An unidentified source tells Adage that MSFT needs a Sarah Palin-esque dark horse to become the company’s online ad chief… so the otherwise usually on the ball Paid Content lists the most obvious choices.  First, who AdAge/PC lists and my two cents on why they are not exactly a Sarah Palin-esque pick.

I won’t get into politics on this blog, but I don’t think a Sarah Palin style candidate is even smart.  That simply pushes MSFT further into a corner.  I think MSFT needs a dark horse but someone who is more of a centrist… so to speak.

Anyway, let’s look at the “dark horses” first:

- Brian McAndrews: who’s made millions off aQuantive’s sale to MSFT and probably does not care to be on the receiving end of flying chairs from CEO Steve Ballmer.

- Yusuf Mehdi: A long time insider, I wonder how much new thinking he would add to the mix.  I am sure he is plenty capable, don’t get me wrong, but MSFT does need bold new thinking.

- Dan Rosensweig: Currently nestled at the friendly confines of PE firm Quadrangle Partners, not sure he wants such a thankless job.

- Jonathan Miller: Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think Miller is loving the Midas touch reputation he has earned staying away from a barrage of high profile jobs.  He is also running a fund with a plethora of investments, so I am not sure he’d be all that interested.
I don’t know enough dark horses in the industry, but here are 10 things any candidate needs to get and understand if they are to run the MSFT online ad business.

1. Understand that in text search, MSFT will never catch Google.  And that’s ok, because image and video search remain new frontiers.

2. In public, drop the “I Hate Google” talk.  It only validates Google’s threat to your core businesses, whereas in fact, those threats are overblown. This, of course, does not mean that cloud computing and shifts in the OS market should not be taken seriously.  Software can be in clouds but it won’t be ad-supported.  That’s a ridiculous thought.  So while you need to understand that the company’s coffers are being filled by Windows and Office and subsidizing your forays and efforts, the fact remains, the main assets that can deliver online advertising revenues are those under the Live.com/MSN.com umbrellas.

3. MSFT does a pretty good job with startups, but it could always do a better job.

4. Live.com/MSN.com - which one is it.  Think hard about what you want the brand to be over the next 10 years before doing anything else.

5. Google does remain a foe, so privately, ask yourself what you can do to strike back.  Here’s one idea: you can harm Google by essentially giving away free advertising, which would force Google to reduce minimum bids on its AdWords program.  Once you do that, then Google’s revenues will have a harder time hitting Wall Street expectations, and as a result, its stock will fall, talent will leave etc.

6. Of course, to really cause pain to Google, you would need volume, so acquire Valueclick, Tribal Fusion and any other reasonably interesting ad network… especially since prices in this space have fallen quite a bit from peaks (ie. Valueclick is now trading at $1B, not $3B).

Search captures intent, Video captures Interest. This affects#7 and #8.

7. So sure, while search advertising is the main driver of online ads, but display and video ads will over time catch up and grow as Fortune 500 marketers and global ad agencies shift brand marketers’ budgets online.  As a result, anyone coming on to run the online advertising ship needs to be a master of content and manage MSN.com and all related properties.

8. MSFT knows software and technology, not media, content and advertising.  It sold Slate.com to Washington Post, which is fine… but it has a number of partnerships, such as the one with News Corp.’s FOX Sports or GE’s NBC Universal for MSNBC.com.  I would put a turbo pack on these initiatives and sign numerous partnerships, some exclusive, some non-exclusive (across Web, TV, radio and print media firms).

9. The US is so 20th century.   Look to global markets.  Use your company’s warchest for global growth.

10.  Yahoo! remains the only large scale player that can give you volume… so while publicly you say you don’t need them, keep them within arms reach.

Anything else?

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