdCenter and Microsofts mobile and entertainment strategy. And Microsoft will also likely discuss its soon-to-be-revamped MSN.com home page. A beta version of that page is available here.