IAB blog

Jack Wallington

Microsoft has unveiled its new search product, Bing, and no doubt search marketers and commentators around the world are creating as many puns as possible. The name Bing may seem a little unusual, but choosing this name certainly creates attention and hype.

Perhaps Microsoft is taking a lesson out of Nintendo’s book. Does anyone remember when Nintendo unveiled the name “Wii” (pronounced wee) for the home console? It had a similar reaction that created massive buzz and in the end, the name became memorable white noise because the product was of such high quality it spoke for itself.

What will be interesting now is whether Microsoft Live’s rebranding also introduces further improvements to the search product. According to Ashley Highfield, Microsoft’s Consumer Vice President, “Our search engine knows what it is you enter into that search box. If you enter Nikon D80, it will know that you are looking for a camera.” Otherwise known as semantic search, using technology that understands the meaning behind the text. Looking at the demo, the "decision engine" seems to become the world's biggest price comparison site too, among other features.

For marketers these could be interesting times indeed as Microsoft makes a major bid for a larger share of the search market, and if the semantic product is as powerful as it is claimed to be, it could turn the world of SEO on its head. Microsoft has gone on record that it intends to differentiate their search product from others like Google and Yahoo!, and with a multimillion pound marketing budget we’re all about to find out how.

In terms of Bing's introduction to the UK, I spoke to Microsoft advertising community manager Mel Carson to confirm what was happening, "Bing.com is a crucial part of Microsoft’s commitment to succeed in the search space. We’ve built a search experience which will help consumers find what they’re looking for faster and more intuitively. Bing was built to address the current frustration of internet users towards search results."

"With the same consumer-focus, we preferred to launch Bing.com as a Beta in the UK, so our London-based Search Technology Center (STC) could further enrich the global experience with more local input throughout, from the front end to the User Experience, not to mention the algorithm and the relevancy. The knock-on effect is that advertisers will connect with more engaged consumers who are even more likely to convert. The ROI from Microsoft adCenter is second to none, so with more users coming back time and time again that’s all the more opportunity to tap into our engaged and diverse audience."

My thoughts on the name “Bing”? I like it, but I like odd things.

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