Microsite.com

In the middle of April, Microsoft (not Microsite) employee Geert Desager decided to try something a little different to promote Microsoft’s Digital Advertising Solutions. The result is brilliant.

In 2006, one of Microsoft’s European agencies called Openhere delivered a Powerpoint presentation that explained, among other things, “how to communicate with people in this whole new age of advertising.”

The presentation went on to talk about “communicating in a more rich and meaningful way.”

Many folks probably saw the articles about AOL hosting an “Upfront” party at NYC’s Lincoln Center on April 16. Aping the shindigs traditionally held by the major television networks, AOL invited at least 500 ad buyers, and broadcast the event to more than 1,000 people in satellite parties around the country, AOL Media Networks President Mike Kelly told Advertising Age.

AOL rolled out the standard fare, including dollar-bill-shaped confetti raining from the ceiling and Mario Lopez strutting out on stage to host a live version of the portal’s quiz show “Gold Rush.”