• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 23, 2009

Microsoft unveiled initiatives to develop new versions of its online advertising systems for publishers and advertisers during a keynote Monday at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's annual conference in Orlando.

The initiatives--presented by Scott Howe, corporate vice president of the company's Advertiser & Publisher Solutions Group--include a small, influential group of online publishers that will literally design the next phase of Microsoft's online publishing platform.

Dubbed the Publisher Leadership Council, the group will include top digital executives from Dow Jones Online, IAC, The New York Times Co., Time Inc. and Viacom, who will form a steering committee that will design the features and applications powering Microsoft's new PubCenter.

"We're white-boarding the next generation of our technology, and we're giving those folks the pen," Howe told Online Media Daily during a phone briefing. "I believe if we design specifically for their needs, we will be designing for the whole market."

The main focus of the initiative, Howe added, was to "reduce friction" in the marketplace and make it easier for publishers to tap into and utilize Microsoft's publishing systems.

On the advertiser side, Howe said Microsoft will be introducing a new version of its Microsoft Media Network advertising network that will make it easier to integrate direct response and CPA (cost per action) advertising deals.

"It's still the case--that we were issuing several invoices for a client, and they had to plan several siloed campaigns, with several sales reps calling on them," Howe explained. "As of March 1st, all of that gets collapsed into the Microsoft Media Network. It is a step closer to the be-all, end-all of a network planning system where someone can come in and buy exactly what they want, pay exactly what they want, and sequence their messages exactly the way they want."