—Bullets and buckshot: The notion of the ‘silver bullet’ creative idea is gone; it’s been replaced by silver buckshot, Howe says, when asked about the role of creative agencies in the online age. A creative agency needs to focus on what is the central theme and then figure out how to translate that idea to other platforms, devices and and through an “evolving customer life-cycles,” he says. “In 20 years, there may well be some advertisers, like Coca-Cola, for example, that will always have the same basic, ubiquitous message for all consumers: drink Coca-Cola. But the vast majority of advertisers are going to have to become really adept at segmenting their messages.”

—Art and science: During his presentation, Howe fairly bristled when he alluded to MSLO co-CEO Wenda Harris Millard’s lament that Microsoft had choice of Qi Lu as digital head. To some at the conference, Millard’s comment about Lu, who is known for his engineering expertise—as opposed to a online ad exec like Brian McAndrews—was a signal of the higher regard for tech know-how versus creative acumen. I asked Howe whether Lu’s hire is illustrative of any change in focus for the company and the industry at large. Howe dismissed that notion. “[Lu] is a talented guy who understands the online advertising industry exceptionally well,” he told me. “I’ll go even further than that; he’s brilliant, he’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. He grew up in the search space. But understanding the algorithms and technology of search increasingly has direct applicability to display ads, around targeting, optimization. Ultimately, those things are software engineering problems. On the other hand, the challenge of creative ideation will depend on the marriage of the science and the art in trying to get the best outcomes for our clients.”

—Who made these rules?: One of the reasons display seems so down is that the scoring—i.e., click-throughs—is better suited to search than a branding campaign associated with display, Howe said. I asked if the score has been set that way because one particular company, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and its product AdSense, is overwhelmingly dominant in the online ad sphere. Howe side-stepped an offer to blame Microsoft’s chief rival, saying instead, “This industry shouldn’t feel bad about anything. At the end of the day, we have to keep things in perspective. The economy around us is bad and the ad sector is being hit hard. Within that online is still a bright spot. Eyeballs are still moving to online media, and in many sectors, spending is increasing dramatically. And so, yes, is it disappointing, absolutely; is it a catastrophe? Absolutely not. This is just a bump in the road to where we’re going – and that is to a world where advertising is digital and media is accountable, allowing creativity to flourish. As to your second question, we believe in a world where competition is encouraged and recognized as good for the industry. Conversely, one in which monopolies flourish and innovation is stifled is clearly bad.”