• by March 25, 2004

Not even a hardcore hit by European Union regulators could dampen the spirits of marketers, agency executives, and the MSN folks gathered last night for a cocktail reception kicking off the MSN Customer Summit.

The EU's action was more than a slap, to be sure. Microsoft was ordered to pay a $606 million fine (497 euros) for violating antitrust law. Further, the EU ordered the software giant to sell a version of its Windows software without Windows Media Player to ensure that other companies have the opportunity to compete. The EU sanctions appear to go farther than the U.S. Justice Department's 2001 ruling.

If the sanctions weighed heavily on the minds of the MSN executives we spoke with last night, they didn't let on. But how could they? The MSN Customer Summit has attracted more than 500 clients from around the world representing some $50 billion in total ad spending---that's everyone from Ford, Procter & Gamble, and Adidas, to Nestle, Canon, and Hewlett-Packard, not to mention up-and-comer Vonage, the buzzed about voice-over-IP service provider. Nearly 80 percent of the attendees are director level or above at their companies. And guess what? There are even some offline/traditional media folks here. I know, it's a shocker.

"Outside of Ad:Tech, this is the single largest customer marketing event put on by a sales organization in the online industry," Joanne Bradford told me last night. She ought to know. Bradford, a Microsoft vice president and MSN's chief media sales officer, is hosting the event which has grown in importance as the division has delivered decent revenues to Microsoft's bottom line.

Later today, MSN will outline the results of a major multi-brand industry study that not only will show the impact online media has on brand metrics, but on sales. And after all, that's what marketing is all about in the end---selling stuff. Rex Briggs, principal, Marketing Evolution, conducted the research.

Search is also on the agenda here and sources tell me that MSN aims to launch its long-awaited search service this summer. That's a best case scenario of course; MSN has said it hopes to debut the product in the third quarter. MSN has had its crawlers out on the Web for more than a year now amassing information and search terms. As a late entry into the search arena, MSN must go toe-to-toe with Yahoo! and Google, two superpowers that are already at it.

Newsweek's cover story on Google reminds me that the drumroll to the company's IPO is growing louder by the day. Interestingly, IndustryBrains, a search provider that focuses on industry verticals, was cited in the article. After the MediaDailyNews profiled the company, its principal was contacted by CNET and Newsweek. We give good buzz.