July, 2009 Archive

Got interviewed last week by Mr PPC Fabulous David Szetela from ClixMarketing

During the show we discuss:

· The evolution of the Microsoft Advertising Community Team

· The Yahoo! deal?!

· Microsoft adCenter as the one-stop-shop for advertisers

· Microsoft Media Network

· Search and Display ROI Uplift Research

· Microsoft Advertising Intelligence

· Atlas Search

· adCenter Desktop

· adCenter ROI – “2 times to 5 times better than on Google and Yahoo!” says David!

· SES San Jose!

· Microsoft Advertising on Social Media

Check out the interview here: Microsoft Advertising Interview with Mel Carson

So I’m getting married to Ashley in 22 days – we’re going to have to get our thinking caps on to top this amazing start to a ceremony!

UPDATE!!! YouTube don’t want me to embed it anymore so check it out on their site here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

Ok so it’s all my fault!

When setting our wedding date Ashley and I didn’t check the conference calendar and so didn’t spot that Search Engine Strategies San Jose falls this year from 10th to the 14th August!

What were we thinking?!

It was only after paying the deposit on the caterers and the DJ, after friends had booked their exorbitant and non-refundable air fares from London, and after securing a super deal on an All American Mobile BBQ that we realised our gargantuan error.

Our wedding date is set for 15th August and as much as I tried to shoehorn a trip to California into our pre-wedding itinerary, herself was having none of it!

I tried to explain that SearchBash is a very sober affair and that I would make a Wednesday morning flight back to Seattle but to no avail………

It seems some things must take precedence over one of the happiest conferences of our lives.

I sincerely hope that you enjoy the week, that Mike Grehan & Kevin Ryan behave themselves 🙂 and that the keynote speeches are much better than my best men’s are going to be!

Do say hi to all my Microsoft colleagues who’ll be there in force, and get a 20% discount by checking out this post on Microsoft Advertising Community!

P.S. Can you believe she won’t let me TwitPic her coming down the aisle?!!!

You’ve read the reviews and watched the videos, now you have a chance to pre-order a copy of Windows 7 from £49.99 at the Microsoft Store from midnight tonight!

Remember if you are replacing an older version of Windows with Windows 7 once it arrives on 22 October, a clean install of the operating system and the installation of an internet browser will be required.

Check out http://www.microsoft.com/windows for more info!

Amazed that rail ticket machines in this country don’t have QWERTY layouts for typing in required information.

Might sound silly, but the brain takes a while to engage with the above letter formation when trying to buy a ticket.

Add up thousands of people having similar difficulties and you have 1000s of minutes wasted and I bet a lot of lost revenue and missed trains.

I like this approach. Waitrose has always been seen as a more up-market brand of supermarket and some would say more expensive.

So in a recession when you’re trying to attract people that are saving their pennies, why not just stick your products and prices up on a bill board?

People are looking for value for money and this advertising of their “essential range” demonstrates that they’re not all the expensive after all!

Watch Michael Jackson’s Memorial today at 10am PST in Silverlight!!

Office Live Workspace is FREE! 😉