We’re really pleased that, after a one month test campaign on the MessageSpace blog network, Microsoft will be advertising across the political blogosphere to reach “influentials” and decision makers for the next four quarters.  It is the biggest advertising campaign ever seen on British blogs and we think marks a coming of age.

Mainstream corporate advertisers are waking up to the reach and influence of the blogs.  Blogs have attained a critical mass which will inevitably be attractive to advertisers.  Higher revenues will support higher quality writing and sustain the future growth of the blogosphere.

Over the summer MessageSpace acted as media buyers for Labour’s Alan Johnson MP during the Labour party’s deputy leadership battle and for Chris Bryant MP with his ground breaking video/pamphlet about Welsh Broadcasting (see www.broadcastwales.org.uk).

We also acted for the Conservative Party advising them on their online campaign placement, with their ads reaching out online to the Gay community and also the readers of sites like Popbitch.

The Liberal Democrat Party called on us to help them reach out beyond their comfort zone into traditional Labour party territory, we placed their anti-War advertising on the New Statesman magazine’s website amongst others.

The Electoral Reform Society has launched a new site to promote “a fresh start for democracy”, with a call on leaders of all parties to commit themselves to a public consultation on our voting system, and we call on all parties to include such a commitment in their election manifestos.

To promote their message they chose to advertise with us on political blogs.

Britain’s oldest continuously-published magazine in the English language decided to advertise on the MessageSpace network. The ads, designed to appeal to readers who had not sampled their online offering are updated every week to reflect the front cover headlines from the latest issue.

The Spectator has also launched the Coffee House an online presence with a more realtime blog ambience. The Spectator ran a second campaign to promote the Coffee House and their special supplement about Tony Blair.