MSN UK commercial director Chris Ward will head the integrated division - which rebranded from MDAS to Microsoft Advertising in May - and Chris Maples, formerly managing director of Drive PM, will become its new head of sales.
According to Ward, the move is aimed at simplifying Microsoft's sales offerings and improving its ability to compete commercially with Google's strength in search and AOL's Platform A unit, which houses its various ad offerings.
"We've got a number of key competitors in the market place and to compete effectively we have to beef up all areas of our business. Bringing our teams together allows us to present one well-coordinated set of propositions that can fulfil every marketing objective in the digital space," Ward said.
Microsoft's Advertiser and Publisher Solutions (APS) group was formed on the back of its acquisition of ad-serving network, aQuantive, last August for $6bn.
The technology platforms that will be added to Microsoft Advertising following the aQuantive integration include Atlas, DrivePM, MSNDR and Microsoft AdCentre, as well as emerging media such as in-game and mobile advertising.
Prior to the merger Microsoft Advertising employed 94 display staff across properties including hotmail, MSN and Microsoft on Facebook. Microsoft's search division, meanwhile, has service teams in London, Liverpool and Dublin.
The UK changes follow a restructuring of Microsoft's advertising business in the US, announced last week, which split its online business into two parts. Under the new US structure, Windows Live is being hived off into its Windows division, while its ad and media assets including aQuantive, ad-serving, search and MSN, are moving into a separate, new online services division.
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