This past Monday, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)announced that it would begin measuring the effectiveness of online campaigns in a new way, which they have dubbed "Engagement Mapping."

Usually, the last ad a consumer saw online or clicked on got the credit for the sale, the lead or the traffic generated.

But with so many marketing channels being available to online advertisers, consumers are often reached multiple times on different sites in different ways, says John Chandler, principal analyst for Microsoft's Atlas Division.

"Instead of giving 100% of the credit to the last ad clicked, Engagement Mapping will take into account all of the marketing touch points when attributing conversion," he noted.

Microsoft said it will release a beta version of Engagement ROI, an integrated reporting capability within Microsoft's Atlas Media Console, on March 1.

National advertising clients and agencies such as Mindshare Interaction, Monster Worldwide, Sprint (NYSE:S) and Citi Cards (NYSE: C) have already signed up to participate in the program.

“Engagement ROI spans the whole lifecycle of the campaign,” Chandler said.

Microsoft anticipates that by using engagement ROI, rich media and video will be much stronger performers in terms of driving sales.

"What makes this unique is the fact that they are putting the information into the hands of the advertisers," Roy Shkedi, CEO of AlmondNet, commented, "The advertiser can now have a report that shows the steps that led to the final acquisition."

Mike Sprouse, Chief Marketing Officer of AzoogleAds noted “On the positive side, it's a very good indicator that the current metrics and measurement tactics for online marketers doesn't really provide a comprehensive view of a campaign's performance.”  Still, he was skeptical that Microsoft's solution is the answer.

“I'm not sure engagement mapping is an easy to understand term,” he added. "For it to reach broad adoption, it has to be general enough to encompass a wide variety of actions on the Internet and also needs to be really simple and easy to understand."

No kidding. I'm still confused as to how they will be able to track a consumer across all the channels they might cross before making a buying decision or taking some action desired by the advertiser. Particularly at a time when there is increasing concern about privacy on the Internet, I'm not sure how they can claim to essentially track a consumer every step of the way to a sale.

We'll keep an eye out for reports of its success once the beta launches next month.

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In yesterday's blog, I told you how it looked like Microsoft was backing off its attempt to buy Yahoo!, as Bill Gates said they would not up their offer and indicated they could move on with or without Yahoo!.

Turns out Bill was doing a bit of a fake out on us. Now we learn that Microsoft is taking a different tack, essentially running an end around the current Yahoo! board of directors' rejection of their offer. Microsoft is now planning to to start a proxy fight to try to replace Yahoo's board of directors with a slate of more Microsoft friendly directors.

This story for the San Jose Mercury News gives you all the current details.

Looks like Yahoo! may have to give a call to Rupert Murdoch at Newscorp after all.

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A few weeks ago, Microsoft fired a shot at Yahoo!, rattling their sabres at the same time, and indicating that they fully intended to buy Yahoo!

Since then, Google has offered to help in any way they could, albeit short of buying Yahoo! as that would be a merger that would never pass anti-trust muster. Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp also stepped in, renewing talks with Yahoo! regarding possible joint ventures or a merger.

And if these efforts weren't enough, Microsoft's stock has fallen 13%, reducing the cash and stock offer from its original $44.6 billion value to about $41 billion.

No one, outside of the Microsoft campus, seemed to want to see Yahoo! fall in Microsoft's hands. Many observers expected Microsoft to sweeten the pot, but now, based on statements made by Bill Gates, it appears Microsoft is moving on.

A story appearing on Reuters indicates that Gates has no intention of increasing their bid, saying Microsoft's offer is "very fair" and "We can afford to make big investments in the engineering and marketing that needs to get done. We will do that with or without Yahoo!."

Since Yahoo! has already rejected the original offer, and the deal is now worth less due to Microsoft's stock valuation, it looks like Microsoft is moving on and Yahoo! is safe for the time being.

Of course, that doesn't mean that Newscorp might not continue its pursuit of Yahoo!

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Yahoo! just told Microsoft to take a hike.

Yahoo's decision to reject Microsoft's $44.6 billion takeover attempt has led to speculation as to what's next for the staggering online media giant.

 A statement released by Yahoo!'s board of directors stated that the bid "substantially undervalues Yahoo including our global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as our substantial unconsolidated investments."

Translation-- $44.6 billion is not enough for Yahoo! to be led down the aisle somewhat willingly.

This has led to several possible scenarios. One has Microsoft continuing to press Yahoo! by taking the proposal directly to its shareholders. No doubt, more than a few shareholders would love to cash out and move on.

In another scenario, Microsoft might sweeten the offer to make it palatable to the Yahoo! board, which has made known its belief that the bid undervalues the company.

Yet another scenario has Yahoo! taking defensive measures and either partnering with Google on search advertising (which will draw heavy scrutiny from regulators) or by again discussing a possible merger with the AOL unit of Time Warner.

Microsoft desperately wants to close the gap between it and Google, far and away the leader in search engines. But even though the marriage of Yahoo! and Microsoft would combine the No. 2 and 3 players,  "Micro-hoo" (as it's unofficially been dubbed) would still substantially trail Google.

Regardless, the game is on. Don't expect Microsoft to go away quietly.  

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Google's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, has sent a message loud and clear to Yahoo!-- "Let's circle the  wagons and hold off Microsoft together."

Google, of course, has the financial clout to go toe-to-toe with Microsoft. The problem is, Google can't counter Microsoft's offer to buy Yahoo!. That would be a marriage that would never pass anti-trust law muster.

As a side note, because off Google's dominance of the search engine markets, a Microsoft purchase of Yahoo! probably would sail by any anti-trust concerns. Even a combined Microsoft-Yahoo! would still substantially trail Google in search engine market share.

So how can Google possibly step in and help Yahoo!

One solution, that might actually work, can be found in this New York Times article.

Basically, Google could buy the right to sell ads on Yahoo!'s search results. This could give Yahoo! a long term guarantee of advertising revenue on its search results pages and theorically goose the stock price, thereby somewhat appeasing Yahoo! shareholders.

It could also buy Yahoo! more time to figure out it's place in the Internet universe and reshape itself into a much stronger player, one that could maintain its indepdendence as a corporate entity.

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