I’ve always been pretty agnostic on Digitales, but as this is my 300th post, I’m sure Steve and Rich at Media Week will allow me to talk Bing!
Ever since I joined Microsoft back in the summer of 2005, the advertisers and agencies I’ve talked to have loved adCenter and helped it grow in functionality through and open and honest dialogue. They’ve appreciated the diligence and availability our service teams and revelled in the great ROI they’ve gleaned from the platform.
The lingering question has always been around volume. What were we going to do to increase market share and take some of it away from Google?
Share has slipped somewhat since those days and now stands at around 4% in the UK. Not a nice place to be. And to be honest, I personally never had the answer to what was needed to draw people away from what they already know, other than it had to be a significant shift in how we display results, and add more value than what was currently out there.
Enter Bing.com!
Launched last week, the new search experience has been getting some great reviews.
Badged a “decision engine”, the idea is to take the heavy lifting and frustration out of searching the web - all that “back and forthing” trying to narrow down result choices and potentially wasting advertiser clicks at the same time – by categorising results into intuitive buckets which make it easier for users to find and more importantly take the action that lies behind their intent.
I won’t go into all the features here but check out the demo and videos for more insight.
Now we’ve had our knuckles rapped in the past for launching advertising products in the US and seeming to ignore the UK while our American cousins get their house in order. After all, we’re two countries divided – I mean united - by the same language right?
How hard can it be?
Well we’ve indicated we want a product that is locally relevant and has locally produced bells and whistles, and the folks in Redmond have listened. We have now opened a Search Technology Centre in London, and are working hard to put together a compelling offering with a truly British vibe.
What you see today on the UK version of Bing.com is not the final product – it is in Beta and it will get more exciting as our local engineers enrich the global experience with strong local flavour!
What does it mean for advertisers and marketers? Well Rich Sutcliffe asks some pertinent questions in his Media Week commentary this week and he’s right to ask them.
But I truly believe we’re at the proverbial crossroads here – there is so much more we can do to improve the speed and relevancy with which we connect advertisers with consumers.
Software is the answer and we need to innovate and adapt business models and practices in order to capitalize on what is starting to become a brave new world.
Discover Bing and let me know what you think....
