MTV Network's college-focused MTVu will work with Microsoft to produce the upcoming installment of "Quad Squad," a reality program in which business school students compete to create ad campaigns.

The contestants of "Quad Squad"--who hail from rival schools Indiana University and the University of Illinois--will create, implement and measure marketing campaigns for Live Local Search. Live Local, which launched into beta testing in December of 2005, is MSN's local search and directory offering; it is monetized by MSN's adCenter, the company's paid search platform.

Stephen Friedman, general manager of MTVu, said that the students are designing the campaigns specifically to appeal to their own demographic and their own university. "You have the target market doing the marketing for the company," he said.

In previous installments of the show, students from Auburn and Alabama Universities have developed campaigns for Snickers, and students from Georgia Tech and The University of Georgia have developed campaigns for Amp'd Mobile. For a new wrinkle in the show this year, the winners will be flown to Redmond to interview for marketing internships with Microsoft.

The first show of the three-episode series will appear on MTVu's broadband site on Wednesday, and also will air on MTVu's TV network that day. It will be monetized by in-stream ads when the show is streaming, and post-roll ads when the show is played on-demand.

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