Microsoft Counts on Good Advertising
Microsoft is set to roll out a £2 Billion ad campaign for its search engine Bing that specifically targets Google, the dominant search engine with 90% of the UK market share. In an attempt to establish an ‘emotional connection’ with search users, the aim of the campaign will be to contrast the ‘visually rich’ Bing with the relatively austere-looking Google.
The TV ads, created by JWT, will feature ordinary people searching for information in everyday settings, only to receive nonsensical answers. This is in reference to the ‘information overload’ that Microsoft has associated with Google and the internet in general. “People feel overawed by the internet and what they turn up when they are searching”, said Ashley Highfield, the managing director at Microsoft UK. He also highlighted that, “We are also in a world where people have forgotten there is an alternative search engine.” The campaign will also be backed by a digital campaign across Microsoft’s network and on some social media sites.
Although it appears Microsoft has a solid campaign in place, with less than 5% of the UK search market share, compared to Google’s mammoth 90%, Bing faces an uphill battle. Furthermore, the campaign is resting on two very large assumptions. Firstly, that people do in fact feel over-loaded with information by the Google search results. Google has 90% of the market for a reason, and assuming that people are unable to comprehend their search results may be chasing the less savvy demographic a little too heavily. Especially with an internet audience as advanced as the UK’s. Furthermore, the campaign assumes that users are in fact dissatisfied with Google and unaware of any alternative. This will certainly make them aware, but it will take more to get people to change their searching habits.
The fact is Bing is trying to push performance statistics ahead of its integration with Yahoo, a deal which was recently granted regulatory approval, and this campaign should build enough awareness to do just that. But Steve Ballmer may be resting on the old saying that you don’t need luck when you have advertising. I’m not saying that Microsoft will fail in clawing some market share away from Google, but they will certainly challenge this notion.
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